Talk:Rat Plague/@comment-208.15.230.100-20131122064204/@comment-136.159.160.248-20140307001258

A lot of the things in-game were based on London, the plague was a dead (no pun intended) giveaway, not only in the naming but also in the symptoms; though the bubonic plague did not cause blood to run from the eyes, it did turn the skin and flesh of those effected black, hence the name "Black Death", there was one share symptom: vomiting of blackened blood in the late stages of the disease. The Tower of Dunwell corresponds with the Tower of London, being the seat of power for an island nation; also the Kaldwin's Bridge and its moving bridge deck is a direct reference to the London Bridge. There were a lot of dog-pit betting in Medieval England, serving as the main source of entertainment for the working class, which is reflected in the history of the Hounds Pits Pub, and on some instances pit a dog against a pack of rabid rats. Though swarms of rats did not attack and eat people very often in Medieval London, they did eat corpses, the chronically ill, and in some instances, children (if you've ever seen a sewer rat you'd understand, those things are HUGE); I am sincerely grateful that there were no children in the game aside from Emily. The Abbey of the Everyday Man is based off the Protestant Church, who directly intervened with any attempts to find a cure for the plague, calling it punishment from Heaven.

Despite all the blaring similarities though, I really must commend Arkane Studios' ability at making the game easy to relate to yet at the same time addictively interesting, even though it's based from one of the most tragic and disturbing periods of human history. Finding that balance between real-world references and fanciful creations is a fine line to tread indeed.