I've debated for a long time whether to play this game, afraid that I wouldn't like the roguelike style. While roguelike still has a long way to go before becoming my favourite genre, as I am fond of permanent character development and builds, this game is nothing short of phenomenal and is easily one of the best first-party games available on PS5.

The game looks and runs fantastically, and particular praise should go to the excellent sound design. Returnal can also be notoriously challenging, where mistakes are heavily punished and good runs can be quickly ruined by even minor missteps. Luckily, the suspend feature that was retroactively added, together with the almost non-existent loading times, makes everything more manageable.

The completionist side, however, can be extremely tedious, with heavy RNG elements and repeated runs for collectables that contradict how the game was intended to be played.

I fairly enjoyed the first game, A Plague Tale: Innocence, for its visual design and story, but at the time I also hoped for a more diverse and deep combat system in a possible sequel. Well, A Plague Tale: Requiem surpasses its predecessor not only in terms of combat but in any aspect and to a remarkable extent. The combat system is more refined, finally enabling stealth kills, which were sorely missed in the first game, and implemented in much larger "arenas".

Skills progression is based on playstyle, but it's rather convoluted in its implementation, namely, on the number of kills in each encounter, which requires the players to consult a guide to see how many enemies to kill in each encounter to max out everything.
The more power of the PS5 also means many many more rats, which in this game have reached a grotesque amount.

On a more negative point, navigation in open spaces can be quite confusing and in the first few chapters, I find myself stuck at a checkpoint with no option to proceed (that I could see).

Based on rumours and the post-credit scene, it seems that a third iteration of A Plague Tale will happen, so I'm looking forward to that.

Had my eyes on this since the PS showcase. It draws some mechanics from various well-established franchises, such as Uncharted for its yellow painting-led one-button climbing and Horizon for its stamina-free dodge, which are delivered in a safe package.

Importantly, don't be fooled by its family-friendly art style or its dreamy score; this game is tough as nails, but in a fun way, rewarding both skill and quick thinking, at least in a normal difficulty playthrough. In the NG+ Master Difficulty playthrough, things take a turn for the worse, and the game can become quite frustrating, with the protagonist feeling significantly underpowered.

Alongside the rewarding combat, the sound design is also particularly commendable, but there also are some questionable design choices, such as the use of the game currency that is only used for minor cosmetic changes. By the end of the game, I found myself with over 3000 of these Crystal, unsure of what to do with them.