A Plague Tale: Innocence got an uncut eight-minute gameplay trailer today. The rats spaz out a bit much at the edge of the light, like they're Hungry Hungry Hippos hopping out and back in on invisible levers. But the rest of this medieval adventure game looks pretty neat. It's a simple-looking game following what looks like a 99% linear path. It's basically a block-sliding puzzle game, except you distract a guard (block) by throwing pottery (sliding). Or you move a horde of rats (block) by slinging a stone and breaking the noose that was hanging a corpse in a gallery-like display of mass executions held in an abandoned building.
Uhhh, sliding. That last part was the sliding portion of the block-sliding puzzle. But you see it, right?
Anyway, a gross but simple game that's gorgeous despite its ability to make my skin scrawl a little bit. You also use light to your advantage, either by clearing paths through the rats with beams of light, or by killing the light that was protecting a guard and then allowing the rats to swarm over and kill the guard. You know, family-friendly stuff. The main character can probably console herself in knowing that the guards would probably do the same for her. You can think of the rats as a foe, or you can think of them as friends. It just depends.
A Plague Tale launches May 14 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
A Plague Tale: Innocence debuts eight minutes of new uncut gameplay footage
Asobo Studio’s debut new IP, A Plague Tale: Innocence, premieres on May 14, taking you on an adventure through medieval, wartorn and plague-ridden France with siblings Amicia and Hugo. A new gameplay trailer showcases world-first footage of a brand new level, showing off a little more of what the game has to offer- careful use of the environment, puzzle-solving, and how light, darkness, and the rats are friend and foe in tandem. Amicia must make it to the University, past the Inquisition’s worst and through a town racked with chaos - all to find a glimmer of safety in this dark, brutal world.
This is just a taste of everything that awaits in the full-game, where your wits, your ability to explore, Amicia’s crafting skills, and her partnership with Hugo are all that will keep the pair alive. Hugo is not your own companion on this adventure, with those orphaned by the war and the sickness banding together to try to survive - will everyone manage to see the light of day once again?
Asobo Studio and Focus Home Interactive can’t wait to get A Plague Tale: Innocence into your hands on May 14, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A labour of love from a studio with combined decades of experience in game development, it is an emotional tale packed with mystery, intrigue, and swarming, as ever, with rats.
A Plague Tale: Innocence launches May 14 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Pre-orders are available now!
