Welcome to our review of A Plague Tale: Requiem, the tragic second part of the lives of the De Rune family as Amicia and Hugo try to escape their destiny.
Far across the sea, an island calls… Embark on a heartrending journey into a brutal, breathtaking world twisted by supernatural forces. After escaping their devastated homeland, Amicia and Hugo travel far south, to new regions and vibrant cities. There, they attempt to start a new life and control Hugo’s curse.
But, when Hugo’s powers reawaken, death and destruction return in a flood of devouring rats. Forced to flee once more, the siblings place their hopes in a prophesized island that may hold the key to saving Hugo. Discover the cost of saving those you love in a desperate struggle for survival. Strike from the shadows or unleash hell, overcoming foes and challenges with a variety of weapons, tools and unearthly powers.
A Plague Tale: Requiem can be approached from 2 angles in my humble opinion. The first, this is more of the first game, more of the same that made the first game so good. More rats, more enemies and more suspense. But you can also look at it like the requiem the first game deserves. I found A Plague Tale: Requiem to be a truly inspiring story and I will admit that Amicia is by far my favorite game character crush. Her dedication to her brother and to find a solution, while at times being near self-destructive, it also makes her such a beautiful person and you just can’t help but fall in love with her.
If you have not played the first one, let me catch you up. In the town of Guyenne, there is a rat plague and the majority of the game is a blend of escaping the rats and defeating the enemies. You have the typical skill tree on top of your weapons and half of the time, you are either sneaking around or running away. Surprisingly this game was an amazing experience despite its deep, dark noir story. I loved it and was looking forward to the newest game of what is now a great series already.
Enter the second game and our siblings have joined up with their mother and Lucas, the boy they befriended in the first game and a budding alchemist. From arriving at their house in an untainted city to nightly trips to get medicine for Hugo to escaping the city as a family, eventually setting sail to La Cuna, the island Hugo has been dreaming of, traveling to the depths of the said island to finding out the truth as to who and what they are.
Throughout the entire story, you are slowly getting equipped with more and better weapons/tools, allowing you more freedom in battles. From throwing oil on enemies and then setting them on fire, to just throwing dust to extinguish torches so the rats can take them out in your stead. The skill tree still auto-fills up slowly depending on your playing style and seeing I was more or less fixated on killing all the enemies, you can get the idea what I was really good at.
Storywise, I do feel that A Plague Tale: Requiem had a bit of a weird speed to its storytelling. Especially the ending of the game, no spoilers, felt a little too fast for my liking, but I guess the clear hints of a possible third game sure made up for that. I loved how more characters were introduced and in its own cruelty, how some of them met their demise while helping the De Rune siblings.
Also on a purely personal note, Amicia, you are possibly my favorite gaming character of all time now. I just love how the developers made you so compassionate yet ruthless, so fragile yet so tenacious, so friendly yet so vengeful. More gaming characters deserve this level of depth and I am your number 1 fan! I always mockingly call the games “The Rats of us”, but I never do that to dislike the game, always out of love and satire. I love these weird games.
In conclusion, A Plague Tale: Requiem is the perfect successor in gaming, more of the same, but bigger, badder, and better. The stories of the De Rune family are simply a must-play.
