Anyone here going to play this game? How is it?

Just a quick thread about your thoughts on the game, whether that's about you playing it, even knowing about it, or having no plans at all to play the game. It definitely looks interesting to me, and it was only a few days ago that I started seeing it for the first time.

Just in case there are those, like me, that didn't really know anything about the game. The voice work is... not great? Maybe it's just the snippets from what I've seen. I think another thing might be immersion. I mean, it seems like a game that's supposed to make you think about a real, terrible event in history [black plague] and the realities of death/killing, and yet there are rats that can devour you like in Dishonored? The juxtaposition between gamey-ness and realism; maybe that doesn't actually matter though. Alright, so what do you guys think? Getting it, not getting it, maybe getting it, already got it?

Okay, so the 'realism' doesn't actually seem to be an issue from what I'm reading as it's not really trying to go for that. Seems like a game worth checking out! I think I'm going to get it. Very interesting; not too often that a game comes out of seemingly nowhere and looks good enough to get. I'm really curious to see what others think of it if they get their hands on it. I haven't read or watched a whole lot about the game (just enough to want it now), but people are throwing comparisons like The Last of Us, Hellblade, Thief, Tale of Two Brothers, etc. out there. It's about a 10 to 15 hour linear, story-based experience. It's also only $49.99.

(Oh, and I just bought it.)

I'm on chapter 2 now. This game is very good so far. It may turn people off, but this is very, very linear, like Ryse and Order 1886 if you will, but it's not an issue to me. There are a few areas you can wander off to, to hear incidental dialogue or pick up collectibles, as well as hear your character speak about something in the environment. It feels like a game that pretty much wants you to only play one way, and also blocks off areas you can't yet reach with invisible walls. Visuals and sound are really great. I think visually though they use a lot of chromatic aberration which I'm not a fan of but it's fine. I just wish the animations were a little more detailed if you will, as it's a linear game, the Red Dead Redemption 2 animations come to mind in how it could make it feel more immersive.

That didn't work for everyone in RDR2 since that's an open world game and people just want to get to what they want to do, but I think it could have worked in this game. What I'm talking about is if you have the camera facing the protagonists face and you turn her around so the camera is on her back, her animations change very little. Voice work isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be either, and on a plus side, it does the Metro thing where you can play it in the language of the country they're in if you want that kind of experience. Environmental sound is great as well. I am surprised at how well the soundtrack heightens the experience. It does to me at least. This game is very grim and depressing so there probably won't be a lot of smiles and laughing throughout it (although I won't and can't say it's devoid of laughter and happy stuff), but it's also really compelling. I may marathon this game in two or three sittings.

I really hope others check it out and come on here to say what they think.

I wasn’t really planning on it. This game sort of screams “sale” or “game pass” to me. Building an entire experience around a long escort mission doesn’t seem super appealing looking from the outside in, no matter how cool the rat swarms are.

Depnds on it's length, I might buy it on sale at some point. I remember seeing the first footage of it sometime a year ago I think and I originally thought the premise was interesting and so far the reviews for it seem pretty solid.

@fauxical: It's supposedly surprisingly longer than some had expected, or at least that's what ACG felt. Again, this game felt like it came out of nowhere, at least it did to me, and so it's nice to play something like that, that is well-made. I almost instantly started caring about everything that was going on in the game.

@humanity: Hmm, I guess it is an escort mission game from a story perspective, but I hadn't really thought about it that way from a gameplay perspective. He never really leaves your side and vice versa. You're almost always holding his hand, and when you're separated, it's for story reasons so the kid won't really get hurt. You can always tell him to stay or come, but so far there hasn't been any reason to let go of his hand unless he had to help me get over an obstacle. The only time you fail is if you yourself get caught, or you send him in the path of an enemy that you had to distract for the kid to get past (and that only happened once so far).

There really isn't any 'escort mission' issues that plague the game (you didn't see what I did there, did you?) You're never dealing with a dumb A.I. companion that's going to walk himself into danger. Plus, if you do ever get caught, the checkpoint system is lax. The only time the kid got caught was when I was testing to see if he could get caught by sending him forward. So far the biggest issue I have just comes down to wishing it had better animations. Even during cutscenes, we're used to mocapped actors, and maybe that's what happened in this game, but it hardly seems like it. It's the 'biggest' issue, but it's not actually a big issue. I'm surprised by the quality of this game; it's much higher than I was expecting.

The game is easy, but it's still kind of intense because there are moments where you're being chased, or it feels like you have to hurry to do something. I really enjoy it. I'll have to finish the game to see if any escort mission crap gets in the way, but so far that's not really what the game is about aside from it being a part of the story.

@ntm: Thats good to know. There are a few games where you're constantly saddled with a weaker companion that I didn't mind in the past. I guess Ico comes to mind as the first thing - I thought she did what she was supposed to do and apart from the enemy encounters where you have to protect her (the princess) it wasn't an issue. Still, it is a game that I'm willing to wait for. Although I understand the passion. I bought Vampyr day one because I liked Remember Me and thought the premise was cool but I could tell not that many people were going to really see it as a compelling first day purchase.

@humanity: The game doesn't have that many issues so far, unless what the game is, is an issue, like the linearity of it. It also has clearly designed paths and ways to get past enemies. The A.I. isn't doing anything new or special, they're very basic field of view, on predictable patrol pattern enemies; honestly, you could insert this song into some parts and it'd be hilariously fitting. The thing that makes it higher stakes though is that if you're caught during the stealth moments, you're pretty much dead since you die in one hit. Their lack a varied behavior doesn't really bother me though as it feels totally intentional, like a simple puzzle if you will. The game is even less of an escort mission-like game than Ico was. Ico and RE4 come to mind when I think of escort mission games, and this game doesn't really feel like those (although, I suppose I have seen an Ico comparison). Obviously, it's up to you to wait, but this seems like a game that might pleasantly surprise people. I could be wrong. I don't want to say for certain, but it does kind of feel like the Hellblade for this year (albeit, obviously it's not dealing with the same stuff exactly). That said, from what I understand, it's longer. I'm going to continue it now.

Can you set it to French VO with subtitles? It seems like would help a bit.

@hayt: Yes, although I wish you could set it to native language for everything as it's not just French in the game. I use English, it's fine. They do a good enough job.

This has been on top of my wishlist since they put out that teaser in 2017, and I'm loving every second of it now that I have my hands on it. French VO with english subs is definitely how I prefer playing it. The game is technically an escort mission, though Hugo isn't with you at all times either. But since he's pretty much holding your hand for the duration, you don't get any of the usual escort mission problems, like him dying or being discovered. The only time he can give the game away is if you leave him behind for too long, and he starts panicking.

I do agree that it is very akin to Hellblade, in production value and the depth of the systems. For me though, that's high praise, since Helblade is probably my game of this generation.

The game is very polished, and I've not run into a single bug that I can remember so far. I love that someone is still making these kinds of games. Give it up for the French, I guess. Absolutely recommended.

I just finished it. It took me about 11 and a half hours to complete. It was a good game. It was just the animations and some of the dialogue/voice work that could have been done slightly better, but otherwise, it was good. There is definitely combat in this game, especially later in the game, and that's not a strong suit, but more often than not it's always basically a puzzle, like how to take out enemies before they reach you and kill you using your items. Something I recommend, which I didn't do until about 75 percent of the way through the game is turned on auto-aim fully. I generally hate auto aim, but this game isn't really a shooter, so it's fine. It just helps you get through the 'puzzles' if you will.

I liked the characters, but at the same time I felt like a lot of it was kind of cliche, and they don't really give that much backstory to care for the characters as much as you could. The story is okay. I liked the environments fine, but overall it was the variety of things you do in the linear path through the game. Now, it's not all variety, but they give you new items to work with and new ways to go about similar situations that make it feel fresh. I don't know if I'll play it again, but if I do I'll test the French vo next time. I'm not sure if a sequel is in the developer's thoughts, and the end certainly doesn't end on any kind of cliffhanger nor clearly hints at what could come next, but I can imagine another one happening. It'd be cool if a sequel happened and the quality was higher in some of the more 'B' quality areas.

If you're someone that goes 'no, single player games aren't dead! I love the single player, storied games...' this is for you.

@draugen: Actually, a lot of it isn't even an escort mission (mainly from a story perspective mind you); only about half.

@draugen: Oh, once you finish it, I hope you come back and say what you think of it. This totally feels like a game a lot of people are going to miss, but it's one that I think a bunch might want to play.

THIS IS THE GREATEST GAME OF ALL TIME!

But for real this was AT LEAST a 9/10 or we don't speak the same language. This and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice are gems that are not made often. The story and characters, graphics and environment were so immersive. LOve love love this

I finished this today, I only got it yesterday. I couldn't stop playing it, honestly it's come out of nowhere to be one of my favourite games of the year. I had no expectations at all, which is always a treat.

The environments were so well crafted, and the characters felt very lifelike. One thing that stood out to me was the way it managed to balance the pace of the game so well. Nothing outstayed its welcome, and it earned those adrenaline pumping moments in the chase sequences. It was put together with the sort of competence and care I'd expect for Uncharted or something, the quality was up there.

If you enjoy story driven narrative games I'd give this a shot. It's mostly a stealth and puzzle game, and it does well with both.

@gerrid: I’m hoping for a sale before end-of-year (Xbox digital). Push comes to shove, though, I’ll spend the $50.

I played the free demo chapter and thought it was really cool, lots of potential. I’m a sucker for a good story, and I was very much into the hour or so I played...I could see myself very much enjoying this one.

@nutter: Do yourself a favour and don't read or look at anything more about it. It is on sale on Steam at the moment if you can, until tomorrow at least.

@gerrid: Yeah, I tend to read VERY little about games. I just play stuff that seems cool. The bar for quality is so much higher than in the 80s, 90s, and oughts, making the risk pretty low.

Anyhow, advice headed!

@gerrid: Yeah, I tend to read VERY little about games. I just play stuff that seems cool. The bar for quality is so much higher than in the 80s, 90s, and oughts, making the risk pretty low.

Anyhow, advice heeded!

@nutter: It's on sale on Xbox Live right now actually. Half off. I bought it yesterday and I'm about halfway through. I don't really love stealth or horror games but this one has me hooked pretty hard. It's easy and definitely not quite at AAA levels of polish (though it looks gorgeous; the cut scenes aren't particularly dynamic and the animations are nowhere near Naughty Dog levels) but it's a really engaging story and the mechanics are...fine. It plays fine. It's really about the story, environments, atmosphere, etc...

It reminds me a lot of The Last of Us in a number of ways. It's definitely not as good as that game, and it's much less mechanically interesting, but considering The Last of Us is one of the best games ever made, a step down from that is still pretty great. Highly recommended!

@bigsocrates: Thanks! Bought it last night, actually.

This, Life is Strange 2, and Judgment are my games to finish, I think...I probably won’t get through them by GOTY stuff, but I’ll give it a shot!

Just finished this game on Game Pass. Fantastic game from start to finish. I don't know how well it did commercially but I'm comfortable calling it an underrated gem. Feels very much like The Last of Us meets Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, but I liked A Plague Tale better than either of those games. The story, the graphics, all of the audio design from voice acting to music to the special effects, top notch. Despite some supernatural elements I like how grounded it feels, Amicia never evolves into a killing machine like Lara Croft. The stealth is a little generic with guards who have no idea what's happening around them, but that's every stealth game. There are a few blemishes here and there that you wouldn't find on a Naughty Dog game, but that's nitpicking. Despite some surprisingly ghastly horror scenes the game world is quite beautiful and I'm going right back to get the collectibles I missed (the game looks like it's a relatively easy 1,000 Gamerscore if you need additional reason to go get it). Highly recommended.

@apewins: It sold over a million copies and is supposed to be getting a sequel.

I definitely preferred the first two thirds of the game to the final third, and especially the very end, but it's a really good game, especially for a mid-budget title. I am interested to see where the sequel goes. There are obviously a lot of potential directions, but I really hope it gets back to the more grounded and personal story it was telling towards the beginning and doesn't lean in to the ending. The opening hours were really quite affecting, and also fun, even for someone who isn't into stealth games.

@bigsocrates: Glad to hear it did so well. It's obviously not for everyone and used a real turn-off idea, my family won't be in the same room I am if I decide to play this. It's the best answer for a blockbuster game, one you rented for the weekend on a whim and it was cool. Given its budget, you can see the love and push later in the game to try to get the narrative to work with the gameplay and assets. It's not gonna knock your socks off, but it's different, in a weird way. Didn't have a strong feeling about the game and got frustrated more than excited. It's a game you kinda just go through to go through, not cause it's DOOM levels of excitement or splinter cell levels of methodical. It's kinda just there and not annoying. Great work for what it's worth just not for everyone.

I liked this game quite a bit! Been wanting to do another playthrough. I’m glad it sold as well as it did.

It's on my list of games I'll play before they leave game pass.