*A video version of this review is available here. https://youtu.be/mceKyaHByl0 If you check it out, lemme know you are from Steam in the comments so I can work out how useful writing reviews for Steam is.

*If anyone is intending to re upload this review elsewhere, please get in touch via my Youtube contact emails and provide links when you re-post- Thanks!!


Hey there, your friendly neighbourhood goth here, let’s get miserable.

So eh, welcome to my review for Vermintide’s unofficial prequel - with more rats hunting you at night than Charlie Day has in his nightmares.
So if you like your Walnut Whips 6 ft tall and made of killer plague rats, more orphaned flavoured tragedy than watching every version of of a Christmas Carol back to back, and a late game aesthetic that had papa Nurgle calling his copyright lawyer, then hold on to your sling because this might be the loss and despair simulator for you.

Plague Tale sees you tasked with dodging the inquisition as 5 go mad in medieval France, surrounded by rabid Catholics and child bothering rats- though sadly, that sentence works both ways around.
Set in a lovingly re-created, beautiful looking (‘til the rats turn up) slice of France, on a coming of age adventure that will have you: solving puzzles, sneaking past guards -or pummeling their heads in with stones depending on how you roll- and making friends!
Set within a dual narrative based on the both the personal aspect of finding a cure for your little brother (who has a fairly serious case of the sniffles), and the larger more epic scale aspect of solving the mystery of the rat infestation and plague that has blighted the world in general- and the lives specifically of the main cast of little tikes.

This game is exceptional, whereas the Blair Witch left me disappointed with its attempts at spooky, this game’s excesses please me- despite the slightly too whimsical Ratmagneto phase- however the emotional stuff is all spot on with the writing and voice acting being a cut above.

Plague Tale does somewhat depart from historic adventure into historic fantasy- so if you like your history served without a mixer this might not be as historically accurate as you would prefer.
The game itself is a fairly linear mix of stealth, puzzle solving, emotions and combat with many areas being approachable with a range of methods- depending on personal preference, or the extent to which you desire to turn the small children you play as into mass murderers.

All in all, one of the best games I have played for narrative and balance of gameplay elements with stealth games often frustrating me, while in this case I find the stealth both challenging and rewarding. All this despite Plague Tale not being Dune 2 or Warhammer related- at least not directly.

If you enjoy good narrative, don’t break out in plague hives in contact with a linear focused story, crave ambitious games that make the most of an almost accurate, relatively underused, historic setting, this game provides that with bountiful bubonic brilliance.
Even the characters behave like humans with depth and consistency rather than fantasy or sci-fi wizard-elves fighting for some epic excessive and almost intangible aim while often lacking any sort of relatable core.
If any of this resonates with you, then this 'Please God don’t let my kid brother get eaten by packs of insane...fluffy...red eyed..... priests I mean rats!’ -simulator, is the game for you.

Rebus out,

If you enjoy this review, please check out more, or join the group.
It has been a while since I wrote a review for Steam, if you want there to be more, make it known.