A Plague Tale: Requiem

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a pitch-black sequel that makes sure to remind you of that suffocating feeling at every chance, with scenes of hopelessness, the stench of putrefaction and a deluge of filthy rodents. It's not pleasant, but is should be lauded nonetheless.

When A Plague Tale: Innocence was released in 2019, it quickly became my favorite game of the year. It was dark and emotional while combining puzzles and combat in a way that separated it from other games released at the time. Therefore, it should be no surprise that I found A Plague Tale: Requiem to be absolutely brilliant. It expands on and surpasses everything that the original did well. The only difference is the competition is a bit stiffer and it has to settle for my second favorite game of the year.

Unlike the first game, this is a pure travel story. Moreover, the new characters, new places we discover, and the Hugo-Amicia relationship that deepens in the middle of all this makes this journey a memorable experience. I was expecting this game to be good, but wasn't expecting this much.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a triumph of AA games. The developers have proved that talent and creativity can make up for the lack of a big budget needed to create a beautiful, engrossing and memorable game.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a faithful follow-up to the first outing, managing to expand in every way while staying true to what made the first great. With solid gameplay, a fantastic story that's excellently acted and presented, and set pieces that could challenge even the biggest game in the industry, if you like the first outing from Asobo Studio, you will love this.

With gorgeous visuals, well-written characters, stunning atmosphere, and an amazing Photo Mode function, A Plague Tale: Requiem surpasses its predecessor. However, the gameplay and puzzles tend to remain fairly easy and straightforward.

A Plague Tale deals with the subjects of lost people amid plague and war – subjects that have become part of our daily lives in recent years and months. It does this by placing the characters in a story told through the prism of fantasy, which allows it to avoid moralizing. Perhaps A Plague Tale is the most up-to-date and relevant critique on our reality in video games. And at the same time, the sequel – forgetting about the context – is just a great sequel and a really good game.

A Plague Tale Requiem is a real slap of poetry and beauty. A masterpiece in form and content.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is the game of confirmation. That of a sister's faith in her little brother when the world crumbles at the foot of their defeat. Then, that of the great talent of Asobo Studios. Offering richer gameplay without upsetting the formula, this sequel never forgets the essentials in relation to the genre it targets. Amicia's desperate fight is at least as magnificent as the graphics and soundtrack that drive the work. The infiltration mechanics can challenge, and we would have liked a final finishing coat, but none of the defects encountered tarnish our judgment: with Requiem, the Bordeaux studio delivers a great vintage. Dark red as death.

A Plague Tale: Innocence already offered a unique experience and showed great potential, which the authors fully utilized in Requiem. The basic game system hasn't changed much since then, but now you'll be more immersed in the story of the De Rune siblings and their loved ones, which stretched nicely for two dozen hours.

There's less "A Plague Tale" than there should be. I trade you every day of the year the premise of 4K and 60 FPS for more adventures like this. It's reprehensible that the game doesn't perform better, and I won't be the one to argue with anyone who refuses to "jump through the hoops", but most titles come with half the thrills, half the character development, and half as much other stuff without us raising our voices about it.

A successful sequel with intense stealth gameplay, believable characters and only minor story deficiencies.

The adventure offered by A Plague Tale Requiem is a homecoming, an incessant search for a home, a story made up by a collective in love with its characters. Net of the team's unquestionable desire to overcome the first chapter in every sense, adopting courageous and intriguing solutions, the edges are not lacking but such an impressive journey from a visual and narrative point of view certainly deserves to be experienced, especially by those who have already enjoyed the debut of the series.

Requiem is a masterful sequel and an exceptional action adventure.

Requiem is a great sequel that expands on everything its predecessor did. By running away from all the tiresome trends the industry is following, it also manages to deliver a fun adventure with great pacing, topped by incredible visuals.

Great follow-up. It's another story about the tragic fate of two siblings. It doesn't bring anything groundbreakingly new, but it improves on what worked and surprised in the first volume, and because of that, it still entertains. [Issue#323]

You cannot mention A Plague Tale: Requiem without the graphics, especially some of the mind-blowing environments and vistas, no matter how beautiful or vile their settings are, plus the incredible rat rendering technology included, help make this some of the best visuals in a medium for 2022. Fans of the first game are in for such a treat, and newcomers, more so those who love games that focus on spectacle narrative with over-the-top action, are going to love the continuation of Amicia’s and Hugo’s gruesome journey, which showcases a strong bond between family that would impress even the likes of Dominic Toretto.

In the end, the eponymous requiem in question is a quite literal violent scream, giving way to sorrow, but ultimately acceptance and thanks for the time given.

Except for the stuttering and crashes endured through the review period, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a very well done game. The story remains as engaging as ever, with a whole cast of compelling characters. The myriad of mechanics keeps things exciting, and the pacing makes you feel like you had the right amount of it at the right times. The overall presentation is stunning to the point where it is already a looker, even before ray tracing comes into the picture. If the stability fixes come in for the title, you're looking at a game that'll easily make a "Best Of" list for 2022.

A tightly crafted narrative adventure, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a fitting and worthy continuation to the story and characters introduced in 2019. If you can look past some rough edges, Requiem is a brilliant, neatly-wrapped campaign to sink your verminous teeth into.

The performances of the two siblings and the story itself are compelling enough to make up for the most glaring flaws, but the padded runtime hurts the pacing. At its worst, the game feels boring. Yet the shining moments of A Plague Tale: Requiem push through its problems, leaving a satisfying sequel, rats and all.

A Plague Tale Requiem is much the same as Innocence in terms of gameplay, but its character development and blood-soaked universe make it an absolute pleasure to play.

A Plague Tale: Requiem could have been the perfect sequel, but is held back by the same gameplay limitations of its predecessor.

Requiem is trying its best to make everything even more beautiful, impressive and varied, yet it is still just a decent sequel to a good game. The overall impression is let down by the muddled third act, rudimentary stealth mechanics and forced combat sequences.

I’m not a huge fan of how bulky the environment feels at times, and the walking sections can become tiresome, but the truth is, Requiem had me engaged from start to finish. Sure, the game has its flaws, and it’s not a very malleable experience, but that doesn’t stop it from being a good time all the same. At its heart, A Plague Tale is a narrative-driven atmospheric experience. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

There's a lot to love in Requiem, even if frustration is an all-too-common bedfellow when it comes to gameplay. There are better stealth games out there, but its unique setting, poignant storytelling, and rat-infested dread make 14th-century France worth returning to.

Hugo and Amicia's story remains just as compelling as it was in Innocence, but A Plague Tale: Requiem swings for the fences by offering more of almost everything that made its predecessor great. Some curious design choices dampen its impact a little, but overall, it's a great return for a duo that are fast becoming some of our favorites.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is an exciting and moving journey into the relationship between Amicia and Hugo. Unfortunately, the gameplay is too guided sometime breaking the suspension of disbelief.

A Plague Tale: Requiem's trump card is the variety of gameplay sequences between which it alternates. At its best, it spices up the original's stealth action-adventure formula with new ways of eliminating foes or holding rats at bay. At its worst, it has you slogging through tedious or frustrating stealth sections. This is a sequel that's bigger, longer, and worth playing if you're invested in Amicia and Hugo's story. But while it successfully avoids repetition, a lack of truly interesting gameplay mechanics alongside disappointing optimization that makes controlling Amicia feel unnecessarily clunky at times hamper the overall experience at launch.

Asobo Studio has done well to continue the story of Amicia and her brother Hugo in A Plague Tale: Requiem. The narrative excels at exploring Amicia’s internal strife balanced against the need to protect and help her brother. Unfortunately, while the puzzles, lighting, and rat swarming systems are neat, they are weighed down by the tedious stealth sections and clunky controls. Those who enjoyed the first game will likely want to see it through to the end, but those who are new may find the experience lacking.