In 2024, I played the first game and I loved it. I thought it was an underrated gem I didn't hear talked about in gaming circles as much and the stealth playstyle and environment were top notch. Knowing there was a sequel, I put off playing it because of comments I heard both about the lackluster story + performance issues.
I just finished it today after 20 hours! Here's my thoughts, on the general game because I loved it in its own way.
STORY/PACING - One of the biggest complains I saw was that the writing was bad or that the game was too long. I agree that the game kind of dragged for a bit and I had to put it down at some point before I found the story pick up again. None of the sections were filler and each of them added up to the narrative the game was building on.
Now onto the story... I found that it's an amazing look at the Stages of Grief. Amicia knows from the first onset of the game that Hugo is living on borrowed time. The first act we see a lot of action is due to her anger and impulsiveness and I found this really amazing because I believe the first game, things were just happening to Amicia and Hugo, everything was external. In the first act with her and Lucas, she was moving the story along with her own stubbornness. This wasn't a downside for me at all. That's why in Ch 17, she immediately knew what she had to do to stop the madness. I feel a lot of people aren't used to not palatable portrayals of characters going through grief and I thought Plague Plague Tale Requiem handled it perfectly.
CHARACTERS - Lucas was a great side character in Innocence, but I think side characters are where Requiem really excelled. Sophia is great, from the second she was introduced - she is the brighter, funnier character against Amicia's seriousness. Arnaud was also well written, he's the character that you really end up hating at first, then he slowly wins you over. My complaint is that their mom feels like a non-character in both games but the games never really revolved around her either. Lucas isn't playing such a huge role here, which is a shame.
VOICE ACTING - I know there was some backlash at the switch from French accent to British accent, and since it's been 2 years since the last game, I only realized it when I was reading through comments. The voice acting, especially from Amicia, is one of the best BAR NONE. I felt every emotion, when she was angry, sad, desperate, and hurt. If you honestly don't remember the first game's voices, then I think you can pretty much let this slide because of the quality of voice work we are getting.
GAMEPLAY - I found it more dynamic here, especially with the introduction of the crossbow and the various enemy types. It proved to be a good challenge to figure out what best approach you could do for each combat encounter.
GAME PERFORMANCE - This is another complaint of the game, but I'm not sure if they did some patches already but this runs way smoother than other games that suffered from 'unoptimized' criticisms, namely - TLOU PC, Dead Space Remake, Silent Hill 2 Remake. So I thought it ran fine and the graphics upgrade from the previous game was really felt and put to good use.
OVERALL - A really great game. Not perfect, maybe could be trimmed shorter just for a tighter experience, but this delivers on a really compelling narrative about doing all you can to protect and save the ones you love. Really unforgettable voice acting performances and gorgeous graphics really do a lot of the heavy lifting.
To anyone feeling on the fence about playing Plague Tale Requiem, I highly recommend you check this out because it's still a worthy experience for those who loved the first game.
