A Plague Tale: Innocence, developed by Asobo Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive, caught my interest right away when it was revealed in 2017. A moody adventure-like game using the famous Black Death as its setting, with a supernatural bent" Sign me up. I went in expecting more of a horror experience, what with the dark imagery and hordes of rats featured in most of the marketing. Instead, A Plague Tale is more of a calmly-paced series of puzzles, with urgency fueled by several hours of thoughtful, character-driven drama. It?s more comic book than historical fiction, and a little janky. But throughout its runtime A Plague Tale feels smart, earnest, and stimulating due to a combination of likable characters, striking visuals, well-designed puzzles, and thousands of rats. Mischiefs from Hell

The best thing about A Plague Tale: Innocence is it knows how to play its cards. The game knows you know about the rats. And it knows you want to see those dang rats. Naturally, it takes its sweet time actually showing you the rats. But boy does the tension build until that moment. Even before the thousands of skittering demons show themselves, they are background actors in the story, which revolves around young girl Amicia and her younger brother Hugo.
The actual story at hand is about a bond between siblings that develops despite every circumstance imaginable working against it. Hugo is sick with a mysterious affliction, and Amicia isn?t allowed anywhere near him, until...