A Plague Tale: Innocence was a groundbreaking hit: it was almost everywhere, infected the minds of gamers all over the world, and shattered any preconceptions that everyone thought was just another stealth game. Asobo Studio received multiple honors including Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, and Best Studio of the Year, as well as a slew of Game of the Year awards, for its performance on the first game in the series. And rightfully so; we rarely see stories so moving, so subtly done, so sublimely grotesque… all at the same time.
So, follow up A Plague Tale: Requiem No easy task. Asobo isn’t even sure if it’ll make a sequel to the game while the original was in development — that’s probably for the best. That means the original story wasn’t chopped up, butchered, and Frankenstein got back together for the sequel. This means that each game retains its own identity, its own perspective, and its view of the intersection of storytelling and mechanics. That means, as far as we’ve seen so far, Requiem is more harrowing than its predecessor.
From a top-down perspective, Requiem is pretty much the same: high-fidelity graphics, an emphasis on stealth, and a deep and disturbing horror that seeps into every pore of the game. No matter where you are, you’ll hear rat chatter and the pungent smell of death — after all, it’s a world in which Europe is still plagued with plague. Your actions in the last game did not solve the pest epidemic. But where the first game left you feeling underpowered and vulnerable, just kids trying to survive in a world completely hostile to life, Requiem makes you a threat — in some quiet scary ways.
During the hour-long presentation on the booth, I experienced Amicia and Hugo’s story, from one paragraph to the next. The dynamics have changed: these kids are still disadvantaged, they are still hunted, underpowered and weak. But Amicia has grown stronger after her encounter with the Inquisitor; she is now equipped with a crossbow, as sometimes she has to deploy ranged lethal tactics to keep going. Ammunition is scarce, as you might expect, and the focus remains on stealth and moving rats with light and fire to narrowly pass between threats.
We fell into the game halfway through the game and Amicia was seriously injured. She was putting on a brave face for little Hugo, but she had no strength left. Once the big sister, she’s guiding him to an island that haunts his dreams – maybe where anything that happens to him can be exorcised, or at least understandable. As Amicia struggles with the guilt of slaughtering for survival, an understanding but equally traumatized Hugo keeps opening up to his sister about his relationship with rats: how he talks to them, feels them, controls them . Of course, Amicia is cautious. These are just the fantasies of a poor, traumatized boy, right? No, no, they are not.
It all came to a head when Amicia finally succumbed to her wounds: she collapsed to the floor, like some Inquisitor Guard was putting pressure on the brother duo. Distraught and about to lose the last person in his life he could rely on, Hugo shouted to the mouse. They heard his pleas and surrendered themselves to him – and the real horror began.
If you thought it was disconcerting to see Amicia fall prey to hordes of rats in the first game, that’s up the stakes tenfold – take command of the horde and try to steer it around you with loose, bumpy controls It feels very bad in the hand. But it’s convincing; you’re pushed around, driven, and can’t turn back – you’re just a bunch of rats destroying everything in its path. All the while, you could hear Hugo’s invisible cries, forced to watch the carnage he caused.
You control the swarm, gnashing your teeth frantically, and you’re forced to chase the guards, chattering and peeling flesh from the bones of any creature in your path. You can’t progress unless you have it (I bet other puzzles will also require you to weaken the guard’s team in the future). Hearing the rat’s animal chatter while Hugo moaned and resisted…a very different kind of unease than the first game, but still unsettling. It’s even worse if you’re gaming with a decent pair of headphones. Makes you feel like you need a shower. God knows how pathetic Hugo is.
Narrative implications aside, this new mechanic opens up the direct stealth nature of the series that has existed so far. It adds some extra texture on top of an already top-notch narrative stealth experience. I have some reservations about the pacing – this demo is game done and still seems to be introducing you to new mechanics – but if the first game is anything, Asobo knows what it’s doing.
I’d love to play the full version of A Plague Tale: Requiem — and I’m even more eager to see the conversations that will spark when everyone who subscribes to Game Pass has a chance to get it later this year. I’m looking forward to seeing if I’m just being sensitive, or if chasing fathers, husbands, and lovers like a bunch of mice is really as disturbing as being on the Gamescom showroom.
I just don’t like the fact that it will make me hear rat chirping everywhere for the next week.
A Plague Tale: Requiem will be released on the cloud version of Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC and Nintendo Switch on October 22, 2022.