Set nearly two decades before the previous games in the A Plague Tale series, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is poised to reinvent the dark fantasy franchise with a new main character and more visceral combat. And after spending around two hours playing with a hands-on preview of this most recent effort from developer Asobo Studios, I’m feeling confident it’s set to honor what came before while evolving the series in some much-appreciated ways.
A familiar face in a not-so-familiar place
The first two A Plague Tale titles were harrowing tales of loss that packed in a seemingly endless string of emotional gut-punches, leaving me feeling equally depleted and fulfilled by their conclusions. However, while they nailed their narratives and intricate environmental puzzles, I’d argue they both suffered from stealth and combat segments that often felt like serviceable afterthoughts.
Thankfully, my hands-on time with Resonance has left me feeling like Asobo Studios has the right idea about where this series needs to go from here, with a larger focus on combat and agility that doesn’t entirely sacrifice the core DNA that makes an A Plague Tale game.
This time, players are cast as a smuggler named Sophia — a familiar face to anyone who played the second game, Requiem — in the years before she meets siblings Amicia and Hugo. While she’ll someday help the duo in their heart-wrenching adventure through a Black Death-era Europe overrun with rats, Sophia is currently occupied with a much more personal journey on a mysterious Mediterranean island that has called to her since childhood.
Thanks to this tropical setting, the first slice of Resonance that I played — which takes place a little ways into the game — is bright and upbeat. Navigating outdoor ruins overlooking the ocean while Sophia and her traveling companion, Leni, constantly joke about what to name their boat, sets a shockingly lighthearted tone. It’s all absolutely gorgeous to boot, offering plenty of eye candy while you’re climbing, ziplining, and fighting some jerks on sun-soaked cliffsides to the sound of seabirds in the sky.
That’s not to say, however, that Resonance lacks the unnerving horrors you’d expect from A Plague Tale. About halfway through my preview session, Sophia encounters who I presume is the game’s antagonist and quickly finds herself thrown into a chasm beneath the island. There, far darker things await, all but certain to play a central role in the story and gameplay as the game progresses.
While there are still a lot of unknowns about how things will ultimately play out, if nothing else, Resonance comes across as overall less gloomy, which may serve as a reprieve for those traumatized by Amicia and Hugo’s compelling but perpetually bleak story.
Not your grandfather’s plague tale
The first chapter I played provided a surprisingly open outdoor level, which allowed me freedom to explore different paths in whatever order I preferred during a search for four symbols needed to unlock a door. I never felt overwhelmed by the scope, but there was an exciting feeling that I probably missed some of the collectibles plentifully scattered in nooks and crannies. I’m looking forward to finding them all eventually.
Meanwhile, Resonance seems set to maintain the series’ penchant for well-designed environmental puzzle solving. Most notably, in my preview, Sophia had access to a cool sphere that could shine multiple colored lights, and I had to line them up on the same-colored nodes to create paths forward. The sphere briefly had another use, too, implying that it could gain even more powers over time, so I’m excited to see how puzzles evolve throughout the game.
Similarly, a puzzle requiring me to bounce colored light beams off of a collection of mirrors took something I’ve done in a dozen other games and added a slight variation that made it somewhat fun again. It wasn’t a highlight by any means, but I found it hard to resent. I do hope the final game doesn’t rely too heavily on this trope, however.
And though hordes of rats don’t play a part this time around, there’s still a reason to use light for safety. The second portion of the preview sent me into the caves beneath the island, where I was thrown into hair-raising chase sequences against an ever-present threat. Successful evasion — which required me to use equal parts stealth, running, and swinging with a grappling hook to reach well-lit spots within the cave — frequently came down to milliseconds. By the time I emerged back into the daylight, my sweaty hands were begging for a break, even if my brain was sad to see the preview conclude.
Where the game truly breaks away from its predecessors is in its flashy, fast-paced combat. Unlike Amicia, who most frequently relied on using distractions and slinging rocks at her foes from afar, Sophia is an agile and skilled close-quarters fighter who wields a sword and dagger with immense precision.
Though combat doesn’t appear to play as significant a part as it would in a full-on action game, it’s certainly more prevalent here than ever before. So, thankfully, it’s plenty satisfying to dodge, parry, and weave in rapid attack combos in a fluid system that feels a bit similar to Ghost of Tsushima or pre-Origins Assassin’s Creed titles.
I thoroughly enjoyed the flow of encounters. Multi-foe fights demanded I bounce between each enemy to dodge or parry their relentless attacks until one was staggered, then exploit that opening with well-timed critical hits. Larger foes wielded (surprise!) larger weapons, which forced me to rely more on dodging for hit-and-run tactics, while shield-bearing baddies needed some swift kicks to break through their protections. I could even use Sophia’s grappling hook to grab archers from above and bring them down to my level for a snappy kill.
While the skill tree appears to be fairly small (at least in the preview), each upgrade I bought felt substantial, offering improvements to things like staggering kicks, critical hits, and more. Plus, I found a variety of trinkets, bracelets, and other wearable upgrades that offered passive combat benefits, so thorough exploration looks to play a part in increasing Sophia’s effectiveness as you progress through the game.
There’s nothing revolutionary going on in Resonance’s showdowns, but good combat comes down to feel, and it’s nailing that aspect so far. So, though I don’t suspect these fights will evolve dramatically later in the game, I’m still thrilled to see what other tricks the nimble and ever-cunning Sophia has up her sleeve.
Clear my August schedule
There are a lot of games coming out during late summer this year in their attempt to avoid Grand Theft Auto VI (perhaps misguidedly so). But after spending some time solving puzzles and kicking ass on an enigmatic island with Sophia, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy has managed to earn itself a spot as one of my most anticipated. I can’t wait to dive back into the full game and see where this new mystery leads when the game launches on August 27 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
