When A Plague Tale: Innocence was reviewed by critics in 2019, it was clear that developer Asobo Studio had tapped into something special. The game's blend of a unique setting during the Hundred Years' War in France with stealth gameplay and grotesque horror gained many plaudits, as did the relationship between the main character siblings of Amicia and Hugo. The game's sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem, is now here with big expectations to meet.
A Plague Tale: Requiem picks up six months after A Plague Tale: Innocence. Amicia and Hugo are journeying to try and find a cure for Hugo's curse-meets-sickness of the Prima Macula, with their mother Beatrice and apprentice alchemist Lucas. However, it's not long before things once again take a dark turn, and the family not only has to avoid the dangers of hordes of plague rats drawn to Hugo but also the machinations of the powerful. Perhaps Hugo's dreams of a mysterious island could give a cure for his illness?
For those who enjoyed the stealth to horror gameplay loop of the original game, it will no doubt be relief that A Plague Tale: Requiem generally sticks to this structure. It's still an intoxicating blend of stealth adventure and puzzle gameplay with moments of horror thrown in, and the game is at its best when all three moments intertwine. There are some more dynamic moments too, such as a boat combat section and moments where the Amicia must run away from a cascade of rats that almost feel like those Crash Bandicoot levels where the player has to escape a boulder, but these generally gel well with the core gameplay in spite of the occasional awkward moment.
There are some other tweaks to the overall mechanics as Amicia has more tools to work with, including the use of tar to create longer-lasting fires and a sparingly-used crossbow to kill human enemies when other routes have failed. One interesting change is the way in which Amicia levels up, with different skills unlocked not based on direct player choice but instead by the way in which the user chooses to play the game. It's an interesting choice, with repercussions caused by the player's choice to use stealth or combat, which may make the player think twice about their actions in any given moment.
Presentation-wise A Plague Tale: Requiem is an upgrade on A Plaguie Tale: Innocence. The game's calm moments have an excellent vibrancy and warmth, and its depiction of southern France feels very authentic, while those darker moments (and there are many of them) are extremely oppressive. The game's score is also particularly haunting, in keeping with its tone and themes, and the voice acting is exceptional - albeit the choice to remove the French accents from the English voicework may feel jarring at first for fans of the original.
Where A Plague Tale: Requiem finds a lot of success is in the expansion of its scope, cleverly avoiding turning things bombastic from a gameplay perspective and instead diving deep into its themes. The gruesome body horror of the original, as best highlighted in its infamous pig scene, is again fantastically horrible, but Asobo Studio brilliantly shifts into folk horror and apocalyptic, cosmic horror at times, with some breathtaking moments that are equal parts spine-chilling and awe-inspiring. Those who appreciated the hallucination scenes in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice will find similar atmosphere here.
This is reinforced by A Plague Tale: Requiem's writing, with the game exploring the ideas of family and love, and the lengths people will go to protect and comfort those they care for. If that feels jarring with the idea of a horror game, then not to worry; this is a story of brutality and desperation, with expertly-laid peaks and troughs of tension as A Plague Tale: Requiem slowly builds the lore of the Prima Macula into the direct events of the story. Some of the dialogue does drift a little into the overly-direct, and it suffers a little from the same problem as Aloy's chattiness in the Horizon games at times, but the quality of the writing shines through.
What this means is that A Plague Tale: Requiem is able to expand on what Innocence was all about, with the monster of the piece being just as much humanity as it is the literal plague of killer rats that is destroying the land. The human villains, and their motives, are deeply important to A Plague Tale: Requiem, and Amicia's desperation to simply have a happy and safe life with her family is palpable. This is a game of emotional challenge, alongside its more spectacular and unique approach to horror, and that's why it continues to work so well.
A Plague Tale: Requiem is a fantastic game, expanding its framework in the right places through intricate themes and horror elements, weaving into what worked about the original while maintaining a voice of its own. It sometimes may feel a little too ambitious within the tight confines of its framework, but the emotional weight of its premise and story will keep players going to the end.
A Plague Tale: Requiem releases 18 October 2022 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X/S. Screen Rant was provided with a PS5 download code for the purposes of this review.