A Plague Tale: Requiem Review

"Ever So Many Rats"

Campaign

October 25, 2022 at 3:28am
By Jason Stettner

This is the second entry within the A Plague Tale series following once again, Amicia who is paired with her younger brother Hugo. The two have been enjoying some calming moments, but with a plague on their heels it’s only a minimal amount of time before the rats appear once more.

This story most certainly expands upon the narrative and general design of the original experience. It’s a very exceptional upgrade over what’s come prior and I felt it was an excellent continuation of the desolate world we witnessed in the first game.

It does a very good job of telling a story that feels as though it exists by itself while also still leveraging existing lore. Things are relatively calm, but the brutality of a plague time quickly settles in. The overall story is quite lengthy with a variety of unique scenarios.

These range from peaceful calm moments of beauty, to semi stretched puzzle segments and also more intensive combat. It’s neat to see Amicia take on a more aggressive tone similar to Lara Croft as being in this type of situation would certainly test you. The voice performance for Amicia was particularly impressive, that really stood out to me across the runtime.

I was pleasantly surprised by the many locations you visit, some of them being very impressive in terms of the visual quality. An actual next gen looking experience for once. From the open fields, to deep flower covered cities this was a delight to take in. Not to mention the swaths of rats coming onwards. There was such rich depth to the world and I loved it.

Gameplay

Once again you step into the role of Amicia. You’re armed with a slingshot to fire unlimited rocks and then you might also get an extra tool or two later on to use that’s a bit deadlier. You’ll also have some various components that help you solve puzzles, make it through rats or just kill enemies.

This includes some fire starting options or perhaps also something that could put fires out. The game continued to grant you additional items like this as the story progressed and it was neat to have new ways to solve puzzles throughout the runtime. I did find that some of the puzzles were perhaps a tad padded, but each of them was unique.

You also got a slightly more open area to play around in within this follow-up for those that wanted to get some extra items. You’ll find some other side memories if you venture off the path or helpful items but this was largely a linear scenario. You’ll enjoy a mix of faster scenes and also stealth segments.

The cutscenes transitioned beautifully to gameplay with each moment of those being very impressive. The game in general is just absolutely gorgeous to witness. It really did feel from a texture, lighting and general aesthetic standpoint to be a true next gen showcase. It was a bit disappointing to see things locked frame rate wise on the Xbox Series X however.

If you play regularly it’s 1440p at 30fps though if you have a 120hz screen you can get 1440p at 40fps which feels much better. There are still some dips here or there but for the most part it went along nicely. There’s also HDR support which is vibrant and some sound benefits such as Spatial Sound, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support.

Furthering on the audio aspect the music direction was excellent, and really helped carry the moods. I will note that I did run into some scenarios where things didn’t really work, but these were minimal and it was easy to reset the checkpoint to a few seconds prior.

The Conclusion

A Plague Tale: Requiem delivers an impressive improvement upon the already incredible entry that preceded it. You get a well structured narrative that delivers. From quieter moments of beauty to emotionally traumatic ones.

It’s all gorgeous in terms of the visual quality, with my only request being that we someday see a 60fps addition. The voice performance for Amicia was a particular stand out here, really helped carry this deeper sequel. You’ll visit some stunning locations, filled with smaller details in what feels like an actual next gen offering.

It’s exciting to play, has a good length to it and keeps you switching things up with engaging puzzles. It’s all relatively easy to move through, but offers a decent challenge at times. It’s perhaps a tad more difficult than the first one, but it felt fine to play. I enjoyed the variety of combat, calm moments and of course action packed segments.

The rats were a thrill to run from and I liked how they changed up how those disgusting critters are utilized. It’s all about story here, with a narrative that really provided an exciting new direction for the characters while also expanding the scope with well done world building. I hope this isn’t the last time we’ve seen the rats.

Read our A Plague Tale: Innocence Review
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A Plague Tale: Requiem Review on Xbox Series X
Review Code Provided by Indigo Pearl

Rating Overall: 9.3