With the recent review of Asobo Studio’s excellent sequel A Plague Tale: Requiem, we also had the chance to take some time and talk to the development team behind it. The first game was an unexpected success, winning numerous awards and gaining cult classic status among its fans.
What lessons from the first game did you learn for the second?
“For the first game, we didn’t have a lot of experience in narrative games yet. This was our first game of this kind and even if we gave everything to try to make ithe best possible game, there were many aspects that needed improvement. We spent cconsiderable time studying player comments and critics. This timehelped us a lot to decide what areas we could improve in Requiem to makeThe gaming experience has more impact.
Anyone who has played either game will no doubt be able to spot influences a mile away, especially A Plague Tale: Requiemand it’s no surprise that Asobo Studios confirmed exactly what we thought.
Related: A Plague Tale: Requiem Review: A Tale of Sibling Love with Rats and Fire (PS5)
Which games do you think inspired the first and second game, and in what means?
“The most obvious references are Naughty Dog games, especially Last of Us, which had a huge impact on us as gamers, both in terms of gameplay, ttechnical and storytelling – this was a critical turning point for the entire industry in the kind of adventure anyway, in terms of maturity and direction. It’s hard to Iignore games like Ico, Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons or Journey, which smarvelously succeed in building a relationship between player and companion tthrough the gameplay, with a real emotional outcome.
Did you expect the first game to be such a hit with both critics and the players themselves, and has that had any effect on the second game?
“We didn’t expect anything actually, we were delighted with how the players received Inoncence. We felt like we were dreaming when we read the first reviews, bbecause we did not expect such an enthusiastic welcome. What changed with A Plague Tale: Requiem is that we had fans who had expectations, and we wanted to make a great sequel because we didn’t want to disappoint them. Today we have more thexperiences, so we wanted to provide a wilder experience for the player.
The increase in power, graphics and more in new consoles was always going to benefit a game like A Plague Tale: Requiem, if for no other reason than to increase the number of creepy, sick rats on screen. Asobo Studios took more than rats from the machines…
What did the current generation let you do that the previous generation didn’t?
“We redesigned everything, we started from the base to rebuild our gameplay, our AI and visual effects. We have, of course, significantly increased the quality of the game btaking advantage of new platforms and especially for the rendering of our characters and their faces. In addition, we have increased the “sight distance” allowing us to offer a more open game. In Innocence, some parts might look a bit like a theater set due to technical issues.imitations. For Requiem, we were able to push the horizon much further! I would like add that every technical advancement that has been implemented has been made to support the narrative.
The capabilities of this new generation multiply our possibilities tenfold! We took advantage of the next generation to develop one of the key features of A Plague Tale: rats. Concretely terms, it allows us to make the horrific experience even more traumatic with a number of rats that can be displayed on the screen which has increased tenfold compared to Innocence. FAdditionally, to enhance the immersive experience of the game, we have taken full advantage of the possibilities offered by DualSense. For example, triggers can give real sensory freturn to the player with the associated gameplay: it is a return of sensitivity that will rreproduce the realism of the use of a weapon or a tool.
A Plague Tale: Requiem – Bigger and Better
Were there any storylines or gameplay that had to be cut due to time/budget constraints, if so, what were they?
“Well, cutting things is part and parcel of the development process and along tthree years, it happens often. The story took a good year to end, and it’s like a very iterative process as the levels needed to start being fleshed out at some point – so we kept tweaking things after that, over and over again. We stayed focused on the basic concept of travel to La Cuna, but for example, in an old vversion of the story, the group left the island to go to Marseille much moreooner, which gave a whole new level…before we decided that the exploitation more La Cuna was much more beneficial to the story – as it allowed the island to sort of become a character in itself. Most of the time the cups weren’t done because of budget or time, but based on how the elements fit or not in the game as a whole.
Just like little Hugo and Amicia in A Plague Tale: Requiemthe developers themselves are incredibly humble in their efforts.
Related: Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 Review – Modern Warzone
How do you manage to provide such high level entertainment in both games regarding the story, gameplay, attention to detail in the environment hasAnd more with what many would consider a relatively small team?
“We did our best with what we had: motivation, passion and the will to realize our project!
Of course, given the opportunity and this end, we would have been remiss not to ask the question.
What plans do you have for additional content for the second game, or do you have plans has already hopefully moved on to a third installment?
“The future will tell us, but we don’t have any projects yet!”
A Plague Tale: Requiem is another success for Asobo Studio, and with the latest release, they have a real chance to create and continue what could become a massive franchise in the next few years of gaming history.
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and YouTube.
