Asobo Studio once made a name for itself with its knack for developing adaptations of Disney Pixar games. Three years ago, this small French development team evolved and reached new heights with their hit release, A Plague Tale: Innocence.
After gaining a passionate community of fans with this cinematic action-adventure experience, Asobo Studio ventures to evolve its breakout series with a sequel. A Plague Tale: Requiem aims to overcome and push beyond the limitations of the original. The key to this evolution is the desire to be able to play Requiem the way you want.
Ahead of the sequel’s PS5 release on October 18, we spoke with its director, Kevin Choteau, about the title’s direction, development, new gameplay philosophies, and more.
iGamesNews: What did you and the rest of Asobo want to achieve with this sequel to the first Plague Tale?
Kevin Choteau: Everything, honestly. The first thing that comes to mind is our work on the first game. We had no experience in this kind of game. We are not known for this kind of cinematic experiences. So we started with the action-adventure on Innocence and we did it as noobs, not knowing what we were doing.
When we started Requiem, the idea was to take everything we failed or did wrong with in the first one and try to address them. We have read all player comments and reviews and tried to do something about it. So the first and most important thing is the gameplay. Innocence was pretty narrow, with only one way to approach a situation, and we wanted to address that. We have created much larger open areas where you can play as you wish. That was key by the law of level design. You can now play Plague Tale any way you want.
How do you make sure the player always has a streamlined journey where they can recognize goals, assets, and everything else while keeping their options open?
There are two things for me about this. The first is perspective. When you come into a situation, you often come on top of the situation or with a clear vantage point to understand how they are shaping up and where you can go. What tasks you can choose, whether you want to go this way or that way, or go behind this cart, etc.
The second thing is the systemic approach to gameplay. We have established rules, and these rules are always true. So when you learn this, you can use it in any situation. For example, like in the first game, if you see a metal object, you can use it to distract enemies. In Requiem there is also a greenish tar that you can use against enemies. Those things and those opportunities pull the player in and tell them, “You can use it, so if you go in that direction, you have that at your disposal to play with.” This makes this broader approach functional.
What has the work on current technology done to improve the Plague Tale: Requiem gameplay experience?
We push everything further graphically, of course. But the rats have been pushed to extreme limits. We had about 5,000 rats on PS4, and now we have 300,000 on PS5. It’s amazing because it’s a new tool that allows us to do this massive rat tsunami that is now destroying cities. We couldn’t do that with previous technology. So we can push even further now and have these super detailed graphics with lots of NPCs and rats swarming the towns.
Rats are also evolving, having become smarter and more agile than before. How did you improve their presence as an enemy?
Rats are better able to dodge obstacles to get to you and are more agile and aggressive. When you’re around the fire trying to stay away from them, they turn around, trying to figure out the best way to get to you and kill you. They are also able to climb on fabrics, so you are no longer safe in high places. It’s both useful against enemies and dangerous for you too. We’ve worked hard to make them more present in the world and less blocked by the environment, so they’re super awesome threats that always keep you on edge.
Amicia is a character who has stirred many people’s hearts due to the reality she feels and her trauma. How did you approach the growth and deconstruction of his character, especially with his growing love/hate relationship with murder and combat?
The game is all about it. In Innocence, Amicia learned to be a warrior in order to survive. But you will discover in Requiem that it will impact it. [Killing to survive takes an emotional toll], and it will have a big effect on her state of mind and the evolution of who she might become and her relationship with others. The big question is, “Does the end justify the means?” OK, so you want to be a warrior? You want to do anything to protect your family, but does it work? Is it right? Is this something you should do?
Amicia’s adolescence largely affects how she reacts to and handles the situations around her. How does that shape what players experience with her in Plague Tale compared to other games with more mature protagonists?
She’s not a warrior, and she’s no longer a young woman. She is in between. It is therefore not super effective in combat. She is vulnerable, cannot use a sword, and can die easily. Amicia is truly between these two worlds, and what we love about her is that her age can take her in any direction. Depending on the situation, she can sometimes be very mature or childish. We play with that and how that defines her as a character.
Hugo is also growing despite only 6 months apart between the two matches. How have you changed the way his powers are used to show a deeper understanding between him and his growing abilities?
For Hugo, the idea or the inspiration are the children who are going through a difficult thing in their life and who are forced to grow up very quickly. Sometimes they are more mature and aware of the world than us as adults because of the trauma they have gone through. We wanted to underline it with Hugo.
He understands better what happened to him and can start to smell the rats inside him. But again, power is not so free for him. He can kill easily, far more efficiently than his sister, and possesses limitless dangerous power. So for Hugo, it’s about keeping the balance. He has this power, but he and Amicia don’t want to use it. It’s a horrible and ugly ability that can also hurt him. But sometimes it is beneficial to them. They both learn to play with fire, which sometimes leads to dangerous results.
Requiem feels like the culmination of shared trauma, not just between Amicia, Hugo, and their circumstances, but the worldwide trauma of plague, rats, and human-inflicted abuse. What made you want to go in this direction with the story? How does this theme reflect the characters and emotions in the world of Plague Tale?
The story of the game is really about our characters. We don’t have a big bad like the first one. The world is itself, and as Amicia you will try to live in this world that does not correspond to its past or its future. They struggle to find their place in a place that always rejects them, so they are always outcasts. It is a considerable burden that constantly weighs on them.
The player sees more of the world in Requiem than ever before. How did you research 1300s architecture, clothing, and belief systems (alchemy, etc.) to make them authentic on such a grand scale?
The game started in the south-east of France, so it’s not that far from us. We have part of the team that is from that region, which made it easy for them to bring memorabilia into the game and build on that. But we also worked with a historian, who helped us to shape the authenticity of the world and to find decorations, atmospheres, architectural details and even small anecdotes to build a credible Middle Ages France.
What did you learn personally while working on this sequel?
I didn’t think about it because it’s not over for me yet. But this game is truly personal. We brought a lot of ourselves into the game. Good things and bad things. Stressful things, happy memories, and we put it all together to build this game. For me, it was like therapy because it’s good sometimes to share with people things that are difficult for you, like past traumas. You can build on that, and it’s something I learned and we see in our stories. You should always try to make the best of any situation.
Without wanting to stray into spoilers, with the release of Requiem, do you consider this the book closed or just another finished chapter in the world of A Plague Tale?
I think that’s the end of it for now. But the door is never closed, and we will see the welcome of the players. We want to see their reaction before deciding anything. They run our production, and if they don’t like what we’ve done, we have to do something else.
How do you and the studio plan to mark the game’s release?
I think we’re going to throw a big party with the team. Monday evening, when the embargo is lifted, we will all be waiting in our big hall in Asobo, just waiting for reviews and comments. We are super excited and exhausted, but if we have a good reception, I can’t wait to celebrate with the team.
Any final thoughts on your journey with Plague Tale: Requiem?
I am proud of my small team of 70 people because they push it even further each time. I am happy and proud of what they have accomplished over the past three years. And I wish the best for the player. I hope we don’t let them down and give them the sequel they wanted and deserved.
