This A Plague Tale: Innocence PS5 review contains minor spoilers…
First released back in 2019 for the PS4, Xbox One and PC, A Plague Tale: Innocence has now received the next-gen upgrade treatment. From 6th July 2021, players are able to get their hands on improved PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch versions of the game. PlayStation Plus subscribers lucky enough to have a PlayStation 5 can pick it up as one of July’s free games!
A Plague Tale: Innocence is nothing if not unique. It focusses on a part of history often ignored by video games. That’s likely something to do with the difficulty of fitting such a setting into the medium and making it fun. But A Plague Tale takes a real stab at it, and the result, while inconsistent, is largely a positive one.
A Plague Tale: Innocence PS5 Review – Story
The story of A Plague Tale: Innocence is fantastic. From nuanced, life-like characters to genuine heart-wrenching moments, the plot has everything one could ask for from a video game. Quality-wise, it’s certainly comparable to industry heavyweights like Uncharted and Horizon: Zero Dawn.
Dropping into plague-ridden 14th Century France (which is also in the midst of the Hundred Years War with the English), players take control of teenager Amicia de Rune. Amicia is a fairly sheltered girl of noble decent. She has a brother, Hugo, who has been ill since birth. He’s kept hidden away by their mother, Beatrice, an alchemist, while she searches for a cure. Their father, Robert, is a famed knight. At the game’s opening, he takes Amicia under his wing on a hunting trip as she learns to use her trusty sling (more on that later).
From here, things quickly turn south in arguably predictable ways. Nonetheless, A Plague Tale‘s opening couple of hours are grim and relentless, and set a tone that flows through the entire game. Going on this journey with Amicia and Hugo is something special, even if it’s difficult to swallow at times. Artfully presenting the brutal realities of the plague woven between a story of innocence and survival is A Plague Tale: Innocence‘s crowning achievement.
Characters
Amicia and Hugo are the perfect vehicle through which to experience the dark world of A Plague Tale: Innocence. Their pure perspective on the world helps to create that sense of dread and danger needed for a game like this. Without it, the game’s core stealth and horror moments simply wouldn’t work.
The relationship between the two young siblings is incredibly endearing and mirrors that of a real brother and sister. Credit needs to given to the child voice actors, too. Charlotte McBurney, who voices Amicia, and Logan Hannan, who voices Hugo, do a splendid job at bringing their characters to life. The two reportedly participated in the writing process, even making suggestions for script changes. That youthful perspective really shines through, and as a result the de Rune children are easily two of the most life-like I’ve encountered in any video game.
Hunting Amicia and Hugo are both the French Inquisition and the English Army. The latter takes a back seat to the former, whose nefarious intentions behind their pursuit of Hugo is the main source of conflict in the game.
There are two memorable antagonists in A Plague Tale: Innocence. Lord Nicholas, a heavily armoured black knight and his master, Vitalis Benevent, the Grand Inquisitor of France. Both are somewhat typical villains, but play well in the context of the story. Vitalis, in particular, is one nasty dude. The only downside is that the eventual boss fights against them (one of three in the game) are quite anticlimactic. This is mainly thanks to the limitations of A Plague Tale: Innocence‘s gameplay.
A Plague Tale: Innocence PS5 Review – Gameplay
While A Plague Tale‘s story alone makes the game worth playing, its gameplay leaves you feeling underwhelmed thanks to its shackled limitations and frequently boring repetition.
Credit where it’s due – Asobo Studio have done a reasonably good job in the context of the game’s story and characters. Technically speaking, it’s fine. And it certainly isn’t bad. Far, far from it in fact. I just wish they’d have focussed on including more variation. There just isn’t enough of it. And it makes the game feel like a slog between marvellous story beats – especially towards the end.
Stealth
So, for the majority of the game, you control Amicia. As a teenage girl, she isn’t able to tackle the heavily armoured knights and soldiers head on. To avoid that, she and her array of companions rely on stealth. The problem is, the stealth seriously lacks innovation.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is often cited as the modern standard for the stealth genre. That’s thanks to the huge variety it offers when tackling any given scenario. In contrast, A Plague Tale boils down to two choices. A) throw a lure and walk around the guard as they’re distracted. Or, B) throw a lure and use your sling to take the distracted soldier out.
Not only does the gameplay feel incredibly binary, but every area in the game feels like a charted course. That’s because of the level of hand-holding the game utilises. For example, every lure you can use is highlighted and they’re often right in the proximity of the enemy immediately in front of you. It’s the opposite of challenging. The only thing that makes the game ever so slightly difficult is that Amicia will die from a single attack. So, in that sense, it punishes you for stupidly missing its blatant cues.
Weapons and Equipment
As mentioned, Amicia makes use of her faithful sling throughout the game. In fact, right up until the end of the game, it’s the only “weapon” you’ll use.
Primarily, it is used for slinging rocks as lures or at enemies unprotected heads as projectiles. The latter can be quite satisfying. Secondary to that are craftable alchemical thowables that each fulfil a unique but useful function. For example, there’s a throwable that attracts A Plague Tale: Innocence‘s many rats. There’s one that causes enemies to take off their helmets. And there’s one that ignites fires. They do add a little bit of variety, but you never feel free to use them when you please. Any given area or “level” in the game might require the use of one of those special throwables. But it’s rare you could use another for a different solution to the same problem. It effectively neuters any sense of player choice. Not only that, but the throwable you need is often given to you immediately before you need it. And the game will always supply you with ample crafting materials.
Rats
OK – let’s talk about one of A Plague Tale‘s most distinctive foes. The plague rats.
They are almost everywhere and are the main non-human enemies in the game. Somehow, the game manages to render what seem to be hundreds on the screen at once. It’s an incredible achievement and is made even more impressive here thanks to the next-gen processing power of the PS5.
The rats, however, are one-dimensional. You walk into them, they eat you. The only way to avoid them is fire/light. It’s as simple as that. I lost count of how many sections of A Plague Tale: Innocence are simply navigating your way around a rat-infested area with the help of braziers and torches. Unfortunately, it becomes incredibly repetitive. By the end, I was so done with it.
How long is A Plague Tale: Innocence?
One big question people will have is about A Plague Tale: Innocence‘s length. How long is it? Well, mercifully, I completed it in 17 hours. For me, this was about the right length – maybe a couple of hours too long.
The reason I say this is because while the story kept me gripped from start to finish, the gameplay begins to feel arduous. It just isn’t exciting or varied enough to sustain itself beyond that 17 hour mark. I fear many players (particularly those less concerned with the game’s story) will be put off much before that point, too.
A Plague Tale: Innocence PS5 Review – PS5 Improvements
With the free next-gen upgrade for A Plague Tale: Innocence comes some significant improvements.
The most obvious of which is the higher 4K resolution (it was 1080p on the original version) and the ability to run at 60fps. Graphically, A Plague Tale is a gorgeous game. From character models to environments, everything looks great. And the improved resolution and smoother frame rate only enhances it even further.
Oddly, I noticed a screen tear-like graphical distortion while playing the PS5 version. This isn’t something I’ve experienced on any other PS5 game running at 60fps on the same 4K monitor before. So, I can only assume this is caused by the game which is a slight shame as it does break immersion.
Improvements aren’t exclusively in the realm of graphics and performance, either. Haptic triggers and vibration are also present thanks to the wonderful DualSense controller. Now, when Amicia sprints or swings her sling, the R2 trigger gently vibrates. Unfortunately, it is slightly out of sync with the rotations of her sling, but it’s still a great addition. Just a shame the timing isn’t a bit better.
Overall, for such a good-looking game, the PS5 upgrade is a real treat. It looks superior and the added immersion features of the DualSense helped dilute the aforementioned gameplay problems.
A Plague Tale: Innocence PS5 Review – Verdict
I suspect many people won’t have heard much about A Plague Tale prior to its release as a PlayStation Plus freebie for PS5. It certainly flew under the radar on its release. But with the added benefits of next-gen technology, it really comes into its own.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is imperfect. The repetitious and unoriginal nature of its gameplay does hold it back and might be a deal breaker for some. Even if it is technically sound. But I would still recommend it for its story and atmosphere alone. Amicia and Hugo both go through fantastically constructed character arcs, and their story in this plague-infested world is what kept me playing and is one I won’t soon forget.
If you played the PlayStation 4 version before, it’s probably not one to replay just for the performance/immersion benefits of the PlayStation 5. But if you’ve not picked it up before and are wondering whether to give it a chance, you should. I doubt you’ll regret it.
Overall Rating: 8/10
Version played: PS5
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