A Plague Tale: Requiem, a Franco-French disappointment. © Asobo
In a Middle Ages contaminated through and through by the plague, Amicia and her younger brother Hugo try to survive. After the first opus, Asobo seems to have ambitions in Requiem to complete the siblings. However, everything led to believe that this sequel could be a masterpiece, but rather than correcting the situation and carefully preserving the convincing elements of the first part, Requiem wallows in (almost) all areas. The beauty of the game and the music, composed by Olivier Derivière, manage to create the illusion of a straw man, empty and dry once the outer envelope is removed.
The De Rune siblings. © Asobo
Asobo has managed the feat of sweeping away all the forces of the game, making it stand out from the many triple A’s, to bring back new insipid, even absurd levers. From a worked narration to interesting characters, we move on to nonsense scenarios animated by bland puppets. And if the brotherly relationship seems convincing, it is quickly released by the various nasty clichés that it will meet on its way. A path that hides behind doors, far too many doors.
Too much rat kills the rat. © Asobo
In its linear progression adorned with corridors and corridors, Requiem struggling to renew its decorations level design weak. Almost systematically, it will be a question of progressing straight ahead in order to find yourself face to face with a door, which you will cross each time with the same animation. Much to the chagrin of the developers, a rehearsal comedy sets in when Amicia pushes through these doors that lead to nothing but other doors. In more open places, Requiem still leaves the luxury to the player to move towards a clean style of play, from the discreet approach to the frontal approach. An effort that could have been appreciable if it were not completely useless as the AI that we encounter almost makes us regret that of Ubisoft.
Asobo quickly finds himself overwhelmed by his own ambitions. His desire to extend the life of the game illustrates how the goals set were certainly unachievable. The turn of action that the title takes is to be shown in all schools as the mistakes not to make. The evolution of the characters and the plots they face do not remain more convincing, Amicia going from a girl of good family to a bloodthirsty killer almost as deadly as the plague itself. Among all the doors that we cross, none of them allows us to access a point of attachment in the game. A failed sequel worthy of the 7th art, fortunately comforted audibly by the compositions of Olivier Derivière.
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