Plague Tale: Requiem is a step up from the first game in the series in almost every way. I had a really good time playing through this one!
The most obvious upgrade is the visuals. Textures, models and animations are all miles better than in the first game, rivaling most similarly styled AAA games. The environments remain a standout, with a lot of evocative, interesting areas that are very well realized and horrifying. Asobo Studio has cranked up the scope of these environments with a couple of really great set pieces that sell how overwhelming and horrifying this rat plague (can we even call it that anymore?) truly is. Standouts were the whole island of La Cuna (including the infested underground catacombs), The Red City (especially during the lockdown), and the final area, which looks like it would be at home in a Dark Souls game.
Character animations are more believable and the acting and writing remains solid. The rat swarms have gotten a huge upgrade. The swarms themselves are much more horrifying, flowing over the terrain like water in a way that somehow avoids being comical in the least. The individual rats are more believable and higher fidelity as well animating in a more realistic way.
Requiem sticks mostly to the gameplay formula established in Innocence, with traversal challenges and combat challenges that are all overcome with the various tools you collect. The more open nature of a lot of the areas take this farther towards an immersive sim-like experience, with a lot more freedom in how you navigate and engage with enemies. This is an interesting shift but didn't work as well for me as I expected it to.
The ability setup seems somewhat streamlined at first, with different concoctions combined with delivery mechanisms, but the exact effect of each of these combinations isn't super clear. I never had a really good idea of what my options were or in what situations I would want to use each of them. Enemies also no longer really have hard counters (like the fire powder from the first game, to remove helmets), which muddies the combat use case for each of your abilities even further.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that there are quite a few sections with enemies attacking you in waves that are very hectic. The complexity of the system curtails a lot of the creativity you might otherwise be able to display, which doesn't feel that great.
The rat swarms in these areas don't quite work as well, since things aren't as tightly controlled. It feels more chaotic, but there are times where the rats' movements are unclear, and it is pretty easy to die without realizing you were in danger.
Narratively Requiem takes some swings but initially doesn't stray too far from expectations established in the first game. The individual characters aren't quite as well realized and some of their motivations for helping Amicia and Hugo aren't super believable or clear, unfortunately. It all comes together by the end, but the group that is assembled just didn't resonate as well as in the first game. The ending, however, is well done and surprisingly heartfelt, honest, and by the time you get there, has a certain inevitability that matches the tone and themes of the rest of the game. The sadness here is earned and works -- it is especially impressive how the theme and ending tie seamlessly into the game's mechanics of lighting and extinguishing fires.
Some of the individual set pieces are truly incredible -- stuff I haven't seen in any other game. Tidal waves of rats crashing over a city, filling a massive cistern as you race ahead of it trying to escape to the surface, and destroying a fortress town are all really epic, awe-inspiring events that really help nail the stakes here.
Requiem is a really great game with a solid, straightforward story to tell and interesting mechanics with which to tell it. I had a really good time playing through this -- the team at Asobo Studio has created a game that compares favorably to other games in the genre with a fraction of the resources.
The most obvious upgrade is the visuals. Textures, models and animations are all miles better than in the first game, rivaling most similarly styled AAA games. The environments remain a standout, with a lot of evocative, interesting areas that are very well realized and horrifying. Asobo Studio has cranked up the scope of these environments with a couple of really great set pieces that sell how overwhelming and horrifying this rat plague (can we even call it that anymore?) truly is. Standouts were the whole island of La Cuna (including the infested underground catacombs), The Red City (especially during the lockdown), and the final area, which looks like it would be at home in a Dark Souls game.
Character animations are more believable and the acting and writing remains solid. The rat swarms have gotten a huge upgrade. The swarms themselves are much more horrifying, flowing over the terrain like water in a way that somehow avoids being comical in the least. The individual rats are more believable and higher fidelity as well animating in a more realistic way.
Requiem sticks mostly to the gameplay formula established in Innocence, with traversal challenges and combat challenges that are all overcome with the various tools you collect. The more open nature of a lot of the areas take this farther towards an immersive sim-like experience, with a lot more freedom in how you navigate and engage with enemies. This is an interesting shift but didn't work as well for me as I expected it to.
The ability setup seems somewhat streamlined at first, with different concoctions combined with delivery mechanisms, but the exact effect of each of these combinations isn't super clear. I never had a really good idea of what my options were or in what situations I would want to use each of them. Enemies also no longer really have hard counters (like the fire powder from the first game, to remove helmets), which muddies the combat use case for each of your abilities even further.
All of this is exacerbated by the fact that there are quite a few sections with enemies attacking you in waves that are very hectic. The complexity of the system curtails a lot of the creativity you might otherwise be able to display, which doesn't feel that great.
The rat swarms in these areas don't quite work as well, since things aren't as tightly controlled. It feels more chaotic, but there are times where the rats' movements are unclear, and it is pretty easy to die without realizing you were in danger.
Narratively Requiem takes some swings but initially doesn't stray too far from expectations established in the first game. The individual characters aren't quite as well realized and some of their motivations for helping Amicia and Hugo aren't super believable or clear, unfortunately. It all comes together by the end, but the group that is assembled just didn't resonate as well as in the first game. The ending, however, is well done and surprisingly heartfelt, honest, and by the time you get there, has a certain inevitability that matches the tone and themes of the rest of the game. The sadness here is earned and works -- it is especially impressive how the theme and ending tie seamlessly into the game's mechanics of lighting and extinguishing fires.
Some of the individual set pieces are truly incredible -- stuff I haven't seen in any other game. Tidal waves of rats crashing over a city, filling a massive cistern as you race ahead of it trying to escape to the surface, and destroying a fortress town are all really epic, awe-inspiring events that really help nail the stakes here.
Requiem is a really great game with a solid, straightforward story to tell and interesting mechanics with which to tell it. I had a really good time playing through this -- the team at Asobo Studio has created a game that compares favorably to other games in the genre with a fraction of the resources.