What you need to know before playing A Plague Tale: Requiem - Innocence story recap and more explained

One of the biggest positives of A Plague Tale: Innocence, which A Plague Tale: Requiem will surely seek to emulate and build upon, is the story it tells and the characters that are present in the title. Asobo Studio did an excellent job of creating an immersive 14th-century medieval France, reeling from the Hundred Years' War and the Black Death as players followed Amicia and Hugo.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is set to continue the tale of the de Rune siblings as they embark "on a heartrending journey into a brutal, breathtaking world twisted by supernatural forces." The story will pick up from where it concluded at the end of A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Players will have a better grasp of it once they are aware of the earlier game's narrative. This article helps players navigate the narrative of A Plague Tale: Innocence before they dive into the latest game.

---

Everything to know about A Plague Tale: Innocence

The primary protagonist of Innocence is Amicia de Rune, the 15-year-old daughter of a prominent French lord, and her younger brother Hugo, who is around five years old. Hugo suffers from a mysterious illness that has kept him isolated from others while their mother, Beatrice, tries to cure him.

At the beginning of the game, they lived in Aquitaine during the Hundred Years' War. Amicia shares a closer relationship with her father than her mother, and early-on players will see the pair go out into the forest hunting. Soon French Inquisition soldiers, led by Lord Nicholas, arrive at the de Rune house and seek Hugo.

They kill everyone they come across, including executing her father. Beatrice helps the siblings escape and instructs Amicia to take Hugo to Laurentius, who is his doctor. Beatrice is seemingly killed as the two run away. Hugo does not realize that and Amicia convinces him to follow her with the promise that they will later meet up with their mother.

In their search for Laurentius, who can help Hugo with his illness, the siblings have to contend with soldiers, villagers and hordes of plague-spreading rats. When they finally make their way to Laurentius' farm, they find him extremely ill from the Bite. The doctor explains that the de Rune lineage contains "an ancient evil" that is present in Hugo's blood.

This is the reason behind Hugo's illness and spells of headaches and dizziness. instructs Amicia to complete her mother's work. Amicia and Hugo escapes the farm before it is completely overrun by rats along with the doctor's apprentice. They look to reach the Chateau d'Ombrage, an old castle that belonged to the de Rune family.

As they make their way towards their destination and in one of the most poignant moments in A Plague Tale: Innocence, the three of them cross a battlefield littered with dead bodies from the war. Hugo, with childish innocence, wonders if it hurts the dead ones when they walk over them.

Lucas further explains that Hugo's blood contains the Prima Macula, something that has affected the bloodline since the Plague of Justinian, and that Laurentius and Beatrice were working to find a cure. However, Vitalis Benevent, the Grand Inquisitor of France, wants Hugo's power for himself so through that he and the Inquisition can rule France.

During their journey, Hugo and Amicia are momentarily captured by English soldiers but manage to escape with the help of sibling thieves Melie and Arthur, although the latter is caught while the others make their way to the Chateau d'Ombrage.

Amicia is able to bring back the Sanguinis Itinera, which Lucas needs to complete the elixir that can help Hugo. During this, Melie also rescues her brother who tells the group back at the Chateau that Beatrice is alive but imprisoned. Amicia decides on not telling Hugo but by then he had overheard the entire conversation.

The anger regarding the deception worsens Hugo's condition. Amicia and Lucas go back to the de Rune estate to search for Beatrice's research and prepare the elixir. They are able to concoct it in a hidden laboratory and give it to Hugo. Angry that Amicia lied to him, Hugo decides to run away to the Inquisition in order to find Beatrice.

Vitalis is able to inject himself with Hugo's blood but he cannot command the full power of Prima Macula because of the elixir that was earlier administered. Hugo, meanwhile, is able to escape and find Beatrice. She points out to him that the power of the Macula lets him control the rats.

Still fuelled by the anger against Amicia and the looming threat against Beatrice's life from Vitalis, Hugo guides the rats to swarm and attack the Chateau d'Ombrage. Nicholas appears alongside Hugo and kills Arther. He orders Hugo to kill Amicia, but through an emotional appeal, the latter is able to reach out to her brother and convince him to take Nicholas down.

They decide to take Vitalis head on. By then, the Grand Inquisitor has bred his own army of rats against which Amicia and Hugo clash. A lengthy battle follows, at the end of which the siblings are able to kill Vitalis.

The final chapter of A Plague Tale: Innocence, called 'For Each Other', takes place three days after the battle took place. The plague and the rats have seemingly subsided. The de Rune family intends to leave Aquitaine for good.

Although people look at Hugo strangely, he has accepted that is how it is going to be. The final shot showcases the cart slowly moving away as the children can be heard giggling and hopeful for a better future. A Plague Tale: Requiem will take this narrative further.