A Tale of the Plague – Requiem: The Sun, Many Rats, and the Masterful Sequel

The brutal tale is set against the backdrop of the Kingdom of France, devastated by the Black Death in 1348, but also by the Hundred Years War, which leaves the country bloodless. A Tale of the Plague: Innocence A couple from the nobility met a painful fate for the child. Amicia de Rooney, 15, and her younger brother Hugo, 5, who has a strange disease called macula.

After a tragic incident by the ruthless Inquisition, thrown onto the roads of the Burning Kingdom, the two children now left to fend for themselves must rely only on their own wits and wits – which is the main gameplay of the title. – survive. Therefore, the innocence of childhood is confronted by a world with no care or the slightest pity for it, where fate is more easily written by blows of axes, false miracles and scriptures.

Released in May 2019 and developed by the talented Bordeaux studio Asobo, which is also involved in a game of this type rarely called for in the historical period. A Tale of the Plague – Innocence It was a critical success and one of the most beautiful video game surprises of the year, selling over a million copies a year later. A big favorite. and an upcoming TV series adaptation under the auspices of Mate Tour as a supplement. Which obviously excites the Asobo team, who have signed their first such game, and confirms the sequel, the completion of the first part of which left no room for doubt.

On paper, of course, there are many questions and temptations: should the sequel obey the logic of “more”? Bigger environments, more interactions, longer adventures, definitely more spectacular staging…

Asobo answers these questions positively. But the exercise once again turns out to be quite brilliant, with great consistency. And if it is clearly not free of flaws, it easily manages to sublimate a recipe proven three years ago.

At this stage, it is best to warn any newbies: if it is possible to evaluate The Tale of the Plague – Requiem Without having played the first installment, its impact will be greatly diminished for those who didn’t follow the story of the first game, as the narrative arcs are completely complementary and interconnected. That is why we strongly encourage you A Tale of the Plague – Innocence early.

Sun, spices and rats

The action takes place six months after the events of the first game, which took place in the medieval province of Guiana (corresponding to the Bordeaux region). The Tale of the Plague – Requiem Takes Amicia and Hugo to the lands of Provence.

More determined and confident than ever, Amicia embarks on a quest to find a cure for the evil that is consuming her little brother. But when Hugo’s power reasserts itself, death and desolation reappear, and the hordes of rats rise once more, devouring a land that was previously idyllic and almost untouched by the ravages of war.

With extraordinary art direction that was largely able to maintain the high level of drag, with a production 20 times the budget, the first game was illustrated, among other things, by its incredibly immersive world.

A the world All the more amazing that he always gave the impression of being very organic in his approach. For a while, you could almost feel the polluted and poisoned atmosphere of the places that the two children passed on their ill-fated journey.

The Tale of the Plague – Requiem Makes a change of scenery with the colors of Provence and twinkling lights. The visual setting here is also absolutely sublime. that Luberon ochres Passing market stalls, fields of lavender and its hundred-year-old olive trees, a beach battered by stormy seas…

It is a postcard landscape and the best calling card of the regional tourist office, unfolding majestically. Every stone, every blade of grass, every low wall or buttress, already in ruins, gives the impression of having been placed here and there with all the austerity of a copyist monk.

The contrast and visual feast are all the more powerful because Amicia and Hugo of course often find themselves beneath the surface, in a particularly nasty environment, between piles of decaying corpses and clouds of rotting rats just waiting to devour them. up.

Speaking of rats, their visual impact is clearly superior to the previous game. Out of 5,000 samples, the studio is now showing 300,000. More intelligent and aware of their surroundings, avoiding light more effectively and even being able to zoom onto certain surfaces, the rats are behind some very spectacular game sequences that also look very “extraordinary”. We will say nothing more so as not to spoil the enjoyment of their discoveries. We hope you don’t have Musophobia…

Fragile, but not vulnerable

Unlike the first game, where the characters logically avoided confrontation, Amicia develops new assets in Requiem that can kill her enemies with one hit: throwing her into the fire, using her crossbow, knife, etc. Nor is it a matter of turning it into a killing machine. If he is a genius, he remains vulnerable. And this will be verified at specific points in the story, a bit stressful, but quite manageable.

by all means, The Tale of the Plague – Requiem It’s a game to be savored, and it’s not a question of rushing headlong into the lineup. Especially since the enemy AI hasn’t improved much since the previous game. We will also turn a blind eye to the rather incompatible options in the game.

In addition to the three adventure modes, an invincible mode is also available. It’s quite a bummer since there’s already a (really really) easy mode that helps the story a lot. But transforms the adventure into a health outing.

With fantastic voice acting for two characters, a great score by composer Olivier Derivier, who knows how to be elegiac and poignant, the story unfolds in 17 chapters, playing for about twenty hours, which takes its time.

A story with a crumpled script, despite occasional minor weaknesses, made up of great darkness, violence and moral trials, R.regularly distributes emotion cards, where the roles between the siblings are repeatedly reversed. Until the emotional charge of splitting the stones in two is achieved with quite shocking results. skillful.