A Plague Tale: Innocence surprised me, turning into one of the better games I've played this year despite my lower expectations. This can be in part blamed on my own lack of research on the game, something that happens with me at times when I go into a game blind. What I thought was going to be a straightforward narrative adventure game set in the Black Plague turned out to be a stealth action romp in an alternate history Black Plague where magical bloodlines are afoot.

This shift in perception happened pretty quickly, throwing aside my misconceptions right at the end of Chapter 1 (RIP Leon), and thrusting me headlong into an engaging, twisted, and darkly fun adventure.

You play as Amicia as she guides her magical younger brother throughout plague-ridden France, dodging evil Inquisitioners and meeting many an unlikely ally along the way. The game mixes stealth with some light combat involving a sling and plenty of environmental puzzles.

But I'm burying the lead a little bit here; the big piece here in a lot of the game is the rats. Swarms of these bastards coat many a floor, turning it into a sort of "floor is lava" like experience. They're only deterred by sources of light, which you have to cleverly toy with using your arsenal of gadgets and alchemical concoctions. These puzzles are well done, and while most are not too difficult, some get especially intriguing as the game mixes in more elements alongside stealth and combat. It ended up being more complex and deep than I expected. My only gripe is a couple of the rat puzzles in particular later into the game were a bit too weirdly vague or required the use of weapons that didn't consistently draw the desired effect from the rat AI.

All of this is blended together into what I can only call a Naughty Dog-inspired series of chapters (especial influence taken from The Last of Us) that expertly pace the player through tender story moments, methodical puzzle/stealth sections, and big bombastic setpieces requiring you to run away or frantically sling baddies in the face. It's well done and had me hooked early on even when I didn't yet understand the full scope of the game's mechanics. Honestly, the only times I didn't enjoy the game were in some of the aforementioned vague later puzzles and some combat instances where the auto-aim the game has for the sling doesn't quite work as intended. It's pretty frustrating dying multiple times in the same section because your sling misses despite being locked on to the enemy's head. That only happened a couple times, thankfully, (and weirdly both with Rodric) so it wasn't a big deal. Shout out to the fun bosses at the tail end as well. Those were both really great tests of the player's handle on the mechanics.

All of this is supported by lovely presentation values to tie it all together. The soundtrack is excellent, also taking some cues from The Last of us but with some of its own medieval twists too. The voice acting was good, though some of the French-accented kids weren't amazing. The visuals were nice to look t as well, assuming you turn off the default Chromatic Aberration setting to Low as otherwise it looks awfully muddied. The graphics aren't quite top tier for a game that came out in 2019, but they're pretty close. What unfortunately brings it down a bit is some of the animation, especially facial animations. They're on the stiff side which is a shame.

The story is dark but endearing, and I really fell in love with all the characters. It's a harrowing tale, showing the lengths these characters will go to to saved loved ones in such an awful time period. I really like the worldbuilding and mystery surrounding the alchemical elements as well. Overall, super intriguing, and the ending while satisfying on its own, also has me excited to see what's next for the franchise.

Special shout out to the team for integrating some of the DualSense's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers for the PS5 port. That was nice to play with and was a surprise given the game's age. I wasn't expecting them to add all that but it really enhanced the experience.

Overall, A Plague Tale: Innocence is a great stealth/action adventure through a fantasy Black Plague that exceeded all my expectations for it. It has some kinks to iron out, but if they continue improving, this series could turn into something extraordinary.

Miles Morales is just a fun video game. It also looks incredible. It's the first game I've played on a 4K TV with HDR, and wow.

I did have some problems with the story. The antagonist's motivation let down their character. Miles and their conflict became frustrating to watch, one that felt like it could have been solved by a sticky note left on the fridge.

As far as the gameplay goes, swinging and fighting continues to be enjoyable. The few new additions to the combat are welcome ones. The stealth is a nice change of pace, but feels half baked and quickly becomes tedious.

I had a good time playing this over the last few days. However, I don't think it's an experience I will reminisce on too much. Ultimately, it just felt like playing more of Spider-Man 2018. Although, this game would be phenomenal to play around Christmas!