A Plague Tale: Requiem (Xbox Series) Review

Simply over three years for the reason that memorable A Plague Story: Innocence was launched, Asobo Studios has returned with A Plague Story: Requiem to proceed the adventures of the de Rune siblings and their unlucky relationship with a blood plague, hordes of rats, and secret societies. The result’s an epic and bold sequel, but additionally a really conventional sequel that, for higher and worse, sticks near the template laid out by the unique.

New setting, new villains, usual issues

As a cinematic action-adventure, with no scarcity of cutscenes and sequences devoted to easily strolling and speaking, the narrative all the time has an outsized affect on the expertise. As such, the primary query it is advisable ask your self is whether or not you’ve performed A Plague Story: Innocence but. It’s laborious to think about how A Plague Story: Requiem would work in isolation. The shared trauma that Amicia and Hugo skilled; how that formed their bond; their relationship with the secondary forged; the state of the world, the factions in it, and the overarching menace – A Plague Story: Requiem spends little or no time recapping previous occasions and assumes you recognize what’s occurring.

As for what’s going on? Six months after the defeat of the Inquisition forces, the de Rune household and budding alchemist Lucas are on the street south to Provence, hoping to seek out members of an historical alchemical order that may remedy Hugo’s “Macula” an infection. Regardless of the hopeful ending to the primary sport and every thing the de Rune’s endured, it’s clear the plague, rat swarms, and social unrest are spreading by way of France and so they’ve solely simply saved forward of the chaos or, extra worryingly, they’re bringing it with them. It’s not lengthy earlier than they’re within the midst of one other outbreak and caught between uncaring mercenaries, vicious city guards, and ravenous rats. Amidst the chaos, Hugo retains dreaming of an island, a Phoenix, and a magical pool that can remedy him. It’s a dream that rapidly turns into Amicia’s aim however, with each their bodily and psychological well being deteriorating, the query is whether or not they can survive lengthy sufficient to seek out it.

Sadly – and this will likely be a operating theme on this overview – the narrative recycles a number of concepts from the primary sport. Secretive organisations with questionable intents; self-serving rulers prepared to purge total cities with an countless provide of murderous guardsmen; villainous knights in large fits of seemingly impenetrable armour. The sequel even follows the identical three-act construction: flee from an awesome menace, regroup and achieve new allies, and go on the offensive with a brand new plan. There are some inconsistencies too, like Amicia and Hugo responding to a number of traumatic occasions that they already hardened themselves in opposition to within the prior sport. Now that stated, the narrative expertise improves significantly from the top of the primary act and I loved it as a complete – particularly because it’s not afraid of going to some bizarre locations – once more – and options some spectacular set items that wouldn’t look misplaced in Uncharted 4 or Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Have I been right here earlier than?

Now, whereas taking part in A Plague Story: Innocence feels important to appreciating the narrative, it’s a double-edged sword on the subject of the gameplay. It takes the “if it ain’t broke” strategy, which implies the core gameplay loop and pacing can really feel very, very comparable – particularly if you happen to performed the primary sport just lately (which I did when the next-gen replace was launched final yr). The excellent news is that the gameplay stays partaking, is refined and streamlined in comparison with its predecessor, and ultimately evolves past what was on supply in its predecessor with new fight and puzzle variations. As with the primary sport, it nonetheless excels at producing moments of rigidity and pleasure as you simply attain an exit with rats or guards in pursuit.

You’ll as soon as once more be alternating between mild exploration and narrative-heavy sequences; set piece moments by which lacking a immediate or taking the mistaken flip means a reload; fixing fire- and light-based puzzles as you circumvent rat swarms; and surviving encounters with patrolling people by way of stealth or inventive violence utilizing alchemical brokers and hungry rats. Throughout essentially the most chaotic, difficult, however pleasing encounters, there’s slightly little bit of every thing thrown collectively and the rats are often your best weapon and best menace. The expertise is closest to that of Naughty Canine’s Uncharted or The Final of Us video games, partaking, thrilling, and immersive – simply as long as you don’t decelerate and begin noticing the seams.

Speaking gameplay refinements, many guarantee encounters with people contain much less time hiding within the grass and watching patrol routes. Amicia has extra counters and takedown choices, a “fast distract” capability can purchase her a number of seconds to seek out cowl if noticed at shut vary, and she or he unlocks a strong crossbow to drop armoured enemies and people at vary (like archers on overwatch). Bigger zones additionally supply a number of extra choices for stealth, taking out enemies with hazards, and extra chests with crafting or improve supplies tucked away in corners. Speaking crafting and upgrades, the menus are easier, varied alchemical brokers will be utilized to extra projectile sorts, and whereas the gear upgrades nonetheless require uncommon instruments, you now use generic scrap for any improve path. One other main enchancment is that whereas your companions nonetheless remark in your stealthy or deadly actions, your strategy now has a direct gameplay affect as you mechanically advance alongside prudence, aggressive, and opportunism ability timber – suppose stealth, fight, and alchemy respectively – with milestones unlocking new skills or perks

Total, I discovered A Plague Story: Requiem had steadiness between narrative- and gameplay-dominated sections and held my curiosity over what is well a 15+ hour informal playthrough. Nonetheless, it was tough to not really feel like I used to be replaying sequences from A Plague Story: Innocence at instances – particularly throughout the opening act. Sneaking by way of excessive grass to keep away from unhinged bandits; activating historical equipment in a rat-filled catacomb; sneaking by way of an contaminated slum being purged by cruel guards – too many moments felt far too acquainted. It doesn’t assist that the gameplay pacing – just like the introduction of recent enemies or alchemical formulation – is equally gradual because the sequel successfully resets Amicia’s skills and kit.

Consistency and refinement!

One fixed spotlight – except for a number of animations and lip-sync bugs a patch can hopefully squash – is that A Plague Story: Requiem appears to be like unimaginable, runs nicely, but additionally adheres to the model of its predecessor so carefully my mind generally ignored the elevated mannequin element, extra pure lighting, and improved animations. A lot of the visible affect comes from using photorealistic textures and a improbable distinction between mild and darkish. Through the day, harsh mild and vibrant colors dominate; whereas beneath floor or out at evening, subdued and desaturated environments are lit by torches and the glow of a number of thousand rat eyes. On the audio entrance, the atmospheric and sometimes haunting music enhances each scene and excels at creating a way of lingering dread. The voice actors for the principle forged return and do a (largely) nice job of sounding pure and plausible, regardless of the horrific conditions they discover themselves in. The uncommon exceptions are a number of tacky strains that most likely belong in a light-hearted, swashbuckling journey.

A Plague Story v1.5

I’ve most likely come off extra unfavourable than meant on this overview as A Plague Story: Requiem leaves me conflicted. It’s, unquestionably, a strong and extra bold sequel that furthers the narrative whereas refining the gameplay and presentation however there have been instances the expertise felt uncomfortably acquainted – even for a direct sequel. To be truthful, I’ll cut up my conclusions to cowl 4 potential eventualities: 1) In case you’ve not performed A Plague Story: Innocence, choose it up cheaply and expertise a superb sport that also holds up and gives you a powerful impression of what to anticipate within the sequel; 2) In case you performed and loved the primary sport again in 2019 and haven’t returned to it, you possibly can choose up the sequel with out hesitation; 3) In case you’ve performed or replayed the primary sport just lately and loved it, the sequel continues to be advisable – simply be warned it takes half the sport to really differentiate itself; 4) In case you didn’t benefit from the authentic due to its largely linear environments and tightly scripted gameplay designed to serve its cinematic aspiration, the sequel doesn’t stray removed from that template and received’t change your notion.