2019-07-01_Official_Xbox_Magazine

The Black Death caused an estimated 75 to 200 million deaths between 1347 and 1351

desperately. When they hide, and a
soldier closes in on their location, you
can hear them breathing with short
sharp pangs of terror: it all adds up to
a very tense atmosphere.

Worried sick
This tension helps carry the game
through some slight repetition. There’s
a lot of throwing rocks at handily
placed boxes of armour to lure out a
guard, a lot of using your slingshot to
break chains and drop something from
above. Over the course of the game,
your toolbox opens up and it becomes
more possible to fudge your own
solution, but most sections – whether
stealth or puzzle-based – have a
single correct answer.
What really holds it all together is
the story. It’s not exactly complex –
you essentially spend the game going
from A to B, encountering something
grisly, and rerouting to C – but it’s
easy to invest in these children, and
there’s a constant underlying sense
of mystery. Why does the Inquisition
want Hugo? Is his sickness a variant

of the plague, or something more?

In fact, is this the Black Death from

history, or a supernatural sickness?

There’s a sense that fantastical

elements are creeping in at the edges

of A Plague Tale’s historical setting,

but for the most part it keeps them

there – at the fringes, just out of sight.

Early in the game, you might overhear

panicked villagers talking about

vampires. Are they just struggling to

comprehend the spreading plague,

or could they be onto something? It

adds another strand of tension to the

narrative, as you keep waiting for the

other shoe to drop.

Of course, that’s nothing next to

continually fearing for the safety

of these two kids. Eventually you’ll

become inured to seeing guards catch

up with Amicia, or rats overrunning

her, biting at any soft flesh they can

find as they drag her to the ground.

They’re just game over screens,

and if you’re anything like us you’ll

eventually start seeing a lot of them.

But the story never lets you settle – it

never guarantees the safety of Amicia

or Hugo – and, even as some of the

mechanics grow a little stale, that

keeps A Plague Tale feeling breathless

across its 12-hour runtime. Q

BORE-CRAFT

At its best, A Plague

Tale is a tightly

focused game.

There’s no

open-world

nonsense, not much

in the way of

collectibles... but

there is a crafting

mechanic. You can

scoop up resources

to craft equipment

upgrades and also

ammunition for your

slingshot. The latter

often isn’t optional,

and can be the only

solution to a puzzle,

forcing you to spend

the bits you were

saving for an upgrade.

Crafting feels like a

distraction, sending

Amicia off into corners

to hoover up

resources when she

should be running for

her life.

“There’s a sense

that fantastical

elements

are creeping

in at the edges”

FAR LEFT Many of

us, as kids, were

told not to play

with fire. Not

so, it seems, for

Amicia and Hugo.

RIGHT Moments of

tenderness

between the two

kids help you

invest in their

relationship.

OXM VERDICT

A simple stealth

game, elevated by

its tense

atmosphere and

characters.

8

ABOVE Escaping a

rat-infested

area is a

genuine relief.

And a reason to

seek out the

nearest shower.

More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 089

REVIEW