Back in 2019, Focus Interactive put out A Plague Tale: Innocence. The lesser known game told the story of Amicia De Rune and her little brother Hugo traveling through a plague-ridden France after their parents are killed by a ruthless inquisition. To say I was captivated with that first game is an understatement as I found their story to reach the emotional highs of a game like The Last of Us despite the final product not featuring enough gameplay in certain areas. A lot of A Plague Tale: Innocence at times feels like an interactive movie that’s compelled to tell a heart-wrenching story rather than be a fun game to play. In many ways, A Plague Tale: Requiem feels like the game a story like this deserves.
Picking up six months after the events of the first game, Requiem follows Amicia, Hugo, and a few other characters that I won’t spoil here as they head to southern France in search of a cure for the sickness that ails Hugo. After a thoughtful and oddly hopeful tutorial, things ruthlessly go south and our characters are right back into a fight for their lives as they traverse this less than forgiving world. First thing of note is that there’s no recap of Innocence so players jumping into Requiem might be a little confused as to who these characters are or what their motives are. But as a player who experienced the first game, I was almost instantly captivated with where the story picks up and the roads it leads too. Those that have been following from the beginning will be rewarded with a chapter that arguably goes to even darker places than Innocence did.
Without diving into spoilers I can safely say that A Plague Tale: Requiem’s story is one of the best I’ve played this year and fans of narrative-driven games owe it to themselves to experience this harrowing and emotional tale. Requiem delivers the kind of story that unfortunately feels like an increasing rarity in today’s gaming landscape.
Gameplay-wise, Requiem features a bevy of improvements over the first game as well. Levels are wider and more open, providing more opportunities for stealth. Not to mention a lot of these environments are drop dead gorgeous especially on next gen and range from environments such as open vistas to dark and claustrophobic castles. There are some very welcome set pieces as well, such as an early one that has Amcia navigating a field that is quickly being engulfed in flames as she has to out maneuver or dispose of enemies. Something to note is that in my playthrough I ran into performance issues in some of the game’s more open areas such as screen-tearing and visible framerate drops that were immersion breaking or had an impact on my gameplay.
In a welcome change from Innocence, players will no longer experience a frustrating game over screen if Amicia is caught. Instead the player is given the opportunity to hide back in stealth or enter combat using Amicia’s expanded toolset. If you thought slinging a rock at an enemy’s head in the first game was satisfying, then wait until you feel the satisfaction of the game’s new crossbow weapon as you launch a devastatingly powerful arrow into an unsuspecting enemy. Sometimes I would avoid stealth altogether and use the crossbow and knife weapon for ranged and close combat and clear the map of pursuers. Giving the player this amount of freedom and adjustable difficulty options feels like a well thought out advancement of the gameplay designs of the first one and overall the game is a blast to play. Like I said before, if Innocence at times felt like an interactive movie, then Requiem feels like the first proper game in this series. Combined with the upgrading system of the first game and some gameplay mechanics that I won’t spoil here, all the elements fall into place to make this one of 2022’s most gratifying experiences.
Puzzles also make a return with the hordes and hordes of rats that made the first game so famous. It’s been previously reported that Focus Interactive were able to render up to 30,000 rats on screen and I can confirm it is an absolute sight to behold. Using torches and other light sources to navigate through an anxiety-inducing amount of these plague-infested creatures is one of the most spine chilling experiences that gaming currently has to offer. That said, some of the navigation puzzles are cleverly designed but ultimately left me wanting more.
All this to say at the end of the day I really enjoyed my time with A Plague Tale: Requiem. It expands smartly on aspects of Innocence, while never losing sight of what made that game most memorable in the first place: the story. The gameplay is far more welcoming but new players may struggle to find their footing story-wise if they decide to skip the first game. For those that are fully prepared for the journey of Amicia and Hugo, they will be rewarded with one of the most fulfilling games and stories that 2022 has to offer.
Review code provided by Focus Interactive.
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