A Plague Tale: Innocence may be in its infancy, but certainly looks full of promise

There wasn’t much for ASOBO Studios to show of their newest game–A Plague Tale: Innocence is still very early in development and isn’t due until at least 2018, but from what little I did see, I came away optimistic.

This tale is set in France during the middle ages, when the country was ravaged by war, inquisitions and rats, who brought with them the spectre of doom that was the Black Death. In this single player action-adventure title, you play as a 15-year-old girl who’s really French sounding name I couldn’t understand. She is accompanied by her five-year old brother, Hugo.

The demo I saw was only a prototype, with scenarios that may not make it into the full game, but it was hoped that it would sufficiently convey the overall atmosphere of the game as well as display the key features. I can only hope that the actual game looks as good as the demo does, because it was stunning. Even though the location in which Plague takes place feels grim and riddled with disease and decay, there was a sheen to the graphics that made it look lovely–as if I was looking at a photo of a really ugly person through that Snapchat filter that makes people look pretty. It’s clear to see that the studio’s work on titles such as Quantum Break have helped in the looks department.

The short demonstration showed the girl going to rescue her brother from capture. It briefly showed the main mechanics of the girl’s sling and how she uses it, how Hugo can be commanded to squeeze into tight places and how light keeps bloodthirsty rats at bay. It looked pretty simple, and I imagine Plague will be concentrating more on story and the connection between brother and sister rather than gameplay.

But the rats. Oh my God the rats. My skin is still crawling just thinking about them. The team at ASOBO managed to get so many rats on the screen at one time–I’m talking what looked like hundreds, if not thousands, and they all hurried and scurried like I imagine a massive swarm of rats would in real life. Their beady eyes glistening by the reflection of the fire, their ugly tails waggling around in a way that can only be described as disgusting. There was one scene in a grand cathedral with gothic decoration when thousands of rats all fell out from the wall and ran at the pair: a literal tidal wave of rats. It was fucking minging, but also fascinating to see.

Before getting into the cathedral, there are two guards who hold Hugo captive in a cage, surrounded by a much smaller (yet still massive) squad of rats–only just keeping them at bay thanks to their lanterns. The girl used her sling to smash the lanterns of each and once the lights were out, the rats were upon them, dragged them to the ground and devoured them within moments. It was pretty grim stuff but, again, amazing at the same time.

There’s not much else that can be said about A Plague Tale: Innocence as it stands, as I saw so little and it’s going to be at least a year before it comes out. But from this brief demonstration, which showed off some lovely visuals and a terrifyingly disgusting amount of rats, I look forward to seeing more.