Recoding motherliness and femininity in the plague tale game series

This article presents a feminist critical reading of the Plague Tale game series, addressing the lack of complex portrayals of mothers and mothering in games. Through close reading using Ruddick’s maternal thinking framework as an analytical lens, it focuses on how narrative, gameplay, and character design depict player-character Amicia’s ‘motherly sister’ role, positioning motherliness as a uniquely feminine strength. Particular attention is given to Amicia’s psychological and emotional conflicts and their reflection of real-world lived experiences of mothers, demonstrated through interconnected themes of bonding and tension, childliness and growth, and maternal guilt and power. The analysis also explores the reversal of gendered role dynamics, with male characters occupying support roles traditionally assigned to females, further signifying the centrality of feminine strength. These male characters are also imbued with motherly thinking traits, demonstrating how ‘motherliness’ can enhance complex gender role representations across the gender spectrum. Positioned as a ‘Double-A’ title between the experimental indie and risk-averse but wider-reaching ‘Triple-A’ sectors, Plague Tale’s critical and commercial success demonstrates the market viability of mothering and caregiving narratives in games. As such, it provides a significant contribution to progressive advancement of gender role and motherhood discourses in games culture and industry practice.