Five years later, The Legend of Plague： Innocence is still one of the best games to describe infectious diseases.
Since ancient times, the struggle between human beings and infectious diseases has never stopped. From cholera, smallpox and plague to the notorious Ebola virus, infectious diseases, like a sword of Damocles, are always hanging over human heads.
The "Black Death", also known as the plague, which once raged in Europe in the 14th century, originated in southwest Asia and spread to Europe around 1340s, and it was what Europe called it at that time. This plague killed about 75 million people all over the world, among which about 30%-60% people in Europe died of the Black Death.
A Plague Tale: Innocence is an adventure game set in the 14th century French Black Death. With its unique perspective, it combines historical events, fantasy elements and profound discussion of human nature, bringing a shocking adventure to players.
This game was released five years ago today (May 15th, 2019). At that time, its appearance may seem a little abrupt, and it was labeled as 2A production, which was above the indie game, but it was not superior, and it could only be regarded as a medium-sized game. However, it still left a deep impression on players with its wonderful role-building and story development.
Although in recent years, games with the theme of deadly diseases, plagues and other diseases are not uncommon, almost no game can be compared with the story of the plague: Innocence. This game almost truly restored the epidemic situation of that year: the ruthless trial of religion, the destruction of one village after another, the abuse of lynching by ignorant villagers, the helpless killing for survival, and the help of a few people with conscience. ……
Even though the game story is somewhat mysterious in explaining the source of the outbreak, it does present a series of real effects that infectious diseases will cause in reality. Moreover, in order to enhance the drama, some of the influences are indeed exaggerated, but it has also brought a strong shock to the characters and players in the play. Up to now, it is still widely regarded as one of the best works depicting such events.
Just like many games with virus as the theme, games with medieval history as the background are not uncommon. In The Story of the Plague: Innocence, whether it is a sunny town, a wilderness full of dead pigs, a battlefield littered with dead bodies, or an empty and lonely castle, the development team restores every scene to the medieval appearance as much as possible, creating a strong visual impact.
The most unforgettable thing in the game is that the protagonist group needs to cross a battlefield. There are corpses left in the war and people and animals who died of plague everywhere. Piles of dead bodies are all over the grass, and countless greedy mice are in droves, ready to pounce on the protagonist group trying to cross.
Although compared with real life, these large numbers of mice are undoubtedly exaggerated, this is one of the reasons why The Tale of the Plague: Innocence was highly praised at that time.
The game was set in France in 1349, when the plague was raging in the kingdom of France. The heroine Amisia’s family was suddenly pursued by the inquisition. Amisia, who witnessed her father’s tragic death, fled with her young brother Hugo in a hurry and began their bumpy escape journey.
Judging from the whole work, the plague is just a "fuse" floating on the surface. Although the plague raged, ironically, most of the main characters in the game did not die of the plague. What is really fatal is the selfishness, greed and malice of human nature.
Generally speaking, this is a low-cost and high-quality game, which has many advantages, such as wonderful plot, distinctive character and excellent dubbing, pictures and so on. At the same time, there are also shortcomings, such as fighting and solving puzzles with low sense of existence, which can be regarded as a plot masterpiece of "flaws do not cover Yu".
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