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| A Plague Tale Requiem - Before You Buy |
today, we're talking about "A Plague Tale: Requiem." Now, this is the sequel to Asobo Studio's "A Plague Tale: Innocence" from 2019. And full disclosure, that was one of my favorite games of that year, so that's where I'm coming from when I say the sequel is also pretty damn good, and despite a couple little things, it exceeded my expectations. I think if you like adventure and story games, "A Plague Tale: Requiem" is absolutely worth it and an incredible and emotional ride.
Now, of course, the housekeeping. I've been playing this game for review on PS5, and this is all PlayStation 5 footage. And just know that it's all spoiler-free. Everything I'm showing is pretty much very early in the game because there's a lot of cool stuff that I don't wanna spoil for you. So first things first, right off the bat, it's of course worth acknowledging, do I need to play the first game before this one? I'd say yes.
Although some people may argue,Bthe characters went through their ordeal in the first game and are clearly setting out on a new adventure here, it's all connected, and a lot of the payoffs are way, way stronger if you played the first one and spent even more time with these characters. Also, I mean, the first game is just really good.
So do that anyway. Now to recap it, Amicia, a young girl, and her brother, Hugo, have been through a lot: a plague in 1340s France with millions of people dying and massive, almost fantasy-style swarms of killer rats destroying everything in their path. Amicia learns to kill and does whatever it takes to save her brother, who turns out is also pretty special. This new adventure sees them fleeing south, with some of the characters picked up in the first game, their mother and also Lucas.
Now, you make your way through the countryside, some coastal islands, and small cities to get to the bottom of this plague in a really, really personal journey. And you kill a lot of dudes along the way, 'cause these games are primarily adventure-stealth games with a lot of the same tricks as the first game, if you're familiar. You play as a vulnerable person who can really die in one or two hits, so the name of the game is stealth and carefully taking out your opponents in strategic ways, not usually head on.
Yes, it's another game where you crouch around in tall grass and wait for guys to walk by, but the game's environments and layouts are way bigger this time around and make for some really, really good stealth encounters. If you're familiar with the first game, you know that it's not just about sneaking around enemies. It's also about using the environment to your advantage and through tricks.
Amicia is a crack shot with a little sling and also an amateur alchemist, so there's a lot to do, and a lot of the tricks involve the massive, awful hordes of rats that are covering the lands thanks to this plague. Now, the rats are afraid of fire, so it's about directing the hordes. Toss some powder at a guard to douse their torch, and suddenly they're in the dark and they get swallowed up by a swarm of rats. Yes, it is actually that cool.
You're also tricking enemies, you're dropping tar, you're setting that on fire, you're breaking things, you're distracting people, and just using your sling to just fling rocks into people's skulls, all to survive. But you're also using those tricks to specifically get through the environment and solve navigational puzzles, like how do you get through a pitch-black room filled with rats? How do you open the special door? You pull some crates, you do the things, video game, typical stuff, but with the danger of the plague around every corner. Is some of it video gamey? Yes.
Why are there always conveniently located things to break with your sling, always at the right time? Yeah, it's the classic why are there explosive barrels everywhere we've been asking about video games for a while. But anyway, it's a lot of the same style of stealth gameplay, alchemy, flinging trickery from the first game, but with just with a few neat little tricks, and it's all way smoother. You have an occasional quick way of slipping out of the rats in an emergency now.
There's a knife system that's expendable, kind of like the shiv system in "The Last of Us." And Amicia can square up against some enemies in a pinch, but most of the game is about the stealth and the trickery, and everything is, like I said, smoother this time around: movement, abilities, swapping. And combined with the bigger encounter areas, it's all just really satisfying. They kind of ditch the mechanic where you can leave Hugo in certain places and then he freaks out when you're not around. That's not here anymore, and I'm okay with that.
But the game actually rewards you for how you play. There are three skill trees that just organically progress. depending on how you play. Get through by perfect stealthing, no conflict, your stealth meter fills, and you get access to stuff like a quieter walk, a faster crouch, stuff like that. Bloodthirsty, taking out every dude with headshots as you sneak around? That will give you more access to harder sling hits and stuff like that.
Use alchemy and crafting all the time, and at the right circumstances, then you'll get access to faster crafting, more materials, stuff like that. The game also has some plot and dialogue elements that address the question of being too bloodthirsty or killing just enough to get by. It's pretty interesting. Without spoiling too much, I actually wish they took it further, but yeah.
Now, along with that simple but effective skill tree, you're occasionally using an upgrade bench to improve your pouches and carrying capacities and weapons. It's more video gamey stuff, but it's just enough. It doesn't get annoying or anything as the game goes on, and I like that. And all in all, the game felt a bit more challenging this time around, a bit more trial and error, especially if you're trying to perfect stealth all of it, with a bit more unpredictable enemy AI.
Most of the time, you still feel somewhat vulnerable and helpless, though, as is the whole point, but a bit more effective. Towards the end, I think I can see some players getting kind of tired of the same tricks after two games, but it was just fresh enough, and it managed to stretch just long enough where I didn't mind it much. The game itself just goes much bigger overall. The location changes really make it feel different from the first game.
And I actually think I preferred the setting and the vibe more of the original game, but "Requiem" really does up the spectacle in the right ways. More death, more destruction, more fantastical, over the top rat chaos, and there are some downright stunning and creepy scenes that I wanna show you, but again, I don't wanna spoil it.
Now, once again, like in the first game, environments are shockingly cool and detailed and gruesome, and characters are detailed and more lifelike this time around, specifically the two main characters. But the problem is that the performance is not great. The footage you see onscreen here, like I said, is captured on PS5, and the frame rate is certainly not 60 FPS. It's all over the place, sometimes dropping pretty low when a lot is going on onscreen, to the point where I haven't seen this in a game in a minute.
The game still looks really good, but it stutters all over the place. Now, it wasn't unplayable by any means for me, personally. I have had games where it is. It's not the case here.
But it was a little disruptive here and there, and I was still ultimately disappointed, especially because it's otherwise gorgeous. The amount of times I stopped and tried to take it all in, man, especially with a fully featured photo mode. I gotta give them props for that. I've been using photo modes more and more, and I'm glad they put the work in on this mode here.
Now, this adventure did feel like a damn journey, and that helped by the runtime. I finished it just a hair over 20 hours, and I think for a lot of people, it might take a bit longer than that. There's fresh locations, good plot developments, maybe one section that felt kind of like a middle episodeof a TV show that didn't do much for their overall plot, and a really, really satisfying ending. There's a couple of things to collect.
There's souvenirs to kind of find off the beaten path that are really just dialogue moments and sweet moments that kind of expand upon things, and there's also a couple of fun, explorable environments that are a bit larger than you'd expect that really kind of let you stretch your legs a bit.
I didn't really think I needed that for a game like this, but they worked. They weren't super over the top in your face or anything like that. It was just an incredibly satisfying adventure. It was just like a good meal. These are the types of games that I just really love: cool, lengthy stories, and wild moments that can only mostly happen in video games.
Only in games do you get to sometimes spend this much time in a character's shoes, and this game absolutely nails all that character stuff. It had a clear vision of a story and what it wanted to tell, what it wanted to say, and I think they nailed it. I got teary-eyed a few times. The game made me care about these characters even more this time around, and I think that's really impressive and worth commending.
But also, if you want to use your pre-ordered DLC special crossbow, there's a New Game Plus mode after completion. Ah, video games, ladies and gentlemen. But this is a "Before You Buy." You know how this goes by now. I'll give you some pros, some cons, and some personal opinion,
and now I want to hear yours down in the comments.