The art direction is great and I really appreciated the added photo mode. The story is interesting, the characters are simpathetic, the soundtrack is great and I can't praise enough the pace of the game.

The one thing that could be done better is the combat / stealth gameplay, but the encounters are pretty quick and there are not too many of them.
The last boss was kinda weird and I can see people having problems there, but I'd say it's more frustrating than difficult.

All in all great job Asobo!
I'd certainly love to see more games like this one.

More games need to be like this. Great Story. Simple but nice gameplay. Being Linear is not bad, I'm fed up with open world games with a thousand mediocre and just bad things to do. Less is More. Quality over Quantity.

Really good story.

Things you must do before playing:
-set chromatic aberration to low, otherwise everything will look blurry.
-play in borderless view, nearly eliminates all stutter/fps drops. (I got 1080ti and i7-8700k). Once in a while the FPS drops from like a 100 to 30.

A Plague Tale: Innocence (Action-Adventure)

Absolutely riveting. NOTE: This game IS about The Plague, so there will of course be rats... Many many rats.

There are many options, so I will only list a few:

• Brightness Slider
  
• Re-mappable keyboard controls, plus two possible setups for the controller
  
• 3 Save Slots
  
• Subtitles are OFF by default
  
• Aim Assist

I HIGHLY recommend going into the Advanced HUD Settings and checking them out. Most are OFF by default, and if it's your first time playing, you're probably going to want/need to adjust them.

Story:

14th Century France. Step into one of the darkest times in history, when The Black Plague swept across Europe leaving 25 million people dead in its wake. We play as Amicia de Rune, a high-spirited young noblewoman with a rich imagination and a longing for adventure. A peaceful day out with her father is soon shattered by a voracious entity in the woods, and her world is then turned upside down as her home is invaded by soldiers. Now she and her 5-year-old brother, Hugo, are on the run, and the newly-erupted sickness all around them seems to be the least of their worries...
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1852326073
There are historically-accurate items peppered throughout the game, but this is not a historic account by any means. What A Plague Tale gives us is a world of the arcane, filled with terror and the unexplainable. Only once do we actually see the disease up close and personal, and this allows us some degree of detachment from the horrible reality of the suffering all around us. There are some incredibly gruesome visuals in the game, to be sure, but I can't really give any additional details without spoilers.

Cutscenes can be skipped by holding down the appropriate button (on my Xbox 360 controller it was the B button) -- useful when you die right after a long dialogue.

Gameplay:

There are three types of collectibles to keep an eye out for during the game. Although I am usually a big fan of hidden content, this tale is so compelling that I didn't want to break the immersion by running around just to find the extras. They DO expand upon the story and overall feeling of the time frame, but I chose to focus on the story for my first playthrough. Luckily, you can easily go back to get items or achievements that you missed via the Chapter Selection button on the main menu. Not only that, but when you use this function, it shows your collectible status for each chapter! Nice!

Early on you're mostly running, sneaking and occasionally using your slingshot. Just when I was thinking that was all there was to the gameplay, everything changed. Now there were puzzles, different kinds of ammo, less running and more overall finesse, adding an extra layer of depth to everything we needed to do.

The game is not without its flaws. There is no map, nor indicator of which way you should be going, and although it doesn't happen often, this can result in getting turned about and heading the wrong way. I did find some collectibles that I'd missed when I had originally passed through, so at least there was a plus to getting lost. lol~

At times we need to move around carts or large boxes, and the movement was very hard to get used to for me. Pro tip: When moving large items, push or pull ONLY, and adjust the CAMERA to change directions!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1852898291
Battles:

They have armor, shields and mighty weapons to crush, impale and otherwise snuff out your life in an instant. You have a slingshot. I'm sure that you can see a bit of an imbalance here, but there is much more to combat than it seems at first glance, and you do have the ability to dodge (not covered in the tutorial, by the way.)

I mentioned earlier that you will end up with different kinds of ammo, and you'll sometimes have to switch between them quickly in order to take out your enemies. This can be nerve-wracking, so learning what each type does before you go into battle is going to be a huge help to you.

Ammo concoctions can:

• Light fires
  
• Douse fires
  
• Cause burning pain that forces enemies to remove their helmets
  
• Knock enemies out for a non-lethal kill

These are only a few of the possibilities, but telling you more would entail spoilers.

I'm sure that you can see the possibilities here, but there's another layer to your battles, and that is stealth and wit. Planning out your moves, distraction techniques and of course getting your enemies off by themselves are all going to be beneficial to your health. ;)

I believe that there is a fail-safe built into the game to make it impossible for you to be without what you need to continue, but it can't hurt to grab every single ingredient that you can get your hands on - you'll need them for your ammo, and crafting whilst running for your life is beyond stressful!

Speaking of which, I'm not going to lie -- The battles start out easy, but they become brutal fights for survival later in the game. I actually got to one battle that was so furiously difficult that I had to turn off the game for a while. In retrospect it's because I was making things WAY harder than they needed to be by not utilizing my tools to the best of their ability, as well as something else which I didn't realize at the time, but can't mention because it's a BIG spoiler. Going back and replaying one of the harder battles only took me two tries instead of over a dozen, so tactics can make a huge impact!

Luckily, there are multiple save points in a battle, saving me from literally pulling out my hair and from having a stroke from a blood pressure spike! lol~ I have to say that Aim-assist was my best friend in this game - I don't know if I could have completed the game without it!

Sights and Sounds:

The music that plays whilst the game is loading is a testament of things to come; to the epic journey you are about to embark upon. Every aspect of the game is the same quality as that intro music: beautiful and haunting and of the highest production values. The voice acting is superb, as is every sound effect, sigh of the wind and musical note that you will hear.

The visuals are absolutely stunning, completely enveloping you in this terrible but beautiful world of strife, pain and love.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1852955060
I was overjoyed to learn that there is an in-game Photo Mode, which allows you to pause, move the camera around, get the very best angle and snap amazing shots to your heart's content.

Extras:

• Codex - All collectibles that you have found
  
• Ability to change the family Coat of Arms (if you have that DLC)
  
• Epilogue
  
• 35 Steam Achievements

The Epilogue is very short. There are no collectibles, but it does give us just a little bit of extra closure. Although I don't want to wish any more misfortune on our characters, this game was so amazing that I'd love to find out that a second game is in the works. ♥

Verdict:

A Plague Tale: Innocence has the most compelling, the most riveting story that I've ever experienced in a game. It's not just the writing... It's also the environmental graphics, the voice overs and the gameplay, all merging into a world that feels tangible and alive! Buy it now, play it NOW... Just be sure that you have some time to devote to it before you start... You won't be able to tear yourself away!

One of the excellent single player, story driven games I've ever had a privilege of experiencing.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2821777155

The transmission of the beauties of this universe is simply amazing! The quality of the graphics is at the highest level, I don’t remember a single game in my memory where they would pay so much attention to small details, working out grass, leaves, developing rags from the wind on the window.


The game is pretty easy to learn. Variations of items that you can use with your sling, for different opponents and the ability to eliminate them differently each time, I really-really liked.
Ruined fortresses, temples, villages — all this is done so believably that you quickly begin to believe in the world of A Plague Tale: Innocence. The game does not skimp on showing a mountain of soldiers killed during the war, corpses bitten to the bone and guts scattered on the walls. All this occurs exactly as much as it is necessary to recreate the right atmosphere.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2820187612
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2822584555
Story wise, again, this is a game in which you need to play if you're a fan of story driven narratives.t has it's moments conveying every emotion. Moments in which you'll remember for a long time to come, you will be completely imbued with each character and feel all this emotions for yourself. I think that this is something that should be present in every story game!

A Plague Tale: Innocence — is a visually beautiful piece of art, that's is both fun and heart wrenching, the passage of which takes place literally in one breath. This game stands out for its interesting storyline, great atmosphere, various puzzles and a well-implemented feature with hordes of rats that play an important role in the gameplay.

Originally posted by author:

I would like to mention here cons of this game. But they simply do not exist! True, for all the passage of the game, I did not see a single cons for myself.
To be honest, such a wonderful game shouldn't have them.

The game let's you PAUSE WITHOUT CANCELING THE CINEMATIC and SKIP CUTSCENES.

A mesmerizing soundtrack which sets you into the atmosphere of the game. A masterfully crafted and coherent plot with emotional moments. They say a product is as good as its weakest link but it really is a consistent game in terms of pacing and gameplay. You won't find filler quests as in many sandbox games today, you are in for a linear, tight and focused story with gameplay elements being introduced as the plot develops without them being too overwhelming and adding diversity to the gameplay. It also benefits from a phenomenal art direction.

The two main characters Amicia and Hugo as well as Beatrice are well developed, albeit I feel that the rest aren't as much and they are way too stereotypical, only serving as a means to advance the story, without any tribulations or motivations other than their cookie cutter traits. I've experienced flickering in some textures while rotating the camera fast, I don't know if it's a generalized issue or one with my hardware settings but it got quite distracting at times.

I thought the game would've benefitted from a bit more realism in combat, had the sling been more unreliable as a weapon and used as a last resort, but this is nitpicking on my behalf.

In my humble opinion, I consider it to be a superb game and I would therefore encourage anyone willing to give it a try.

I enjoyed this game and recommend it at this 45$ price point for anyone that enjoys story driven games
-
PROS
The sound design and OST are pinnacle
The graphics are very good and level design is also very good
The voice acting is phenomenal
The story is engaging and original
-
CONS
The game is VERY story focused. Gameplay seems more like an afterthought in that the game isn't very challenging and the primary gameplay devices consist of stealth puzzles and very one dimensional action segments. This is the biggest detractor for this game in my opinion.
-
This game will take you roughly 8.5 hours to complete. That is relatively short for a singleplayer games, but, I believe the price tag accounts for this.

Overall, I would definitely recommend picking this one up if you enjoy narrative driven games ie (Uncharted, Last of Us, God of War)
I will eagerly await a sequel if one ever makes it to market.

A letter to anyone like me who's tired of lootboxes, DRM, battle royales, and microtransactions -

Get. This. Game.

I have never left a review on Steam until now, but this game needs more publicity than it's getting.

For $45, you are getting:
- Fantastic single-player story
- Likable characters
- Amazing graphics & immersion
- Solid optimization (roughly 5 hours in as of this review - no crashes or bugs so far)
- Incredible soundtrack & musical score
- None of the things I mentioned in the very first line of this review (lootboxes, DRM, etc.)

I totally didn't need the cosmetic DLC, but I decided to buy it anyway because, unlike so many AAA games on the market nowadays, this one in particular has actually earned my respect - and therefore my money.

If you want another obnoxious battle royale game, you're out of luck. If you want the "thrill" of playing a digital slot machine for the 1-in-1000 chance at getting a fancy weapon skin, look elsewhere.

This game reminds me about all of the reasons why I love to play video games in the first place. If that's what you want, then you've come to the right place.

Sincerely,

Just an average guy named Ryan.

This is a fantastic movie-like experience in which the player takes the role of Amicia de Rune, a girl whose parents were killed and the only family left is her sick brother. On the run from the inquisition, chased by soldiers, rats and time, she's doing whatever it takes to survive.

It's a typical linear game with a single path ahead, no choices, no alternate ways. The gameplay is pretty simple and besides some crafting and material collecting, it might be called a "walking simulator". That's not bad at all, I love such games. One of the main gameplay elements is stealth as Amicia is forced to stay out of sight often. Here come the bad things which kinda ruining the experience for me - enemies are completely dumb, I'd even say brainwashed. Their vision is horrible and reactions to actions caused by Amicia just plain stupid. For example, Amicia can throw stones around them and they don't hear a thing until the stone hits their head directly. Also, they completely ignore her brother shouting "Amicia, I'm scared! across the whole field. This is the major downside of the game but besided that, I can say nothing but good things, so let's go to them.

Graphics is gorgeous, some of the textures are not the best but reflections, level design and the overall look and feel is amazing. I press F12 for screenshots so often that my screenshot library is already full of beautiful sceneries.
The story is definitely above the average, highly enjoyable, easy to follow and simply said - amazing.
Main characters have personalities and souls, not annoying and stupid at all (inspire yourself, Wolfenstein Youngblood!), Amicia is fun to play as.
The overall setting is dark, the game is brutal and includes disturbing scenes, IMO should be avoided by children. I appreciate the realistic and honest way of representation of such a dark age, it helps the immersion and atmosphere.
I also recommend playing with French voices as it helps the atmosphere. I didn't understand a thing but subtitles help. Speaking of it, I appreciate the complete Czech translation.

Performance is very good, optimization seems ok on a 1660 Ti (~3300 MB VRAM usage) running on Linux via Proton 5.0.6. I'd like to say that the fact that it runs in Proton doesn't mean that I'm ok with the lack of a native Linux version and definitely would prefer if an officially supported version existed. With Plague Tale 2 coming, please consider it.
https://youtu.be/MfbOVq-FfW4
To summarise it, if you like games with excellent storytelling and don't mind walking simulators, go ahead. You won't regret. I can only wish there we had more games like this.