A Plague Tale: Innocence developed by Asobo Studio got a sequel – A Plague Tale: Requiem, the original game is definitely one of the best story-driven games of 2019, which has its own high rating and gets into the “Best Game with an outstanding story in 2019”. This is our review.
By the time A Plague Tale: Innocence was announced, the studio hadn’t had a single hit, and no one had high hopes for it, especially given how dark and violent it was. However, they created a highly acclaimed game that paid off well. Players obviously liked it as much as professional reviewers.
In A Plague Tale: Requiem, despite being an emotional aftermath, we have an addictive mix of puzzle and stealth gameplay, and yes, it’s still full of rats, but it’s still impressive. In Requiem, Amicia and Hugo travel south to start a new life away from the plague and help Hugo curb the ancestral curse. But the forces of Hugo awaken again, and here they are, hordes of rats carrying death and destruction on their gray backs. The siblings use the hideout again… This time they learn a prophecy about a distant island that could be the key to saving Hugo.
The plot and what you might have missed or forgotten
The game takes place in France 1348-1349. and imperceptibly gaining momentum. For the first time, we are shown an excerpt from the daily life of the main character Amicia de Rune. She is walking through the forest with her father, training to throw stones from a sling, hunting a wild boar … Suddenly, the Inquisition breaks into the estate and demands to give them the younger brother of our ward Hugo. Since then, the girl’s life has changed dramatically, and just before parting, Beatrice, the mother of the children, will say that Hugo needs healing, and the only person who can help is the alchemist Lawrence.
We quickly encounter the main carrier of the plague – flocks of rats that literally erupt from the ground like a fountain. A Plague Tale: Innocence balances on the edge between history and a dark fairy tale while not disdaining mysticism.
Her younger brother is sick with an unknown disease, which gradually develops in his body, and her mother, with the help of alchemy, in every possible way restrains this deadly disease. Because of this, the boy is constantly in self-isolation and almost always sees only his mother, which is why he is morally far enough from his sister, which will play on their relationship in the future.
After overcoming obstacles to the alchemist, who is now so ill that he cannot get up and leave the house, we meet Lucas, his young student, who is also studying this business. Lawrence says that the Inquisition has come for a reason and has to do with the boy they are now looking for. The fact is that unusual blood flows in the veins of the members of the De-Ran clan.
The Holy Inquisition wants to drag Hugo away after learning about the boy’s illness and seeing this as an opportunity to find a cure for the plague that the senior inquisitor and the game’s main antagonist are sick with.
At the beginning of the journey, brother and sister are like strangers. Living under the same roof, they practically did not communicate. Only circumstances bring them closer, but it will not be possible to improve relations immediately. Amicia already feels lost, and then there is a small child utterly unfamiliar with the world.
Long wandering around the world alone and surviving, the heroes learn that their mother is Beatrice, and Hugo runs away in a fit of naivety and tries to save her. But in the course of this, he will also be caught because he was the object of interest because of the curse hidden in his blood. The Inquisitors hold him down, take his blood, and experiment on it. And as Chief Inquisitor Vitaliy finds out, he’s using this to create his army of white rats, which ends up being the main problem. Together with her brother, evil is defeated, the rats leave the city, and together with the two leave the city with their mother.
What awaits us in the second part
Six months after the Innocence events, Requiem is set to leave Amicia and Hugo behind the horrors of their first adventure in France. The world begins to recover, and people, markets, entertainment, and cities come to life.
Our heroes continue their journey, trying to find a cure for Hugo’s reactivated disease. Their destination is a distant city, which in all its appearance, is not afflicted with the disease. There is no fear in it, people do not rush at each other. They are given a place where they can rest, after which Beatrice sends them to the alchemist – Woden. And on the way to it, we begin to learn the secrets and the complete situation in the city. But Amnesty, who has become close to Hugo and has begun to understand and listen to him, begins to see a way out in Hugo’s stories about the mythical island.
Gameplay
As it was before, and we can say that we already know from the first part: each level of the game, where we need to get from point A to point B, and various obstacles will interfere with us on the way: rats, soldiers, level structure.
And overcoming these obstacles is the gameplay, which is quite diverse because the developers have given us many tools for efficient and interesting passage of locations. For example, rats are afraid of light, and with this knowledge, we will use lanterns, torches, and special fire potions to scare them away and pass on, or vice versa: we can put out the torch in the hands of the guard with a special powder, thanks to which the rats will attack him and will gnaw.
The game emphasizes stealth because we still play as a practically unarmed girl without superpowers, and she cannot and will not be able to withstand a crowd of armored soldiers in close combat. This was given to us in the first version, and the developers began to adhere to this formula and just grind.
Amicia also has a handy crossbow for deadly long-range kills. Though it’s slow to charge and ammo is very low, it can help you with a protected enemy. You can fight enemies up close (a little), but you will most likely die quickly if you get into such a situation.
They also did a nice thing for players who know the series. When they accidentally stepped into an area unprotected from fire, the rats instantly tore them to pieces. In this part, we were allowed to use a special rope with fire just for such situations or just to speed up the passage. After all, almost every location can be passed in several ways.
Graphics, craft, improvements
The first game mostly used earthy brown tones, giving the game a dirty look. The environments here are more detailed and colorful, making everything more vibrant. The game itself is infinitely richer and more colorful to the eye, and even the dreary, stormy, rain-drenched coastline they lay down towards the end of my demo is punctuated by flashes of the characters’ yellow, white, and red clothing. wear. guards away.
The update comes in the form of crafting and combat improvements. The first game featured a fairly complex circular menu where players could create ammo types and switch weapons. Here it is simplified, which significantly simplifies the management of the tools since the entire selection action can be performed with one hand.
In addition to the two new weapons she has equipped her trusty slingshot with, she has gained a greater knowledge of what she can do with them, such as backstab enemies if she can get close enough and counterattack and fall out.
Stealth is still an important part of the game. Of course, there is still the ability to distract unsuspecting enemies with rocks and pots, but Amicia has at least learned to use the latter better. Instead of just using them as a distraction tool in Requiem, she can infuse them with the same alchemy recipes previously limited to her slingshot, creating broader and more robust areas of effect for her glowing igniters and firefighting abilities.
What I liked was the new system of improvements for Amnesty itself. Namely, it is tied to the gameplay that is, if you kill everyone left and right, you will be awarded certain skills. If you go through everything unnoticed and secretly, you will be awarded in a different category.
Hugo’s new abilities are also impressive as his rat powers mature. For example, a new ability he gains in the career allows him to sense the blood flowing in the veins of nearby enemies, as well as control a horde of rats in first person. But abilities, like the strength of our brother, are not unlimited.
Some might argue the point of adding new powers if the game doesn’t want us to use them, but I think it’s a way to keep it from all-out violence.
Conclusion
What’s impressive is how Asobo Studio blends storytelling with gameplay, from the dialogue Amicia and Hugo whisper to each other while hiding from the guards to the ever-present threat of rats and ordinary people and the emotions they convey.
A Plague Tale: Requiem impressed with the time I spent with it. Asobo is working on fixing the most significant flaws in 2019’s A Plague Tale: Innocence. This improved the quality of movement and resource management, expanded Amicia and Hugo’s skill sets, and expanded the levels to encourage more creative interaction with your surroundings.
It has everything you could want from a worthy sequel – a more comprehensive feature set that builds on what came before. The game has enough plot twists to keep anyone interested. And the quality of what you see pleases the eye, and you can see what is done with high quality and pleases the eye.
I recommend this game 100%. It is a worthy sequel to its predecessor.
Editor’s Note: A game key was provided by PR for the purpose of review.
