A Plague Story: Requiem is a wonderful instance of what a sequel must be: much like its predecessor, however larger and higher in just about each single method. Asobo Studio was so near one thing fairly particular with 2019’s A Plague Story: Innocence, and its PS5 sequel turns that potential into actuality. For followers of narrative-focused titles, the rat-infested follow-up is a must-play.
Increasing on the occasions of the primary sport, this direct continuation has an excellent higher story, with new characters to satisfy and so many extra locations to go to. Its fight and stealth mechanics are a lot improved, to the purpose the place getting noticed not spells an immediate sport over. The quantity of rats on-screen throughout sure sequences is frankly absurd, and matched with gorgeous visuals and vistas, they make for a sport that is nice to take a look at irrespective of how grotesque it may be.
There is a welcoming sense of familiarity to go along with it, although, as siblings Amicia and Hugo return alongside their mom and sidekick Lucas for a marketing campaign that explores the De Rune household’s Macula curse and its historical past. Hugo’s having desires of a treatment hidden away someplace on a tropical island, however his sister is the one one prepared to hear. As such, the pair decides to take issues into their very own palms in quest of the elusive treatment.
What follows is a cinematic marketing campaign simply north of 20 hours in size that elegantly interlaces gameplay with cutscenes and dialogue. Taking a leaf out of the Naughty Canine playbook as soon as extra, it is a sport simply as a lot about what’s occurring while you’re not urgent buttons as when you find yourself. Detailed in its design, each interplay feels deliberate; each sequence delicately crafted.
It is what Asobo Studio does finest, and A Plague Story: Requiem sees the French group attain new heights. The narrative stays gripping all through, and the brand new characters cement themselves with both enjoyable personalities or hidden motives. A incredible journey followers of the unique will instantly groove with.
Somebody will at all times wish to put a cease to Amicia and Hugo’s antics, although, so traversal has been up to date with new methods to get in regards to the atmosphere whereas stealth and fight each really feel simply as viable as the opposite. With a crossbow a part of her arsenal and extra methods to make use of the sling, Amicia places up rather more of a combat. She will counter enemy assaults — even stabbing them to dying if she has a knife in her stock — and wield higher management of the rat horde by means of one in all Hugo’s new powers.
The bigger fight arenas lend themselves properly to shifting between aggression and retreat, killing some enemies after which falling again to cowl or some tall grass to interrupt line of sight. Getting noticed does not imply you have to reload a checkpoint anymore as Amicia is match for goal on each fronts this time. You will in all probability nonetheless fall into that lure sometimes — to avoid wasting sources as soon as you’ve got discovered a greater route by means of the realm, for instance — however the sequel does a a lot better job of letting you strategy encounters the way in which you need. That’s aside from the irritating instant-fail stealth sections. Fortunately, they’re pretty few and much between, however there are simply sufficient to place a slight dampener on the enjoyable.
They seem to be a mere footnote in a sport with so many highs, nonetheless. Whereas A Plague Story: Requiem would not reinvent the wheel, what it does stays of a top quality. Its mix of stealth and motion, positioned in between stretches of puzzle-solving and useful resource gathering, is an extremely pleasant loop. With the plot at all times on the forefront, you will hardly ever catch your self doing one factor for too lengthy.
As ugly as they may be, the rats themselves ought to in all probability be thought-about one other star of the present. There are extra rodents on-screen than Innocence might ever dream of, notably in the course of the late sport. Asobo Studio stated its tech can put as much as 300,000 rats on a TV set at anyone time, and people concluding chapters show the developer proper. It is spectacular stuff.
It is nearly as admirable as its dedication to supporting the PS5 DualSense controller, which does a lot for basic immersion. Haptic suggestions is put to make use of each time the rats are close by; it is like you possibly can really really feel them scurrying round in your pad. Moreover, chase sequences really feel a lot extra intense when the rumble options and adaptive triggers kick into overdrive as a guard legs it after you. It is incredible to see studios proceed to make the most of the controller’s capabilities, with A Plague Story: Requiem demonstrating simply how efficient these options will be when carried out appropriately.
Sadly, the identical cannot be stated of the sport’s efficiency. It is actually tough to work out what body charge the sport is even concentrating on. A uneven body charge and vital drops throughout action-heavy scenes are frequent, and with none graphical choices to talk of, there is no escaping them. With the day one patch utilized, basic gameplay appears to hover round 30 frames-per-second, typically extra and different occasions much less because it seems unlocked. After all, the title is greater than playable from starting to finish — the slower, cinematic sequences are notably gorgeous — however these hooked on locked 60fps motion will not come away happy.
Much more worrying, although, is how the extra egregious body charge drops look like immediately linked to the sport fully crashing on itself. Whereas it was a uncommon incidence, gameplay would abruptly begin to chug till it got here to a standstill, thus crashing the PS5. Backing out to the system’s dwelling display and reloading a checkpoint treatments the difficulty, nevertheless it’s nonetheless one thing in want of a repair. Pretty sparse these complications are, although, so your funding in narrative stretches and enemy encounters will not be interrupted an excessive amount of.
Conclusion
At its finest, A Plague Story: Requiem is among the biggest narrative-focused experiences on PS5 up to now. Technical limitations get in the way in which a few of the time, however with improved stealth and fight mechanics, this can be a actually well-rounded sport that excels at almost all the things it does. Innocence demonstrated Asobo Studio’s potential in bursts; Requiem has completely realised it.
