Despite the title’s success, A Plague Tale: Innocence is not a perfect game. Bugs and glitches are present throughout the entire experience, and certain parts of the narrative also don’t make sense, such as Hugo’s abrupt disappearance from Chateau d’Ombrage and Amicia’s hallucinations when attempting to rescue her brother. But the biggest issue players seem to have with A Plague Tale: Innocence is how linear its gameplay is. If Asobo Studio wants A Plague Tale: Requiem to fare better than its predecessor, it needs to allow players more freedom when choosing how to tackle the game’s many obstacles.
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A Linear Experience Isn’t Always The Answer
Streamlined gameplay seems to have been a side effect of A Plague Tale: Innocence’s desire to deliver a compelling narrative. In wanting to make sure that everyone gets to experience all the essential story beats, Asobo Studio funnels players down straightforward paths. These paths eventually open up into one of two types of locations: narrative sections and combat sections. The first type of location lets players explore and interact without the tension of combat. Areas like the de Rune estate and Laurentius’ farm are examples of places that serve as backdrops for pivotal story moments. Since players can inspect these places at their leisure, the feeling of linearity isn’t as explicit.
Combat areas are where A Plague Tale: Innocence fumbles. These locations may be as big, but they often consist of narrow pathways - forcing players to deal with more nearby threats. No matter the location, there is almost always a single method of dealing with combat puzzles. This could involve distracting a guard out of his patrol route or dousing a specific light source so that rats can devour enemies. Whatever the case may be, this singular approach to combat makes gameplay feel too linear and doesn’t allow for much player expression. A Plague Tale: Innocence’s combat options and areas become more varied by the final chapter, but this doesn’t excuse most of the game’s faults.
A Plague Tale: Requiem’s Gameplay Should Be More Open-Ended
Asobo Studio can avoid excessively linear gameplay in A Plague Tale: Requiem by giving players more options and areas that take full advantage of them. The end of the first game already equipped Amicia with an arsenal of alchemical throwables, as well as gave Hugo a more active role gameplay-wise. There were signs of more open-ended levels toward the final chapters, but these could be further improved with branching pathways and level design that gets players to experiment with their surroundings like in The Last of Us.
The extended gameplay trailer for A Plague Tale: Requiem shows a lot of promise. In addition to her alchemical throwables that she can throw by hand or sling, Amicia now has a crossbow she can use to silently take down enemies from afar. Hugo also seems to have retained his Imperium power from the first game and can summon hordes of rats to deal with enemies. But the most striking improvement that was shown is that A Plague Tale: Requiem’s combat sections seem to have more room. Various tufts of tall grass and waist-high cover allow players to hide and plan their next move, while elevated sections give them a better lay of the land and height advantage over enemies.
There are still a few months left before A Plague Tale: Requiem releases, but the game seems to be on the right track when it comes to providing players with more gameplay options. The tools Amicia and Hugo have are greater than in the first game, and the levels themselves look to be more open-ended with room for choices. If Asobo Studio gets the balance between narrative and gameplay right, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a sequel worth looking forward to.
A Plague Tale: Requiem releases on October 18, 2022 for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
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