A Plague Tale: Innocence
Developer Asobo Studio Publisher Focus Home Interactive Format PC, PS4, Xbox One Release 2019
There’s a scene in A Plague Tale that’s truly a picture of innocence. Perhaps the only one. Two teens, highborn protagonist Amicia and poor thief Melie, work to liberate an abandoned castle from swarms of killer rats, guiding them into pits with flaming braziers. As Amicia strains to lever the metal contraptions, she imagines herself an Amazon warrior, and narrates a battle against invading hordes. Melie resists the charade ― she’s the game’s modern conscience, cynical, wary of status ― but then begins to embellish the fantasy herself. In that moment they forget who they are. They’re just two children playing.
Titles stapled together with a colon often feel unwieldy, but A Plague Tale justifies its subtitle. It’s the thematic glue that binds the adventure together, and makes it sticky. Yes, this is a tale of kids thrust into a
