(This review copied over from Steam, initially written June 24, 2021)
I’ll keep this review spoiler-free. I went into the game without knowing pretty much anything about it and really enjoyed that experience so I would recommend the same.
This review is kind of hard to write. The short of it is that I really enjoyed this game for what it is, though it’s hard to describe in a way that actually expresses that, so I’m going to do my best. The game most similar in gameplay—and somewhat on a narrative level—is The Last of Us, with the obvious caveat that this is a medieval setting. However, if you judged the game solely on that basis, A Plague Tale comes off as is a much lesser version as it doesn’t succeed so astoundingly at everything that TLOU achieves (full disclosure: TLOU2 is one of my top favorite games period and the first game is high up as well). That’s not surprising in that TLOU 1 and 2 are lauded broadly as pretty incredible games and they’re by a AAA studio that has the resources to put into such an endeavor. I still make the comparison for a couple reasons. First, the controls and gameplay work very similarly. The third person looks and feels very much like TLOU, especially with much of the game involving an ally or two following you around as you scrounge up supplies to craft useful tools and weaponry in a deadly setting. Second, the story has a somewhat similar feel at times. It’s not quite to the same level of grit and at times leans a bit toward more of a Resident Evil-style silliness, without ever quite going all the way there. But there is otherwise some similarity in tone with lots of death and destruction in harsh environments and facing cutthroat enemies.
Beyond these likenesses though, A Plague Tale is definitely its own thing. The biggest difference is despite the feel of the gameplay and the fact it’s all third-person action, it’s more of a puzzle game than action shooter. There are for one, a number of puzzles throughout the game that I think hit sweet spot for puzzles, never frustratingly difficult, but also not so painfully easy that they just get in the way to slow you down or act as filler. They instead have at the very least an interesting solution that makes you feel a little clever. I don’t mind puzzles being a little frustrating, but I think there was only one part where I got stuck for a bit so it wasn’t very far in that direction. Thus, I think this game hits right in the middle of that continuum. Further, the combat itself feels more puzzle-like than action, especially for the first 75% of the game. To this point, the encounters are much less about having great aim and more about figuring out the order of dealing with enemies and which tools to apply. While this loses out on some of the great points of a good action game, the fact you’re still having to act fast in any given encounter still feels exciting. The only downside to this is that it does take away from some of the horror element when it feels like you’re kind of supposed to die a few times on the more complex encounters to figure out a path, making death and restarting from checkpoints feel more trivial than a real threat. The last quarter or so of the game is less this way though with numerous ways to get through a given encounter, allowing the game to throw more enemies and obstacles at you for more action-packed fights. Granted, even these encounters aren’t terribly difficult. This actually works out pretty well to give you a bit of the best of both worlds as at this point you get more of a chance to play with all your tools however you prefer rather than trying to figure out what you’re “supposed” to do after you’ve had plenty of time in the earlier game to enjoy the more puzzley fights.
Like you might expect from a game like this, there are a number of upgrades and crafting options throughout. The upgrades are an interesting choice. Since much of the challenge and problem-solving of the game is more about figuring out the solution to a given puzzle, fight, or stealth sequence, almost none of the upgrades are really NECESSARY. This makes them kind of a weird feature in that you know you don’t really need them and almost none are even all that significant. I found them fun little additions, but don’t bear quite the same gravity that upgrades usually do in games like this. However, the crafting in the game is pretty neat. As you progress through the story you unlock a number of new tools you can craft for use in and out of combat. They’re mostly pretty neat tricks that feel like they add something fresh to your arsenal, enabling you to traverse dangerous environments in new ways and make your enemies victims to those very threats.
The story itself I found generally pretty good. It’s not mind-blowing, but it works well for what it is. The characters are mostly likeable and the plot moves steadily with solid developments to pull you along at an even pace. The chapters are also pretty digestible, usually 45 mins-1 hr in length and are gripping enough that I generally didn’t ever stop in the middle of one. That structure worked well for me so I could get a full episode in during one shorter session or play several in a row if I was feeling up to binging for a bit. The plot progression is engaging enough to make those binges pretty tempting at times. The ending sequence is a mix between epic and a little silly as the story gets a little ridiculous, but the game mostly maintains its tone otherwise. While I liked the characters well enough, none of them really stood out much. Weirdly, the character relationships were more entertaining to me than any given character on their own. I think Amicia was my favorite character, which is good since that’s who you play as pretty much all game, though even she doesn’t particularly stand out other than being someone relatively inexperienced having to step up against impossible odds to protect what little she has left. Thus, I mostly liked her as sympathetic rather than as a particularly interesting character.
The game is quite gorgeous. The different chapters offer a pretty wide variety of environments and rarely reuse them. While some of them are a little too dark to make out fine details, much of the game looks really good, regardless of the setting. Exploring the different areas as you go along, especially the outdoors countryside segments, was really fun just to take a look around as a detour on the otherwise linear progression. There are also collectibles to be found that offer interesting historical tidbits as a reward for said exploration. The overall presentation is thus pretty impressive. While not up to the AAA cinematic standard, everything still looks and feels great, helping to break up the darker moments with the levity of pretty scenery and detailed environments, even when depicting some…not so pretty images. On that note, despite the story having some dark turns and pretty grim subject matter, I never really found the game to be too grim or feel like a bummer. It wasn’t particularly cheerful, but character conversations and fun gameplay kept the game from feeling too heavy.
Overall, this isn’t the best game ever, but it’s definitely worth playing. There isn’t much replay value, but it’s a pretty solid ~16-hour story that keeps its gameplay fresh with very little, if any, filler. That said, while it didn’t blow me away, it does what it’s aiming to do and there aren’t really things I think it does particularly bad. The worst would probably be that some of the more outlandish moments can break up the tone and immersion when juxtaposed with the gritty medieval setting and dramatic plotlines. This wasn’t a major problem for me, but I could see it being a bigger deal for some players. All in all, definitely worth giving the game a shot. I’d still aim to wait for it to go on sale. It’s quite good, but with no replay value, I’m not sure I’d want to spend the full $45 or whatever. I, however, was thoroughly pleased with it and consider the $13 I got it for on sale a steal.
