As someone who grew up on a huge number of mid-quality, mid-budget games in the late nineties and early 2000s, I get a good feeling when I see games like A Plague Tale getting sequels and generally doing well for themselves. It gives me hope that there is still a place for games that are neither frugal indie games or triple-A franchises, but somewhere in between (even if that place seems to be Game Pass).
But maybe it's doing a bit of a disservice to A Plague Tale: Requiem to call it 'mid-quality,' because based on the new trailer shown at the Xbox and Bethesda Showcase it's looking rather gorgeous (well, as gorgeous as you could ever imagine the rat-infested shit-puddled streets of mediaeval France to be).
The sequel to 2019's A Plague Tale: Innocence seems to very much continue the story of the first, with the series' hero Amicia and her younger brother Hugo—whose blood is infused with some kind of nastiness that gives him the power to control rats—once again wading through 14th-century France while stealthing and puzzle-solving their way past hostile guards.
The game looks a little bit less rat-centric this time round, with much of the focus being on Amicia slinging fire, backstabbing enemies, and crawling around under tables to avoid being spotted. With that said, the trailer closes with little Hugo being told to harness his powers, followed by a swarm of rats charging some poor guard, so it looks like that 'rat control' hook will return to some extent. While 'rat-swarm control' isn't high on my list of must-have superpowers, I can't deny that back in those days it looks like it would've come in mighty handy.
For now, the release date for A Plague Tale: Requiem remains a vague '2022,' with the game coming to PC Game Pass on Day One.
