A Plague Tale: Innocence

Release Date: May 14, 2019 / July 6, 2021

Developer: Asobo Studio

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Genres: Action-Adventure, Survival

Platforms: PlayStation, XBox, PC, Nintendo Switch

My Platform: PlayStation 5

Difficulty Levels: No Difficulty Settings

My Level: N/A

Game Difficulty: 2/10

Game Rating: 6/10

Time To Beat: 10hrs

Difficulty Related Trophy: N/A

Platinum Difficulty: 1/10

Time To Platinum: 11hrs

Welcome to another blog! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. And if you are a frequent flyer, an extra thank you to you!

First let me explain the multiple release dates. The first one is when the game originally came out. The second one is when the next-gen (which is of course current-gen) upgrade was released. That upgrade has 60fps instead of 30fps, 4k resolution, visual enhancements, better lighting effects and more character details. 

By now I have played this game a couple of times. The first time was when it came out on the PlayStation 4. But when the PlayStation 5 upgrade was released and the game was free with PlayStation Plus and the news came out that a sequel is set to release next year. There was no question, I just had to play this game again. And get another beautiful shiny platinum.

The Build

This game has 17 chapters in total, and they are the following:

• Chapter 1: The De Rune Legacy
• Chapter 2: The Strangers
• Chapter 3: Retribution
• Chapter 4: The Apprentice
• Chapter 5: The Raven's Spoils
• Chapter 6: Damaged Goods
• Chapter 7: The Path Before Us
• Chapter 8: Our Home
• Chapter 9: In The Shadow Ramparts
• Chapter 10: The Way Of Roses
• Chapter 11: Alive
• Chapter 12: All That Remains
• Chapter 13: Penance
• Chapter 14: Blood Ties
• Chapter 15: Remembrance
• Chapter 16: Coronation
• Chapter 17: For Each Other

After the story you can replay/revisit all the chapters in any order you want. Which is always perfect for when you missed a couple of collectibles. I will elaborate on the collectibles later on in this blog. 

The Story

Follow the grim story of young Amecia and her little brother Hugo. In a heartrending journey through the darkest hours of history. Hunted by Inquisition soldiers and surrounded by unstoppable swarms of rats, Amecia and Hugo will come to know and trust each other.

Even though Amecia and Hugo are sister and brother. They don't really know and hardly see each other. That is because Hugo is being sheltered by their mother, Beatrice. She is an alchemist who is trying to help Hugo. Because he is one special little kid. He has something in his blood, that others want. By any means necessary. 

The hunt on Hugo starts off when Inquisition soldiers come to their home, and burn everything to the ground. Beatrice, Amecia and Hugo need to get out of there, fast. Here is when you are introduced to the stealth aspect of the game. Which you will need to become familiar with, because you are going to need stealth a lot. 

When the three of them have almost escaped, something horrible happens. And Amecia and Hugo are forced to continue on their own. Since they don't really know each other yet, the interactions between them is a bit awkward in the beginning. Hugo has always depended on his mother, and now he is separated  from her. And Amecia suddenly had to take care of her little brother, even though she is still a kid herself.

Every once and a while Hugo has an 'episode'. He grabs his had in agony, hears voices and it tires him out. He needs a doctor to cure him. So that is where Amecia and Hugo are going first. 

They can't seem to find anybody who can help them, to show the way. Since the Inquisition is destroying and killing everyone on their path. The people are scared and don't trust anyone. But as always, there are exceptions. There are still some people left who are willing to help.

When Amecia and Hugo find a priest, they also meet the rats for the first time. And it is not just a couple of rats, but hordes and hordes. When you are in the dark, they will attack and kill you. Light is the only thing that seems to keep them away.

With this knowledge Amecia and Hugo puzzle, fight and kill there way to where they need to go. Along the way they will meet a couple of kids who all have their own special tricks. And who will help them out. Together they are on a mission to find a cure for Hugo.

At some point Hugo overhears Amecia talking about something, which makes him run away. Amecia tries to find him, but he is nowhere to be found.

When they meet again Hugo has been brainwashed and is ordered to kill Amecia. Is their bond strong enough for him to resist that order?

By this point in the game, it is pretty clear why the Inquisition wants Hugo and who is behind it. But since this is not the oldest game in the book yet. And I know a lot of people haven't played it yet, I will not spoil this. So story wise I am going to leave it here. I really recommend playing this game, and find out for yourself.

Collectibles

The game has the following type of collectibles:

• Hugo's Herbarium's, 13x
• Gifts, 11x
• Curiosities, 26x

Like I said earlier, there is chapter select, so don't worry too much about getting all the collectibles in one go. Just enjoy the story and see what you end up with. 

Every where you go, you will also find ingredients. Those are the things you need to upgrade your weapon with and make ammunition. The game has the following ingredients:

• Leather
• Tools
• Cord
• Sulphur
• Alcohol
• Fabric
• Salpeter

Try to pick this stuff up as much as you can, because you are going to need it. But rest assured, there is plenty for you to find and it is hard to miss. 

The Road To Platinum

As you can see in the summary at the start of this blog. Getting the platinum in this game is very easy. Most of them are story related or you will unlock them with the choices you make. Getting trophies on the PlayStation 5, has been made very easy. At least, if you are playing a PlayStation 5 game. Because than you have access to activity cards. Which you can pull up by pressing the PlayStation button on your controller. You have to be in the game for this to work. Those activity cards can show you exactly where you need to go and how you can get a specific trophy. If you click on the hint on the activity card, you will be shown a short video about that trophy. Which makes getting them an absolute walk in the park. And also makes this a perfect game for any trophy hunter.

*SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH*

*My Verdict 

If I didn't like the game, I wouldn't have played this multiple times by now. I definitely recommend everyone playing this. The story is intriguing and takes you away from the start. It is a great story about a sister and brother, who are forced to lean on each other. Go on this insane ride, and end up becoming closer than ever. The story is also about protecting someone you love, go through hell and back for that person, with the risk of losing everything. And all because of one person in power.

In this case the bad guy is Vitalis Bénévant. He is the leader of the Inquisition. While he was doing experiments, he discovered that the De Rune family had an ancient power in their blood. Out of selfish reasons, he has the soldiers of the Inquisition capture the carrier of that power, which is Hugo. Vitalis Bénévant's goals are to get Hugo's power through blood transfusions and creating a new world order.

The person who has that power, can control everything around them. In this game that is shown with Hugo's control over the rats.

I can not write this blog and not spend a few lines on those damn rats. There are so many, around every corner. And they are so freaky. The sound they make will haunt you and if you have a 3D headset, brace yourself. Those rats really grossed me out at points, but I don't like rodents at all. Luckily tv's don't have a smell function, yet.

It is not a new story. Again a person who wants something that someone else has, to gain more power and be the all mighty. And will do everything in their power to get what they want. But, it's about how the story is told and that has been done very good.

The controls can feel slow at times, but it fits with the setting of the game. So it is not really a complaint. Just something that I noticed. The game upgrade is really that, not just something they try to sell to you. But if you play the game on last-gen first and then jump over to current-gen, you will absolutely see the difference. You can also feel it in the controller. The haptic feedback is well implemented, you feel it when you are running. And it is exactly that, you feel the movement. Which is still an amazingly well done upgrade with the DualSense controller. 

The game has its challenges here and there, but nothing to hard to handle. The fact that you can not choose a difficulty, is not an issue at all. Everybody can play this game, if you are an experienced gamer or not. 'A Plague Tale: Innocence' is all about the story. So just sit back and enjoy this great story!

The sequel of this game 'A Plague Tale: Requiem', is set to release in 2022. And I can not wait to get my hands on that one. No doubt in my mind the story will be at least as good as this one. I am definitely curious to see what Amecia and Hugo are up to these days. And I am looking forward to their new adventure.

And just like that, this blog has come to an end. If you made it this far, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this. If you know someone who is interested in these types of blogs, please share it around. 

Have a good one, game on and I'll catch you on the flipside!