A Plague Tale: Requiem Review – Ambitious Sequel

The release of A Plague Tale: Innocence in May 2019 was something of a revelation. It was a game from the French studio Asobo, who had a lot of experience in the field of development, but with Plague Tale they managed something relatively unprecedented. They have created a great adventure game that can compete with AAA games in some ways. In short, the emotional story of siblings Amicia and Hugo has captivated gamers around the world, so it’s no wonder the enthusiasm flared up when the second installment, subtitled “Requiem”, was announced. It was clear from the start that Asobo had higher goals for themselves this time around, and they really want to create a complete AAA experience. Find out if they succeeded in this review.

• Platform: PC, PlayStation 5 (review), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch (cloud)
• Publication date: 10/18/2022
• Developer: Studio Asobo
• Publisher: Focus Entertainment
• Genre: adventure game
• Czech localization: yes (subtitles)
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 46 GB (PS5)
• Game time: 18 hours
• Price: €49.99 (Steam), CZK 1489 (Xbox Store), CZK 1599 (PlayStation Store), available on Game Pass

More ambitious in every way

A Plague Tale: Requiem takes place approximately six months after the events of the first volume. Amicia and Hugo could at least live a peaceful life for a while, but Hugo’s condition begins to deteriorate, and even the Order itself is at a loss. However, a little boy from the De Rune family begins to have a dream where he finds himself on some island whose miraculous water will heal him. Is this the way to permanently get rid of the macula?

From the very first moments, Requiem seems to be a much more ambitious project than Innocence. First of all, you will probably be interested in the graphic page, which is at an absolutely top level. Of course, even number one looked quite good, but you could still say that it was an AA title, and Requiem can be safely compared with the best. Great detail, elaborate character models, great lighting and reflections or cinematography in cutscenes have all come a long way from Innocence. But, unfortunately, here we are already faced with the first negative. For all these wonderful things have taken their toll.

It’s about optimization, which was just terrible during my game. It’s a clean title for the current generation and you can tell it visually, but I also hope it will mean a smooth experience on consoles. Unfortunately, this is not entirely true. The game does not offer any graphics modes, although you do have a choice. Requiem is targeted at 30fps by default, but if you enable 120Hz mode on your system, the game will run at up to 40fps. When I played, there was often a problem with the game supporting at least 30 fps, and it even dropped to the “lower twenties”, but the subsequent patch brought some improvement. In any case, I do not want to discuss it in detail, we have prepared a technical analysis for you. All you need to know is that the optimization didn’t quite go as expected and I was really missing the 60 FPS mode option.

Rat tsunami

In terms of gameplay, the base is no different from Innocence, but there is a lot of new stuff. In addition to the slingshot, Amicia also has a crossbow in her outfit, new alchemy items and knives have been added for the most necessary protection in close combat. Just like in Innocence, you have the freedom to choose how to progress through the levels. Against human enemies, you can use weapons, some alchemy devices, or just try to sneak around. Amicia’s abilities related to this can then be improved, but this is solved a little non-standard. New perks are earned by playing the game. So, if you prefer the stealth approach, you’ll get new stealth-related abilities, but of course the approaches can be combined and direct confrontation isn’t always avoided.

In addition, however, there is also the improvement of equipment, which you, of course, can already influence. I really welcomed the decision to separate alchemy and exactly the equipment that is upgraded in Requiem with tools and scrap, and the ingredients you use exclusively for various alchemical concoctions. This completely removed the somewhat annoying over-limited inventory element from the first game. In this way, Requiem can reward you for actually exploring individual locations, but at the same time, does not prevent you from following only the main path.

Of course, not only people will resist you there, but also rats. Lots of rats. The developers already said before the release that thanks to the new consoles, they were able to immediately introduce many times more rats into the game, and it really shows. Hordes of rats are absolutely scary and will constantly harass you along the way. What’s more, their AI is a bit better, and the same can be said for people who, in my opinion, are quicker to notice when you’re sneaking around. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the AI ​​of your companions. They don’t always stick to you and are often in full view of the guards, even if the game ignores it. But this is not a mistake in the truest sense of the word, because it is quite difficult to solve something like this. While this aspect is a little underwhelming, it’s better than being overly disappointing.

Painful Journey

However, by far the most important part of the game is the story, there is no doubt about it from the first moments. The path to potential healing is full of obstacles, sadness, but also happy moments. In addition, Amicia and Hugo will meet several new characters who will become their companions at least for a while, and you will get to know their life stories. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that Requiem puts the most emphasis on Hugo and Amishie, and the game delivers exactly what you’d expect. This is especially facilitated by the excellent performance of Charlotte McBurney as Amicia and Logan Hanna, who voiced Hugo. I definitely have to mention the excellent Lucas played by Keith Connor. The dialogue is very well written, and all this is helped by well-practiced facial expressions, which, unfortunately, are somewhat let down by the already mentioned frame rate, which also suffers in cutscenes. However, you will certainly be pleased at least by the fact that the game has Czech subtitles and this is a good translation, so almost everyone will be able to enjoy the game thanks to this.

But back to the pair of siblings, whose mutual bond is really strong, despite the fact that they go through a lot of stressful moments during the journey and, of course, they cannot avoid some conflicts. In any case, the development of characters and relationships is portrayed very believably, just like in Innocence. As you progress through the game, you’ll feel like you’re on a roller coaster, with sad moments interspersed with bright moments, and the game is able to portray those transitions perfectly. One day you are enjoying a beautiful sunny day and in a few seconds you have to fight off rats.

In my opinion, Requiem has a very strong opening, and although the middle may seem a little slower to some, the stomping last third fully compensates for this. In any case, I want to note that this is a very dark and sometimes even cruel case. Number one was already like that and it was clear that the developers were not afraid to kill important characters, but Requiem once again went a little further. The game also frequently touches on moral issues, mainly the issue of killing people. Here I have to highlight Charlotte McBurney’s acting again, because Amicia’s monologues (and dialogues) about doubting her own actions are fantastic.

There are a lot of strong emotional moments in the game, and all of them are accompanied by the absolutely famous soundtrack from Olivier Derivier, who almost outdid himself. Innocence already had great music, but here the French composer took it to the next level. The individual melodies are relatively simple, so they are easy to remember, and they immediately tell whether danger is approaching or a moment of calm will come. The intensity of the music will tell about it. Here, the developers really played with the sound, and this also applies to the sound design, which does not lag behind the soundtrack that I so praised.

Within reach of the best

I must say that Requiem is quite a long game for its genre, it will take you about 18 hours to complete. I went into it fearing that it would be like The Last of Us Part II, which I found very drawn out. After all, there were no problems here. The developers alternate dark environments with something more fun, introduce new game mechanics and are not afraid of those that you only use in one level. Therefore, the relatively monotonous gameplay is not so easy, also because the otherwise linear experience is broken by yet another open space where you can explore more. In this regard, I remembered Uncharted 4, for example.

The only problem I encountered was the overuse of so-called set pieces. Moments that you generally control, not to mention, but usually it’s just running away from the rats, where you just hold the lever forward. Of course, all these scenes look really impressive, no pun intended, but it gets a little old after a while. Requiem tends to play up a lot of exciting cinematic moments, so unless you’re into that sort of thing, you probably won’t be thrilled. On the other hand, the title makes up for it with a lot of real content in the form of the levels themselves, where you can even go off the beaten track and look at some collectibles.

The authors have made it even easier for you. Whereas in the first game you could only restart individual chapters, in Requiem you can jump directly to a specific section of a given chapter. And this is a logical decision, because the chapters this time are much longer. After completing the game, the New Game+ mode will also be unlocked for you, so you will definitely have some fun for a while.

At the beginning, I asked if A Plague Tale: Requiem was a AAA experience. And my answer is yes, but not without compromises. The title looks nice and plays great, but every now and then the game is spoiled by minor technical flaws such as the already mentioned optimization, AI companions, strange camera jerks, as well as short animations, interrupting conversations or shouting out characters when there are a lot of enemies around them. It’s something that blockbuster developers are simply better at.

But in general, does it matter? No. A Plague Tale: Requiem is a unique experience that suffers from a few technical flaws, but otherwise it’s a great journey from start to finish. Innocence laid the foundation, and the developers at Asobo Studio were able to build on it something even better in Requiem. So if you liked the first part, then the second will definitely not disappoint you. On the contrary, it may even surprise you in several ways. And if you just love story games, you don’t want to miss this dark journey. I can guarantee you that this is one of the best games of its kind in the last few years.