On A Plague Tale: Innocence, the player assumes control of Amicia de Rune from a third-person perspective. For most of the game, players must use stealth to avoid hostile encounters, as enemies will instantly kill Amicia if they catch her. Amicia is equipped with a sling that can throw stones to break chains, create distractions, or stun guards long enough for rats to ambush them; she can kill them with a shot to the head. Her sling also has the ability to throw many other things; some of which can start fires, put out fires, and attract rats to a particular location.
A Plague Tale: Innocence Synopsis
The game consists of a series of survival puzzles, mostly methods to drive away or distract hordes of hungry rats in order to gain access to new areas or direct them towards enemies. The primary method of keeping rats away is fire, as they rarely come within a radius of burning torches and braziers. Amicia can craft special ammunition and supplies, including fire-lighting brimstone stones that ignite braziers, stink bombs that attract rats, or fire suppressants to extinguish torches carried by enemies.
Amicia's younger brother Hugo can direct himself towards specific tasks when Amicia is busy. However, this is risky as Hugo will start to panic if he is left alone and it may attract unwanted attention. Later in the game, the player can take control of Hugo, who cannot craft items, but can control rats and sneak into small spaces. All of these abilities combine when the brothers team up in the late game to survive and defeat the Inquisition.
Ancestry
At the end of 1348, Amicia of Rune is a young woman of noble descent who lives with her family in Aquitaine, which has been invaded by the English army during the Hundred Years War. Her younger brother, Hugo, has been ill since he was born; her mother, Beatrice, an alchemist, has locked him up in the family estate for years while trying to devise a cure. While she hunts with her father Robert hers in the forest, Amicia finds signs of plague and her dog Lion is horribly consumed by an invisible entity.
Inquisition troops led by Lord Nicholas arrive at Rune's estate in search of Hugo, executing Robert and several servants. Beatrice helps her children escape her and tells Amicia to take Hugo to her doctor Laurentius; before the Inquisition apparently kills Beatrice. The children flee to a village, where they learn that hordes of hungry rats have been spreading the Black Death (known as the Bite) and devouring everything they find.
Climax
Evading the hostile villagers, who blame the travelers for the plague, and the soldiers of the Inquisition, Amicia and Hugo arrive at Laurentius' farm and find him bedridden after being bitten by a rat. Laurentius implores Amicia to finish her mother's job. Amicia and Hugo flee the rats with their apprentice Lucas to search for the hidden castle of Ombrage, which once belonged to the Rune family.
As they evade rats and invading English soldiers, Lucas explains that Hugo's blood carries a supernatural evil called Prima Macula, which has lain dormant within certain noble bloodlines since the Plague of Justinian. Beatrice and Laurentius had been trying to find an elixir that would alleviate Hugo's symptoms, while Vitalis Benevent; the Grand Inquisitor seeks Hugo for the taint. Hugo and Amicia are briefly captured; but they escape with the help of the robber brothers Melie and Arthur; Arthur is captured while the others escape to the Château d'Ombrage.
Lucas needs a forbidden book called Sanguinis Itinera to complete the elixir that can help Hugo. Amicia infiltrates the university near the Bastion of Vitalis (the headquarters of the Inquisition, in a cathedral) to retrieve the book while Melie rescues Arthur. Amicia retrieves the book and meets a young blacksmith named Rodric; who helps her escape from it. Arthur heard while incarcerated that Beatrice de Rune is in the custody of the Inquisition. Amicia insists that they not tell Hugo; but he overhears the conversation and his condition deteriorates. Amicia and Lucas return to Rune's estate in search of Beatrice's investigation.
A Plague Tale: Innocence conclusion
In a hidden laboratory in nearby Roman ruins they complete the elixir and administer it to Hugo to alleviate his symptoms. Angry at his sister for not telling him the truth, Hugo flees to the Inquisition to find Beatrice. Vitalis injects himself with Hugo's blood so that he can possess the power of the macula; but Lucas's elixir has delayed his development.
Hugo escapes from custody and finds Beatrice. Before recapturing her, she reveals that the macula gives her the power to control rats. Vitalis wants the same power; Defying the church's orders to stop, he tells his men that he wants to control the rats to end the plague; which will give Vitalis great political power. He threatens Beatrice's life to force Hugo's powers to fully awaken. Château d’Ombrage is attacked by a swarm of rats led by Lord Nicholas and Hugo, still angry at Amicia.
Nicholas kills Arthur and orders Hugo to kill Amicia, but she reconciles with Hugo and they work together to overwhelm Nicholas with rats. Since the castle is no longer safe, the children decide that with the power of the rats they can take the fight to the Inquisition and rescue Beatrice. All of this in A Plague Tale: Innocence.
