News | Asobo Studio may be working on third A Plague Tale game
Asobo Studio may be preparing for a new installment in the A Plague Tale series.
In a message on LinkedIn, the developer says that he is looking for several employees. Some of the open positions are for the ‘Plague team’ which includes a VFX artist, senior game designer and senior AI programmer. Of course, it is also possible that this Plague team is working on a completely new IP.
Asobo Studio is a developer from France best known for the modern Microsoft Flight Simulator games and the stealth adventure games A Plague Tale: Innocence and sequel A Plague Tale: Requiem. As of yet, it has not been officially announced that a sequel to A Plague Tale: Requiem is in the works. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 was announced earlier this year.
Review | A Plague Tale: Requiem
After the excellent A Plague Tale: Innocence and Microsoft Flight Simulator, Asobo Studio has proven that this still relatively unknown studio is not only extremely versatile, but also terribly talented. With A Plague Tale: Requiem, the French developer once again exceeds expectations and demonstrates that it has much more to offer.
Six months after the events of A Plague Tale: Innocence, Amicia and Hugo are still looking for a way to get the Macula curse out of Hugo. Their journey takes them to Mediterranean Provence, an area at the southeastern tip of France. Everything seems like a piece of cake, until sister and brother once again have to flee from the rats that seem to follow them everywhere.
The focus in Requiem is more on older sister Amicia. She has since embraced her role as Hugo’s protector and made peace with the fact that their world and lives will never be the same again. Amicia is ready to fight. Against the world, against fate and also against herself.
That fighting spirit is not only expressed in her emotions, but also in her behavior and thus the gameplay. Where A Plague Tale: Innocence mainly revolved around sneaking around and avoiding confrontations, Amicia hits back hard this time. The young lady strangles unsuspecting soldiers with her slingshot, throws them off her with a knife stab and, as icing on the cake, this time she is equipped with a crossbow with which she effortlessly pierces enemies.
That doesn’t mean that A Plague Tale: Requiem has suddenly become an action game. Knives are disposable, but can also be used to break open chests with upgrade materials, so you have to consider how you want to use them. While your crossbow is very useful in a tight situation, arrows are scarce and reloading is slow. And no matter how fierce you play, a single blow from the enemy can be fatal. So you still need to be on your guard.
Still, the game encourages diverse playstyles by giving Amicia new abilities depending on how she handles stressful situations. If you use an aggressive playing style, Amicia will also become more combative. If you are mainly a prowler, her footsteps become more silent. The effective use of alchemy to eliminate enemies is also a path that Amicia can take.
The game offers enough freedom to try out those different play styles. While you still have to get from A to B, there’s plenty of ground to explore in between and there are multiple ways to get to your destination. Being spotted is no longer a guaranteed game over, not only because Amicia bites off her easier, but also because you have a lot more space at your disposal to get away and try a different approach.
If you do get caught, you will automatically restart with the most recently created autosave. There’s no shortage of checkpoints, but it’s frustrating that you can’t save yourself. A poorly timed checkpoint sometimes meant we had to listen to the same dialogues over and over, or craft ammo every time we rebooted. It not only ruins the enjoyable pace of the game, but also the fun. Fortunately, these moments are rare.
Your companions, such as Hugo and the young alchemist Lucas, are also an important part of Requiem. Each ally has its own specialty that matches one of three playing styles, allowing you to explore all possibilities naturally. Hugo is no longer the helpless babysitter, but makes himself useful by sending the rats directly at his enemies. In addition, the new additions to the cast are interesting, outspoken characters with enough depth. They contribute not only during confrontations, but also as the much-needed emotional support for Amicia and Hugo.
Like its predecessor, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a two-faced game. There are peaceful moments, such as when you pet a goat with Hugo for the first time, play fairground games or simply admire the sunny Provençal countryside. These hopeful moments are full of wonder, but are always temporary. As long as the Macula is still running through Hugo’s blood, it’s only a matter of time before the rats spit through the paving stones and devour all the life around them. Then A Plague Tale shows its other, repulsive side.
Whether it’s a bustling market or the pulsating heart of a rat’s nest, the sublime graphics and ditto soundtrack always come together to create an atmospheric whole. The even light of A Plague Tale: Innocence gives way to more dramatic lighting, while Unreal Engine 5 does a great job of realistic rock formations and dense forests. Olivier Derivière completes the overall picture with a chilling soundtrack full of atmospheric violin playing that is sometimes so intense that you feel the strings into your bones.
Once they show up, the rats are another not to be underestimated hurricane of pitch-black violence that spreads death and destruction everywhere it goes. Thanks to the power of the current generation of consoles, they are even more impressive, appearing in the tens of thousands at the same time. Like a deadly tsunami, they engulf settlements, leaving behind only bones, rubble and gnawed bodies. They pose the most serious threat in the game, as every touch has a deadly effect. You are only safe in the light, where the rodents cannot reach.
Confrontations with soldiers are therefore interspersed with more puzzle-like pieces in which you have to fight your way between swarms of rats without being eaten. Sometimes you have to take both into account at the same time. It’s not a bad idea then to use the rats to your advantage, although the moaning of soldiers being eaten alive doesn’t quickly leave your memory, or Amicia’s. Needless killing often also results in disapproving comments from your companions. Amicia’s innocence, however, is long lost.
A Plague Tale: Requiem is not a pleasant game in its darkest moments. Asobo does not shy away from presenting you the most sinister scenes. Each time, Amicia and Hugo’s hopes for a peaceful life are painfully taken away. Amicia’s anger at the world is infectious, her despair understandable. You want to hurt the world again and at the same time a question of conscience is gnawing at your head. Is saving Hugo’s life worth the death of thousands of innocents? Morality is an important theme to explore, but the game eventually struggles to find a satisfying answer. Still, we can appreciate the bold choices that have been made and we are very curious what the future of A Plague Tale looks like next. If Asobo Studio keeps up with this level, things can be nothing but rosy.
A Plague Tale: Requiem will be available October 18 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, PC, and Nintendo Switch (Cloud version). For this review, the game was played on PlayStation 5.
Score:
9,0
+ Beautiful soundtrack
+ Strong story and characters
+ More choice
+ Stunning graphics and environments
– Unreliable checkpoint system
Game Guide | A Plague Tale: Requiem
Achievement / Trophy guide
Overview:
– Estimated achievement difficulty: 3/10
– Offline: 36 (1, 4, 9, 22)
– Online: 0
– Approximate amount of time to 1000 / Platinum: 20-25 Hours
– Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2 (one on Narrative difficulty, one New Game+ to max out remaining Skills)
– Missable achievements : 3 Sneaky , Fighter , Malignant – maxing out all Skills (Prudence / Aggressive / Opportunism) is semi-missable. The Skills are increased by playing a certain way and doing certain actions in enemy encounters (be stealthy / kill enemies in combat / use alchemy for chain reactions). The Skill Progress carries over into 2nd playthrough New Game+ but there is no 3rd playthrough New Game++. So if you finish New Game+ but didn’t max out a Skill you would have to replay parts of the game via Chapter Select (it resets your progress to what you had at the start of the Chapter and you must replay everything from there). This is explained in Roadmap Step 2, no need to worry about Skills on the 1st Playthrough, they will all increase a bit automatically without trying, then in 2nd playthrough you adjust your playstyle until you finished one skill, then readjust your playstyle to max out the next skill.
– Does difficulty affect achievements: No, can do everything on Narrative difficulty (Easy)
– Unobtainable/glitched achievements : No
– Level Select after Story?: Yes, there is Chapter Select after the story. Everything can be replayed via Chapter Select. Everything carries over into New Game+ (Collectibles, Skills, Upgrades, anything related to trophies). You can get all Collectibles via Chapter Select, none of them are missable.
– Extra equipment needed: No
Step 1: Play through Story on Narrative (Easy) Difficulty, Get All Collectibles
For the first step simply complete the Story while getting all Collectibles: 21 Souvenirs, 12 Hugo’s Herbaria (called 5 Flowers and 7 Feathers in trophy list), 10 Secret Chests, 24 Tool Chests for the upgrade-related trophies, 16 Old Protector’s Items. It’s highly advised to play on Narrative difficulty (Easy) because it spawns more Knives, needed to open the 10 ‘Secret Chest’ Collectibles. At higher difficulties you may find yourself locked out of some Collectibles due to not having enough Knives. New Game+ also spawns fewer Knives which is why it’s better to do Collectibles on the first playthrough.
Here is a great guide for obtaining all collectibles in your first run.
Important things to keep in mind:
- [IMPORTANT] DON’T use Knives against enemies! Knives are one-use only and instantly break if used to kill an enemy. This would leave you unable to open the 10 Secret Chest Collectibles, they require 1 Knife each. Sometimes you automatically use a Knife to defend from a killing blow, if this happens restart checkpoint/section immediately. If unsure, check the Item Wheel (bottom right corner) whether you still have a Knife or not. Try to always keep 1 Knife for the next Secret Chest Collectible! The Knives are included in the Collectible Guide & Walkthrough. If you reach a Secret Chest but don’t have a Knife, you must use Chapter Select to replay everything from the last Knife location onward.
Anything you miss can be gotten via Chapter Select. Keep in mind that Chapter Select only tracks Souvenirs and Hugo’s Herbarium (called “Flowers” and “Feathers” in the trophies but “Herbarium” in-game). The following are NOT tracked in Chapter Select: Secret Chests, Knives, and Tools.
General Note about Progression Bugs: Sometimes there can be game-breaking progression bugs such as not being able to interact with a mandatory story item. If the game seems bugged, you can double-check in the Walkthrough how it’s supposed to work. If it is indeed a bug, replaying the Sub-Chapter via Chapter Select almost always fixes it. You don’t need to replay the entire Chapter, only the Sub-Chapter.
Step 2: New Game+ Playthrough to finish All Skills, focusing primarily on “Opportunism” Skill from the Start
The only trophies you will have left after the 1st playthrough are for maxing out Skills. It’s impossible to max out all 3 skills in one playthrough. That’s why a second playthrough in New Game+ is necessary.
To start New Game+ go to Title Screen > press to see Saves > press on completed story save to start New Game+. It won’t overwrite your old save. It creates a new save slot, you can still go back to your old save to use Chapter Select if needed.
Requiem
Earn all “A Plague Tale: Requiem” trophies
News | Narrative trailer for A Plague Tale: Requiem released
Focus Entertainment and Asobo Studio have released a new narrative trailer for the upcoming adventure game A Plague Tale: Requiem.
The trailer doesn’t contain much gameplay, but shows what players can expect from the game from a story point of view.
The first game, A Plague Tale: Innocence, is set in France in the year 1349, when the country is ravaged by the Black Death. Amicia must protect her younger brother Hugo while the two are pursued by the Inquisition and try to survive in the unforgiving world.
In the sequel, Amicia and Hugo return and travel to the south of France. The game should include larger levels so that players have more influence on how they progress.
A Plague Tale: Requiem releases October 18 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and Nintendo Switch via the cloud. The game will also be coming to Xbox Game Pass on release day.
News | A Plague Tale: Requiem is out October 18
Asobo Studio has announced the release date of A Plague Tale: Requiem. The game will be released on October 18.
It was already known that the game would be released sometime this fall, but now the exact release date has been announced. The company also released an extended gameplay video, which can be viewed below.
A collector’s edition of the game was also announced, which includes a statuette, a brooch and a plate with two songs from the game.
The first game, A Plague Tale: Innocence, is set in France in the year 1349, when the country is ravaged by the Black Death. Amicia must protect her younger brother Hugo while the two are pursued by the Inquisition and try to survive in the unforgiving world. In the sequel, Amicia and Hugo return.
A Plague Tale: Requiem is coming to Xbox Series X and S, Game Pass, PlayStation 5, and PC. The game is also coming to Switch via the cloud.
News | Extended A Plague Tale: Requiem Presentation Shown
During the Tribeca Games Spotlight yesterday, the upcoming A Plague Tale: Requiem was extensively discussed.
The approximately seven-minute presentation features both gameplay fragments and cutscenes. Meanwhile, Asobo Studio team members have their say. For example, it is explained how the rats return in the game and how stealth and survival have been improved compared to the first part. Furthermore, motion capture and the music in the game are also discussed in more detail.
The first game, A Plague Tale: Innocence, is set in France in the year 1349, when the country is ravaged by the Black Death. Amicia must protect her younger brother Hugo while the two are pursued by the Inquisition and try to survive in the unforgiving world.
A Plague Tale: Requiem will be released sometime this year on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The game will also be available on Game Pass immediately upon release. The game will be released via cloud streaming on Nintendo Switch.
News | Collector's Edition of A Plague Tale: Requiem Announced
Publisher Focus Entertainment and developer Asobo Studio have announced a Collector's Edition of A Plague Tale: Requiem.
The Collector’s Edition can be reserved exclusively through the digital store of Focus Entertainment for 189.99 euros. The package includes the game, a figurine of Amicia and Hugo, a plate with the soundtrack, a brooch of Hugo’s feather and more.
The first game is set in France in the year 1349, when the country is ravaged by the Black Death. Amicia must protect her younger brother Hugo while the two are pursued by the Inquisition and try to survive in the unforgiving world. In the sequel, Amicia and Hugo return.
A Plague Tale: Requiem will be released sometime this year on Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The game will also be available on Game Pass immediately upon launch. The game will be released via cloud streaming on Nintendo Switch.
Review | A Plague Tale: Innocence
Dark, grim, and especially daring, that's how I would describe A Plague Tale. The French developer Asobo Studio has been working in the industry for years, but mainly has small-scale Disney licensing games on the resume when it decides to make a name for itself. This very ambitious game is the symbolic baptism of fire for the developer and the talented people at Asobo have survived without getting burned. The result is a game that once again underlines the power of story-driven single player games.
No knights in shiny armor or magicians in lavish robes adorn the cover of this game. In A Plague Tale: Innocence you control fifteen-year-old Amicia at the time of the Middle Ages, when the Black Death seized itself in France and left millions of victims behind. The corpses are piling up and the survivors are looking for a sin block. They find that in five-year-old Hugo, Amicia’s brother. Hugo has been suffering from a mysterious illness since his birth and lives separately from his sister, until the Inquisition comes knocking on and he barely escapes with Amicia.
Amicia and Hugo, luridly robbed of their peaceful lives as little Lady and Lord of the De Rune family, suddenly find themselves alone in a world torn apart by war and illness. With Hugo by her side, Amicia has to stay out of the hands of the Inquisition and other evil-minded parties by sneaking around unseen and leading soldiers around. You do that for example by throwing stones with her slingshot, but later you also learn all kinds of alchemy recipes that lead to more creative solutions.
These creative solutions often go hand in hand with a different kind of evil that only shows its razor sharp teeth when it gets dark. The Black Death gets its own face in this game, or rather, thousands of faces. We are of course talking about the rat plague. They throw themselves over fields like a tsunami and crawl out of holes in walls like a jet-black waterfall. With literally hundreds at a time, they crawl across your screen, which is just as impressive as it is disturbing. The only thing they shun is light; everything in the shade is eaten to the bone.
Initially the rats are an extra obstacle for Amicia and Hugo and you have to find a safe way through darkness through torches, but gradually you also learn to manipulate light sources and you can even use the rats to your advantage. For example, smash the lantern of an unsuspecting soldier and watch him be devoured alive while you sneak past Hugo. It is a tough world in which you must be willing to sacrifice everything in order to survive. It is clear that Amicia is not that innocent.
One thing is clear, no matter how tough she is, Amicia is not a fighter and she will not win a direct confrontation with a halberd-wielding soldier. The entire game, which roughly takes p fifteen hours, you are therefore mainly concerned with stealth, interspersed with simple puzzles and exploring the beautiful nature at your leisure during quiet moments. There is a fine balance between those three elements and thanks to the division into chapters, you can clearly feel how long you have left when the snapping, puzzling or exploring starts to get boring. Moreover, the redemption always seems to come at exactly the right time and the chapters never feel too long or too short. It is a small detail, but that makes playing A Plague Tale feel like reading a good book.
Although it is difficult to lay down the controller, there is also plenty to notice about the story. Amicia and Hugo are credible characters, but in the beginning the story pinches itself in weird turns to push the plot in a certain direction. For example, Hugo is a smart, well-balanced boy for his age, which means that an unhappy timed outburst of anger comes out of the blue. And although Amicia and Hugo and their later allies look very human and undergo character development, the villains remain one-dimensional until the end. There had been more to it.
The power of the story of A Plague Tale is therefore in the small things. The whispered conversations between our heroes as you sneak through a hostile camp, Amicia’s increasingly louder heartbeat as a soldier approaches her hiding place; the spontaneous violin swings that scare you when sparkling red eyes emerge from the darkness, everything contributes to creating an immersive experience.
The graphic beauty of this game also plays an important role in this. Thanks to a soft, diffuse light, the enchanting landscapes, castles, cathedrals and villages that you pass get an almost supernatural look. You would almost forget that under that beauty there is often death and destruction. Contrasting with the beautiful nature you will find rotting carcasses, teeming rats and rivers of blood. In A Plague Tale, beauty is treacherous. It is a horribly beautiful, beautifully horrible game.
Fortunately, these environments are not only for walking from point A to point B, but you are also encouraged to explore the levels well. In every chapter, all kinds of collectibles are hidden, such as flowers and objects that give more context to the time in which the game takes place. Consider the scourges of flagellants or a rosary. The game cleverly responds to the secluded upbringing of Hugo, which makes him ignorant and curious about everyday things. Amicia is fortunate to explain to Hugo about these objects, and by extension the player.
A less well elaborated element is the crafting system for making alchemy brews and upgrades for your equipment. Anyone who has played a survival or open world game lately can imagine this, but the concept does not fit well with this game. This way you can make the decision to sacrifice many valuable materials for a strong remedy that can save you from a painful death, but due to the many checkpoints you can better invest those materials in a good upgrade of your slingshot. In addition, the game always ensures that a neat stack of materials is ready to solve the next puzzle, so there is no reason to use alchemy sparingly. The absence of a heavier degree of difficulty to make the materials more scarce and thereby offer additional challenges, therefore feels like a loss.
That does not mean that A Plague Tale: Innocence has become a beautiful game that continues to fascinate you from start to finish and is wonderfully consistent. Nothing about the game is really weak, but all elements reinforce each other and make the whole experience exactly that, an experience. It is an incredible debut for Asobo Studio and a win for the single player genre.
Score:
9,0
+ Exciting ambiance thanks to atmospheric graphics and sound.
+ Varied and refreshing gameplay
+ Compelling story
– Occasionally falls into clichés
Review |
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