First off, this game is absolutely beautiful and also ran like a charm. I've been playing it on a 3080 with basically everything on max and only dipped below 60 fps once.

For the game itself, I really loved it, but it probably could have been about 1-2 hours shorter. Nevertheless, the story is great and there are a lot of great new characters which you really come to like and love through the game.

If you've played the first one I highly recommend this for you as well, it's even better in my opinion.

Story - 5/5
I haven't played Innocence, and Requiem still did enough to catch me up on the story, fall in love with the characters, and get emotional at their hardships. While it seems to drag on a bit at the end, the story has amazing highs and lows.

Audio - 4/5
The background music is good but not great. The amazing parts are how the horror cues are built into the score. I liked most of the voice acting and dialogue, but if I have to hear the main character say "Lord!" one more time I will stab a bitch.

Visuals - 5/5
Modern graphics are insane. This game weaves between gorgeous mountains, islands and cities and then inevitably leads to their gory destruction. This is represented masterfully.

Gameplay - 3/5
While I eventually did get into the groove of the weapons, there's very less diversity. The game also implies that you can play stealthily or aggressively but then forces you into situations where you must do the opposite. The boss fights are all the same - hoards of enemies come at you while you're locked in a small room with weapons. There are also a couple of bugs that required me to load, primarily with companions not following and that breaking the game.

Verdict
A Plague Tale: Requiem isn't a masterpiece, but it's really close, and it's one of my favourite games of 2022.

A really strong sequel to a game that I quite enjoyed, and fixes some of the issues I had with the first. The narrative feels much more compelling, building a much stronger emotional connection with the player, introducing more compelling characters, fleshing out existing ones, and upgrading gameplay and visuals. A very strong narrative, and as the first game's structure felt inspired by the Last of Us games, this one feels even more so. Solid combat, though it can be a little clunky in hectic scenarios and does wear itself out over the runtime.

Görseller atmosfer eyvallah ama önceki oyunun üstüne hiçbir şey ekleyememiş, belki de geri gitmiş. Elimden geldiğimce spoiler vermeyeceğim.

1. Oyunun süresi çok uzun, ilk oyunun iki katı uzunluğunda. Yürüme simülatörlerinde oyun süresi çok önemli, çok uzun olursa insana fenalık geçirtiyor. Özellikle Requiem gibi çok sakin ve monoton (aynı mekanikleri sürekli kullandığınız için monoton dedim) oyunlarda bu süre 10 saati aşmamalı, mümkün olduğunca kısa olmalı.

2. Elindeki süreyi de verimsiz kullanıyor, hikaye önemsiz içeriklerle çok zaman kaybediyor. Asıl hedefe ulaşmanız gereken zamanı arttırmak için gereksiz sayılabilecek bir sürü keşif kısmı eklenmiş, bunlar ne hikayeye fayda sağlıyor ne de karakterler arasındaki ilişkiyi derinleştiriyor. Örnek vermem gerekirse, ilk 5 bölüm "Order bizi kurtaracak" diyerek geziyoruz, bir şeyler topluyoruz, birbirine benzer haritalarda asker öldürüyoruz ancak hikayenin Order'a ayırdığı zaman maksimum 15-20 dk'dır. Bu arada geçen zamanda hikayede hiçbir şey olmuyor. Bu geçen zamanları Macula gibi lore'u geliştirmek için kullanabilirdi. Çünkü veba ile öğrenilen hiçbir şey ya tatmin edici değil ya da net bir sebebi yok.

3. Oynanış açısından kendini geliştiriememiş. Menüleri düzenlemişler, birkaç yeni mekanik de geliyor ama yeni mekanikleri kullanmak için pek sebebiniz yok. İlk oyundakine benzer tarzda bölüm ve bulmacalar kullanılmış. Yine kutu ittirip ateş yakıyorsunuz. Fareler sözde daha akıllanmış ama ilk oyundakinden daha yetenekli değil, sadece sayıları daha fazla.

4. Oynanış çok yavaştı, hala yavaş. Bir kutuyu ittirmek sapanla taş atmak dakikalar alıyor, bu da oynanışı ayrı çekilmez hale getiriyor. İlk defa bir oyunda adam öldürmeye üşendim.

İlk oyun deneme diye göz yumdum, hatta bazen beklentilerimi aştı ama 2. oyunda kaliteli bir şeyler koymaları gerektiğini düşünüyordum. Maalesef koymamışlar, aynı tas aynı hamam. Basının ve sitenin genelinin aksine beğenmedim ve önermiyorum, ilk oyunu oynayıp seriyi bırakabilirsiniz.

Blimey, this is bleak. Ridiculously so, to the point when it's actually sort of amusing just how much bleakness our poor protagonist Amicia and her little brother Hugo can take. So bleak that I had to take breaks from this - it's not a game that you can spend 5-6 hours on, unless you somehow enjoy the bleakness. Because this is BLEAK. It's worse than Brexit.

I never played the first Plague Tale game, but managed to catch up on the story via YouTube, and I'm pleased I did that because the story is key throughout all of this - and it's excellent, the main reason I came back to finish this. The characters are very good too - and together, it makes for a very enjoyable narrative full of twists and turns (spoiler - almost all of them are BLEAK).

The tale of Amicia and her brother Hugo is one most people know about - Hugo has a rare condition which means he's linked to an ancient power called The Macula, which is in turn connected to the hoard of rats causing the titular plague. And boy, are there a lot of rats in Requiem! They're terrifying in their volume and their ruthlessness and voracity, and all the best parts of Requiem feature these pesky things.

The first thing that struck me about Requiem was how incredible it looks - landscapes are absolutely spectacular, and during the 15-odd hours it took me to get through it, there's a very impressive balance of dark, dingy environments, hellish corpse-laden levels, beautiful, colourful vistas, pretty market towns, huge, imposing mountain ranges, coastlines etc etc. It never looks anything less than stunning with constant small details adding to the realism, and the lighting is also very impressive. Oh, and those rats. Likewise, the sounds are tremendous. The soundtrack is perfectly pitched, the voice acting very good indeed. So aurally and visually, Requiem is top notch from start to finish.

Gameplay here is a really mixed bag. When it's good, Requiem is very good with some clever puzzles. Unfortunately, there are far too many really bad sections which mean I could never rate Requiem as highly as the presentation, the plot and characters would otherwise deserve.

As for the good - the clever ways to lure rats around were easily my favourite parts. Using torches to keep them at bay is neat, but manipulating the environment, extinguishing enemies' torches so they fall prey to the rodents is the absolute highlight. It would have been nice if these mechanics were expanded upon somewhat.

The bad sections sadly were too frequent. Requiem doesn't really ever nail combat - it's seen as a last resort aside from some very specific sections, so stealth is the required skill around 75% of the time. Sometimes this is fine, but other levels feel overly long, tedious and dated. One level in particular has you sneaking around to hide from the antagonist in a dingy cellar, and it's painful to complete. I totally get that this is never supposed to be a combat-heavy Uncharted clone, but the balance is off and as such, is a big disappointment. I did sigh when I realised that the next level of the game would be a rat-free sneakathon trying to avoid guards who can kill you with one hit.

TBH I didn't particularly mind the several 'slow' action-free sections of the game to break up the bleakness. These sections show off the visuals as you take in surroundings, and although they're far from interactive, they serve their purpose and certainly help the story. Even the snails pace of levels didn't bother me - it's realistic, the perils Amicia faces feel very real, it can feel particularly tense in places. I just wish there were more rat manipulation levels and fewer sneaking past those pesky guards.

Requiem is definitely worth a look, particularly if you enjoy a strong narrative with good characters. The story is worth suffering a few dud levels, and when the gameplay is good, it's very enjoyable. Maybe just have a more upbeat game to fall back on (which I did!), because the peril and jeopardy never really lets up and you'll wonder just how much more shit poor Amicia can have thrown at her. Maybe she could be the star of Powerwash Simulator 2 next time, the poor girl badly needs a break.

The graphics might have gotten an upgrade but the story, the pacing, and the main characters have regressed from Innocence. The dialogue is incredibly poor and Amicia is just straight up insufferable even when there is no reason to be. The new characters are pretty good admittedly, I found myself getting attached to Sophia and Arnaud, but wow Amicia was a far cry from what I remembered in the first game. The gameplay is whatever, the new crossbow is nice to have but other than that it's pretty much the same as the first game, and some mechanics are still just as annoying as I remembered. I'm honestly pretty shocked that I didn't love this game, I adore the first one and I was incredibly hyped for this but story wise it just doesn't live up.

damn

So much better than the first game, and makes me like the first game better in retrospect, kinda

The meat of the gameplay (the non walky story and or set piece bits) is much improved this time around but still not the best

Everything else is dialed up to 11 and it really had me flabberjawwed a couple times

A Plague Tale: Requiem is my 2022 GOTY so far. Albeit this year has been a light one overall, Requiem is still a fantastic game and a vast improvement over its predecessor. Although I have always been trash at stealth I was still able to have a great deal of fun despite much of the game revolving around your stealth skills. Thankfully Requiem did provide more ways to attack, unlike the first title, making it less taxing for non-stealth gamers. This game has an incredible narrative, fun gameplay, and the most beautiful graphics I've seen in a game. Highly recommended.

In my short review of the predecessor I wanted to express how superficial the entire game remains in the end. Requiem, on the other hand, manages to add more depth while focusing even more on setpieces and action. What was supposed to be more banal is instead the backdrop for the overall better gameplay experience. Surprising!

Requiem has a bit of trouble with its pacing, especially at the beginning the sequences are repetitive and in the middle the game takes out an immense amount of speed. However, especially compared to the predecessor, the world and of course the characters seem far more natural and complex. It's kind of a shame that the main story is more or less over with Requiem, because I still have the feeling that more is possible with this world. But what we got is an all-around better game than its predecessor.

Pierwsza część mnie zawiodła i uważam ją za średniaka. Spowodowane było to po części moimi oczekiwaniami, a po części gameplayem. Oczekiwałem w miarę realistycznej gry o zarazie w średniowieczu, a otrzymałem grę fantasy, w dodatku z głównym antagonistą będącym oklepaną kalką z innych gier. Gameplay potrafił być frustrujący i zbyt ograniczony, w efekcie ukończyłem tę grę z miksem frustracji i nudy. Zignorowałem zupełnie premierę drugiej części, nie śledziłem postępów prac, nie czekałem na tę grę.

Odpaliłem ją z Game Passa mając bardzo niskie oczekiwania. A Plague Tale: Requiem okazała się grą znacznie lepszą od poprzedniczki pod każdym względem, a ja wiedziałem już, że to nie gra historyczna, tylko czysta fantastyka, dlatego tym razem bawiłem się przednio.

Przede wszystkim -- to się mocno wybija -- gra ta wygląda jak milion dolarów. Grafika jest cudowna, może konkurować z wieloma grami segmentu AAA. Właściwie, to dla mnie A Plague Tale: Requiem już jest w tym segmencie. Widoczki powodują nieustanny zachwyt, aż się chce trzaskać screenshoty.

Gameplay jest dużo bardziej różnorodny niż w pierwszej części, ciągle zmienia się też otoczenie i wraz z bohaterami jesteśmy rzucany w przeróżne lokacje. Jedne są pięknie kolorowe, a inne "pięknie" odrażające.

Dostajemy dużo fajnie wyreżyserowanych cutscenek oraz kilka bardzo interesujących postaci pobocznych, które nam towarzyszą przez bardzo długi czas i wspomagają naszą bohaterkę unikatowymi umiejętnościami. Czuć chemię między postaciami, rozmawiają one ze sobą nawet poza przerywnikami. Miałem wrażenie, że gram w Uncharted w średniowieczu.

Poziom trudności był dla mnie wyważony, nie raz zdarzyło mi się zginąć, miałem frajdę z kombinowania i łączenia różnych technik -- od skradania, przez korzystanie z wytworzonych uprzednio przedmiotów, takich jak bomby, aż do fizycznej konfrontacji. Oczywiście znowu mamy stada składające się z setek czy nawet tysięcy szczurów i zabawę ogniem, światłem i cieniem.

Tym razem gra mnie oczarowała! Mam wrażenie, że możemy oczekiwać jeszcze trzeciej części i na to liczę.