A Plaque Tale: Requiem is one of these games that I waited for to come out. Took some time but I finished it now. This is my review and impressions of the game.
Overview
A Plaque Tale: Requiem was released on 17th October and was a follow-up to the previous, first installment A Plaque Tale: Inquisition. I played the first one and I really liked it so it was no brainer that I will buy the new one when it comes out.
It is a story-based single-player game. As the game's name suggests, there is a plaque that the world deals with, a plaque full of rats and destruction. The main protagonist is a girl who has a young brother. As it happens the little brother is the host and carrier of the plaque and it makes his condition progressively worse. Basically, the main storyline is them trying to find a cure for him and therefore also save the world.
The game is set in the 14th century.
Gameplay
Gameplay involves a linear story that you need to progress. No online elements, purely a single player game. While on the mission to save your brother and the world, the game throws at you enemies and you also need to deal with rats that thrive in the dark but are afraid of fire and light. In some cases, your brother can control the rats but it hurts him.
I really liked that there were some crazy good action scenes when you were chased by millions of rats and the city you are in gets torn apart. Exceptionally well-done scenes.
Map
It's not an open-world game so you always have a certain location you need to be at. Though there was one chapter where I was able to get a small taste of the open world. There was a quite big area that I was able to roam around freely and explore.
Overall the map was well-made and extremely detailed.
Characters
There were about 7 or 8 characters in the game. All of these were beautifully modeled and the voice acting was great. The only problem I could find is that the main protagonist girl often sounded like she was crying or was about to. There was a lot of sobbing, yes but she sounded like that even when she was cheerful, maybe that's just me lol 😀
Graphics
Very nice but not extremely gorgeous. Yes, the game was incredibly detailed, the lighting was spot on and all that was in the game was textured very nicely but I found the problems with blurriness. That was especially bad when viewing long distances. When you are in a mountain range, for example, you want to see a crisp landscape not a blurry mess so you could make out the shape of the mountain. Maybe that's also only me but I was bothered by it.
The game could also use some better optimization. With my hardware, I shouldn't have the need to use DLSS. I play in 4k and the game was maxed out. But I guess this is a problem of today. Game developers don't put more effort into optimization, instead, rely on DLSS.
Oh yeah, this game has a great photo mode. You can pause the game at any time, even during cut scenes, and start taking screenshots in free-camera mode. More games should implement this type of camera mode.
Conclusion
I had a very good time playing this game. Yes, it has some flaws for me but it's the story why I love this game and the story again, was great! It took me about 20 hours to complete the game even though it can be done faster. I like to take my time and enjoy what the game has got to offer me. If you love story-driven single-player games then I think you would be disappointed.
The ending was pretty unexpected. I'm not entirely sure but it looks like there will be the third installment too in a couple of years, I am looking forward to playing it!
