Resonance is a very different Plague Tale experience (Hands-On Impressions)

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[00:20] Resonance A Plague Tale Legacy. Excited

[00:22] to talk about this one, actually. I'm a

[00:23] very big fan of this series. The

[00:25] previous two games, A Plague Tale

[00:26] Innocence and A Plague Tale Requiem,

[00:28] were fairly defining games of the last

[00:30] generation, I think. Not in the sense

[00:32] that they sold a lot, which they did,

[00:34] and not in the sense that they were

[00:34] critically acclaimed, which they were.

[00:36] It's more about the fact that those

[00:37] games, along with a handful of others at

[00:39] the time, were double-A hits at a time

[00:41] when the double-A scene was feeling

[00:42] increasingly imperiled, a feeling that's

[00:44] only intensified in the time since.

[00:46] [music] Innocence felt so breakthrough

[00:48] in so many regards, from its

[00:49] plague-stricken setting to its stealth

[00:51] combat gameplay, to its puzzles that

[00:52] were all about manipulating swarms of

[00:54] rats. Gross when you think about it, but

[00:56] incredibly fun to play, trust me. All of

[00:58] this was wrapped up in a package that

[00:59] looked a million bucks, even though you

[01:00] could tell that the budget for this game

[01:02] would have been vastly smaller than your

[01:04] traditional triple-A title. To top it

[01:05] all off, it just so happened to be

[01:07] beautifully written and emotionally

[01:08] affecting in a way that few games are

[01:09] able to achieve.

[01:11] >> Are you stupid or what?

[01:12] >> I am not stupid.

[01:13] >> Don't shout.

[01:15] >> Children, that's enough noise.

[01:19] >> Shut it up. You're going to get us

[01:21] killed.

[01:21] >> The second game, Requiem, had more

[01:23] budget, more scale, more ambition, and

[01:25] truthfully, I think a little was lost

[01:27] with all that more. Innocence felt so

[01:29] scrappy and intimate, benefiting from

[01:31] constraints in the way that all the best

[01:32] art does. In contrast, Requiem felt a

[01:34] little more flashy and slick as it was

[01:36] reaching for a wider audience, and it

[01:38] was still great, don't get me wrong, but

[01:39] I think it was reaching for just a

[01:40] little too much. That story concluded

[01:42] with great finality, and the studio,

[01:44] Asobo, haven't been at all shy about

[01:46] sharing their reasons for not continuing

[01:48] that story, at least for the moment. In

[01:50] an interview with GamesRadar, the Asobo

[01:51] CEO, David Dedeine, said, quote, "We

[01:53] knew some of our fans were really eager

[01:55] to see the follow-up teased in Requiem,

[01:57] but team spent over seven years with

[01:59] these characters and to keep things

[02:00] fresh, to preserve that creative spark,

[02:02] we felt we needed to take a break to

[02:04] clear our heads and reinvent ourselves."

[02:05] And quote. And you know what? Fair

[02:07] enough. And that brings us to Requiem, A

[02:09] Plague Tale: Legacy, a game set more

[02:11] than a decade before the events of the

[02:12] first game, starring a familiar, albeit

[02:14] younger here, face, Sophia, who in

[02:17] Innocence was a help to Amicia and Hugo

[02:18] in a crucial moment, but here she's her

[02:20] own woman, on the run from a thieving

[02:22] outfit that she left behind and the

[02:23] Venetian army for some reasons that

[02:25] aren't entirely clear yet. This is

[02:26] probably a good time to clarify what the

[02:28] preview build I played involved. It was

[02:30] two chapters, the first set on a Greek

[02:31] island dotted with ancient mythical

[02:33] ruins, and the second being the

[02:35] underbelly of that island, where I was

[02:36] feeling my way through the darkness

[02:38] while pursued by something, something

[02:40] we'll talk about a bit later. So, here's

[02:42] where the preview gets a little

[02:43] complicated. Even though I played two

[02:45] chapters, I'm only allowed to show you

[02:47] footage from one of those chapters, the

[02:49] one set above ground. That's a crying

[02:51] shame because I honestly didn't love

[02:54] that chapter for reasons I'll describe,

[02:56] but I really, really loved the second

[02:58] chapter, the one that I'm not allowed to

[03:00] show you. I'm very confused why Focus

[03:02] would want to hold this footage back

[03:03] since I think it does a fantastic job of

[03:05] showing what's unique about this game,

[03:07] where the other chapter feels like

[03:09] Uncharted or Tomb Raider again.

[03:11] Perfectly fine if you're after another

[03:12] one of those, but I appreciate this

[03:14] series for its unique choices and this

[03:16] chapter doesn't have a lot of those. And

[03:18] that's kind of the TLDR for this video,

[03:20] to be honest. This is a very, very

[03:21] different package from the other two

[03:23] Plague Tale games and that's fine,

[03:25] especially given the team were clear

[03:26] that they wanted to stretch some other

[03:28] creative muscles, but I'm not yet bought

[03:30] into a number of those decisions and

[03:32] I'll need to spend more time with them

[03:33] to see where they land. Other parts of

[03:35] the package, particularly that second

[03:36] chapter, have immediately hooked me, but

[03:39] it's hard for me to convince you of that

[03:40] when I can't show it to you. For now,

[03:42] you'll just have to trust me when I say

[03:43] that there's more to this game than it

[03:44] first meets the eye and ultimately, I

[03:46] have a lot of faith in the talent of

[03:48] this team because they haven't let us

[03:49] down yet and I don't think they're about

[03:51] to start now.

[04:03] >> [music]

[04:05] >> Let's bite off the meatiest bit first,

[04:07] combat. Combat in the previous Plague

[04:08] Tale games was never about full frontal

[04:10] assault since Amicia was a teenage girl,

[04:12] and she wouldn't fare well squaring off

[04:13] against armored brutes. Instead, combat

[04:15] was about using meager tools like a

[04:17] sling to distract or stun guards while

[04:19] manipulating your environment to your

[04:21] advantage. A guard protected from the

[04:23] rats by torchlight instantly became rat

[04:25] food when you extinguished said torch,

[04:27] and so combat was actually more of a

[04:29] puzzle game than anything else.

[04:35] >> [screaming]

[04:35] >> Here in Requiem, combat is combat.

[04:37] Sophia is a trained brawler and has

[04:39] absolutely no trouble in a fight. In

[04:41] chapter five, which is where my preview

[04:42] kicked off, Sophia already has a number

[04:44] of combat maneuvers, weapons, and

[04:45] equippable items at her disposal, and

[04:47] frankly, she's a bit of a powerhouse.

[04:53] Asobo have said that they've taken

[04:54] inspiration from Ghost of Tsushima's

[04:56] combat, and you can feel a bit of that

[04:58] here in the pacing and clashiness of

[05:00] combat. It's driven by three-hit combos

[05:02] where Sophia explodes forth, but she can

[05:04] quickly be repelled by enemy steel.

[05:06] Similarly, enemies will circle and await

[05:08] their turn to strike, colored flashes

[05:09] denoting moves that should be parried or

[05:11] dodged.

[05:16] At a foundational level, it's very

[05:18] simple stuff. There's only one attack

[05:19] button and only one melee combo, though

[05:21] different animations will trigger when

[05:23] doing that. Crucially, holding down the

[05:25] attack button will unsheathe a hidden

[05:26] dagger, and this is Sophia's quickest

[05:28] way of dispatching foes, with the

[05:30] trade-off being that enemies can easily

[05:31] repel this attack if they aren't already

[05:33] staggered.

[05:36] There are also little flourishes here

[05:37] and there. A grapple allows you to pull

[05:38] down pesky archers.

[05:42] There are also throwable weapons,

[05:43] plunging jump attacks, but there doesn't

[05:44] seem to be any stealth takedowns. Or if

[05:46] there are, I wasn't able to trigger them

[05:48] when sneaking up behind guards. The

[05:50] positioning of enemies in each of the

[05:51] combat spaces makes pretty clear that

[05:53] this is not a game where stealth is the

[05:54] goal. Sophia charges headlong into

[05:56] groups of foes who can see her coming

[05:58] from a mile away, so the contrast to the

[06:00] previous A Plague Tale games couldn't be

[06:01] any starker.

[06:04] >> Interrupting something?

[06:08] >> Got to say though, all of this is

[06:10] perfectly fine, perfectly functional,

[06:12] but it really wasn't ringing my bell all

[06:13] that much. We've all played combat that

[06:15] is deeper than this, that feels better

[06:17] than this, that's more playful and

[06:19] expressive than this. I do get the sense

[06:20] that the combat sandbox will open up as

[06:22] the game progresses, but here in this

[06:24] moment it felt a little rote. That was a

[06:26] bit of a disappointment to be honest. I

[06:28] love how much the A Plague Tale games

[06:29] took an innovative approach to the

[06:30] question of combat, not shying away from

[06:33] it as much as looking to accomplish the

[06:35] same goal by different means. No game

[06:37] I'd ever played had asked me to turn

[06:38] swarms of rats against my foes. If

[06:40] Requiem has similar innovations in its

[06:42] combat design, they certainly aren't

[06:44] here in this portion of the game.

[06:48] >> Fight for the homeland you left behind.

[06:51] >> Yes, right.

[06:53] You can't

[06:53] >> No, I haven't.

[06:56] >> You know I do.

[06:57] >> Just as A Plague Tale has changed up the

[06:58] core gameplay model, they've also

[07:00] adopted a very different approach to

[07:01] storytelling. This is a prequel set

[07:03] before the events of the first two A

[07:04] Plague Tale games, but it's its own

[07:06] self-contained story. You absolutely do

[07:08] not need to have played the previous

[07:09] games before playing this one, making it

[07:11] a very easy jumping-in point for anyone.

[07:13] Sophia is the star of the show here.

[07:14] She's a stark contrast to Amicia, who

[07:16] was a scared, untrained teenager.

[07:18] Sophia, on the other hand, is a fearless

[07:20] and fearsome pirate, or thereabouts. She

[07:22] ran with a gang for a while, but made

[07:23] the decision to leave them, taking with

[07:25] her a precious artifact journal that led

[07:27] her to this mysterious island. It wasn't

[07:29] the only thing leading her here though,

[07:31] because Sophia is also having visions of

[07:32] the past, visions that see her embody

[07:35] the mythical Greek hero Theseus, most

[07:37] famous for slaying the Minotaur. In

[07:39] these sections you're transported back

[07:40] to the island as it once was, fighting

[07:42] in the packed arena for fame and glory.

[07:44] >> Coward!

[07:50] It seems like there's an A and B plot

[07:51] going on here in Resurgence. The A plot

[07:53] is about this mysterious place and

[07:55] Sophia's unique connection to it. Later

[07:57] Sophia will have visions that see her

[07:58] meet Daedalus and the labyrinth that

[08:00] haunts her dreams comes into view. We've

[08:02] seen these mythic retellings countless

[08:04] times before, but A Plague Tale Requiem

[08:05] here seems genuinely interesting given

[08:07] its darker tone and mature themes. The B

[08:09] plot is the one about Sophia on the run

[08:11] from her old criminal gang, fighting

[08:13] alongside her trusted friend who came

[08:15] along for the ride. This one I'm

[08:16] honestly not too sure about yet. The

[08:18] gang members that pursue her all cut an

[08:20] interesting figure in that they have

[08:21] plenty of presence and personality and

[08:23] they certainly don't look like they're

[08:23] messing around when they threaten Sophia

[08:25] or her friend Lenny. Truth is, honestly

[08:27] just haven't seen enough of this yet to

[08:28] really have a firm view on it, but

[08:30] storytelling was always a strength of

[08:31] this team and I very much doubt they're

[08:33] going to drop the ball this time around.

[08:35] >> You left the whole gang to [music] face

[08:36] the army alone. You left with the

[08:38] sphere, the book. Now tell me again, you

[08:42] didn't betray me?

[08:43] >> I reclaimed

[08:46] what was mine.

[08:50] >> You heard me.

[08:52] Caleb.

[08:53] >> I'm a little less confident when it

[08:55] comes to the game's setting and puzzle

[08:56] design or maybe it's better to say I'm a

[08:58] little more conflicted. Resurgence is

[09:00] set, at least in this part of the game,

[09:01] on a mythic version of Crete and that

[09:03] looks just about exactly as you'd expect

[09:05] it to, white stone columns and mosaic

[09:07] trims. The previous Plague Tale games

[09:09] were set in medieval France during the

[09:10] plague, a location and time period not

[09:12] often experienced. Ancient Greece is

[09:14] perhaps the most rendered video game

[09:16] setting ever and so it certainly doesn't

[09:18] leave as much of an impression as

[09:19] plague-ridden France. In its defense

[09:21] though, it is a very pretty looking game

[09:23] and much like Requiem, you could tell

[09:24] that the team had some budget to work

[09:25] with here to make all of this look

[09:27] really great. Honestly though, the stuff

[09:28] you're seeing here isn't anywhere near

[09:30] as impressive as the stuff you're seeing

[09:31] underground. Again, that's the stuff I

[09:33] can't show you. There you'll see the

[09:34] underbelly of this world. It's darker,

[09:36] more starkly lit, more megalomaniacal in

[09:39] its scale. It's unique in a way that

[09:40] this stuff up top just isn't. [music] I

[09:42] also think that from a gameplay

[09:44] perspective, the stuff I was playing

[09:45] through above ground wasn't doing a lot

[09:47] for me. This is very, very Uncharted,

[09:50] very Tomb Raider. It's tilting mirrors

[09:52] to light up targets, it's jumping over

[09:53] pillars in very specific orders lest you

[09:55] trigger the spike trap, it's turning

[09:57] slow-moving cogs and cranks this way and

[09:59] that to open new platforming pathways,

[10:01] etc. And hey, absolutely nothing wrong

[10:03] with this stuff. It's timeless. They're

[10:04] playing here, and none of it is any

[10:06] worse than you've experienced in other

[10:08] games, but it's also no better. And

[10:10] again, I found myself reflecting on how

[10:11] much more interesting the stealth and

[10:13] puzzle sandbox of the previous games

[10:14] were. But the game really does flip a

[10:16] switch when I enter the underground.

[10:19] Separated from my friend who I was

[10:20] fighting alongside, I now need to make

[10:21] my way through this underground ruin

[10:23] while something hunts me. It's something

[10:25] that's only hinted at in the game's

[10:26] trailer, and again, I can't show it to

[10:28] you here, but it's an organic monster of

[10:30] sorts, one that clings to the walls and

[10:32] kind of grows out of them. It can't see

[10:34] you, but Sophia would attract and leave

[10:36] behind these blue particles on the

[10:38] ground whenever she'd walk or run, and

[10:40] the monster would track you by sensing

[10:42] and inhaling these particles. It

[10:44] couldn't enter any lit areas, however,

[10:46] and Sophia wouldn't leave behind any

[10:48] blue particles when she was crouched or

[10:50] hidden. So, imagine this incredibly

[10:51] tense 30-minute-long sequence where I

[10:53] spent all this time sprinting towards

[10:55] the next light source with this thing

[10:57] nipping at my heels, and at other times

[10:58] I was carefully and quietly stealthing

[11:00] between cover points while this monster

[11:02] loomed just a few feet away. Set in this

[11:04] darker, more striking setting, this

[11:06] section was absolutely the highlight of

[11:07] my time with the game, and ultimately,

[11:09] it's what got me over the line. Since I

[11:11] didn't love that first chapter, and I

[11:12] wasn't feeling very bought in on many of

[11:14] the decisions that A Plague Tale had

[11:15] made, but this chapter's setting,

[11:17] storytelling, and gameplay felt

[11:19] pitch-perfect. Each of those elements

[11:20] was totally different from the previous

[11:22] Plague Tale games, but they had the same

[11:24] spirit. Arresting environments, mature

[11:26] storytelling, as well as unique, tense,

[11:29] stealth-based gameplay.

[11:31] >> Come on. Have some [music] faith.

[11:33] >> Drop it.

[11:34] Watch out.

[11:35] >> So, a bit of a mixed preview. You might

[11:37] be wondering, how do I feel coming out

[11:38] of all this? Well, I'll tell you, I was

[11:40] going to play this game no matter what

[11:41] because I have a lot of faith in this

[11:43] studio. What this team did with

[11:44] Innocence and Requiem was fantastic, and

[11:46] I was day one with them for their next

[11:48] project no matter what, and that

[11:49] certainly hasn't changed from [music]

[11:50] this preview. What I will say is that

[11:52] it's too early to judge Resonance based

[11:54] solely on these two chapters. I do need

[11:56] to spend more time with its story to

[11:58] actually immerse myself in it. I need to

[12:00] know these characters better. I need to

[12:01] see how the combat and stealth sandbox

[12:03] opens up over time. There are just too

[12:05] many variables right now for me to call

[12:06] it one way or the other. But, at a high

[12:08] level, there's no part of this package

[12:09] that I'd call bad. It's not that I

[12:11] disliked things. It's more that some

[12:13] parts of it just didn't excite me as

[12:14] much as others. The combat in that first

[12:17] setting didn't grab me, but the creature

[12:18] chase and that underground sequence

[12:20] absolutely did. Overall, it is what I

[12:22] said a moment ago. I'm carried by my

[12:23] belief in this team and my genuine

[12:25] interest in their spin on things. If I

[12:27] was a betting man, I'd bet that in the

[12:28] end this turns out to be a great game,

[12:30] even if some parts of it are less unique

[12:33] than what Innocence and Requiem was

[12:34] serving up. Resonance is out pretty

[12:36] soon, actually. It's targeting an August

[12:37] 28th release, and it will be day one on

[12:39] Game Pass, making it very easy to check

[12:41] out if you're at all interested. Before

[12:42] that, though, I will be doing a full

[12:43] review, so do look forward to that, and

[12:45] be sure to subscribe so you don't miss

[12:46] it. If you've got any questions, do

[12:47] leave them down in the comment section

[12:48] below, and I'll get to them in that

[12:49] final review. That's pretty much it.

[12:51] Thanks for watching, and I'll see you

[12:52] next time. Bye-bye.

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