I loved both A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem, which launched in 2019 and 2022, respectively. Their dark, gritty, claustrophobic atmosphere along with some incredible blending of action/adventure and stealth gameplay made for some truly standout experiences. Even more compelling were there narratives, which were wholly original and brilliantly written. A post credit scene at the end of A Plague Tale: Requiem shows a young child on a ventilator in modern day, who is exhibiting signs of the Prima Macula infection. This ending teased that the Macula threat had not been entirely eradicated, and since then many of us have been hungry for a sequel. Well, the next installment is finally here with Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, but instead of being a sequel set in present day, it’s a prequel. Let’s see how it stands up to its predecessors.

Only if you survive the intentional poisonings, my dear.

Set fifteen years before the events of A Plague Tale: Requiem, we follow Sophia, the smuggler from Requiem that teams up with Amicia and Hugo. Sophia has been taken by the Order as a child and experimented on with some mysterious black ooze, which grants her visions of the past. The members of the Order encourage young Sophia to draw everything she sees, looking for clues about the Macula. After being rescued, she’s encouraged by her family to keep remembering her nightmares and drawing them in her journal, thinking there might be some great treasure that her visions can lead them to. Tragedy strikes and we follow a now grown Sophia as she tries to uncover the secrets of her visions and to reach the treasure before others can.

Honestly, even though Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a prequel to the other two A Plague Tale games, it genuinely doesn’t seem like one. In fact, it barely feels like it’s in the same universe. Aside from focusing on Sophia, a secondary character from the second game, and sharing the namesake of the IP in its title, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy looks, feels, and plays almost nothing like the previous two A Plague Tale games.

Sophia’s journal holds all the insightful clues you’ll need to enter the Labyrinth.

While the first two games were set in 14th century France, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy takes place in Greece across two different timelines: one in early the 14th century and the other in the ancient Minoan period. However, it’s not just the geographical location and timeline split that set this game apart from the other two. While both Innocence and Requiem shared an oppressive and exceedingly dark setting and tone, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is vibrant and full of light. There are still tragic elements, but these pale in comparison to the desperation and heaviness of the other games.

It’s going to be difficult to get into exactly why I had such issues with the story of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy without getting into spoilers, but let me just say that my biggest issues were that much of the storyline made no sense. Not even just within the narrative of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy on its own, but also within the previously established lore of the Plague Tale world. 

Who needs Hugo and Amicia when we have Theseus?

Some of the problems I had that I feel I can mention without spoiling too much (and that will be noticed almost instantly) is that the threat of a plague is missing from Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. Which is surprising considering the focus of the past two games and even its namesake. You won’t find countless people rotting away in streets and abandoned buildings, nor will you find any signs of pestilence at all. You won’t even find rats for that matter; not a single one. For games that made their mark from the macabre draw of seeing hordes of rats overtaking and consuming everything insight, and having someone with control over them, to then have that imposing threat completely absent from the game creates a glaring obvious contrast from what we’ve come to know and love about these games.

Another huge issue I have is with the Order. It’s established in Innocence and Requiem that the Order, while not always going about things in the most ethical of ways, are still doing what they do for the greater good. Here though, we’re shown in the very beginning that they have no issue with kidnapping children and infecting them with the black liquid… to give them visions? Their motives aren’t touched upon much more than the initial sequence in the first chapter, so if they had some higher purpose or more altruistic plan for kidnapping children and intentionally infecting them with what can only be assumed is some form of the Macula, then why are they doing this? Why are they going through such great lengths in order to gain some vague information about something that doesn’t even pertain to what’s happening in France with Hugo and Basilius before him?

The Minotaur is more bronze than I remember hearing in old tales.

This brings me to my biggest issue with Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy: it barely ties in with either of the other two games at all. Hugo and Amicia aren’t in it (other than an end-game scene), which is fine considering this is a prequel. Although, there’s no plague to be had, and the threat in this game isn’t related to what plagued Hugo (sorry for the pun) in the other games. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy takes a completely different approach, having nothing to do with France or the Black Death and instead focusing solely on Greek mythology. Specifically, the story of King Minos, Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur. 

Now don’t get me wrong; I like the concept of focusing on a plague affecting other areas of the world. After all, we knew Hugo wasn’t the only carrier that was greatly affected by the infection of the Prima Macula. What I do find problematic is that the threat seems to be something else entirely. The differences are never explained, but one is certain: what is lingering in the Labyrinth is NOT the Prima Macula. 

What’s the the center of the labyrinth? It’s not the Prima Macula.

I’m left wondering why the direction for Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy was chosen, especially when both Innocence and Requiem had already proven to be both a critical and commercial success. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, aside from featuring a secondary character from one game, feels like it has no relation to the series. It has some good ideas, which I’ll get into shortly, but it feels like a game from a completely different franchise. At one point I found myself genuinely pondering whether or not the idea for this game was pitched, but the financial backers were wary because it was possibly playing into Greek mythology oversaturation. So they decided to greenlight it as long as they could attach to an already recognized IP, resulting in a game that feels like it doesn’t belong and were hopeful for increased sales due to name recognition.

Now I’ll remove my tinfoil hat and get into what type of game this actually is. While Innocence and Requiem were action/adventure stealth-based games, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is almost strictly an action/adventure game, with a higher focus on combat and puzzles. There are some sections where you’ll have to crouch and sneak to get past the main enemy, all while trying to stay in the light, which is about the only way any of the gameplay is reminiscent of the earlier games. 

The puzzles and level design, while not typical of the Plague Tale games, are the highlight.

That said, the vast majority of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is combat focused. Sophia is armed with a sword and dagger, and will have to rely on dodging, parrying, and landing critical hits in order to take down enemies. There’s not much here that we haven’t seen a thousand times before in other action RPGs. She will eventually have combat mechanics involving breaking down armor and using light attacks with her orb (a carryover from Requiem that I’ll touch on in a moment), but this isn’t introduced until very late in the game. 

She can upgrade her stats in two ways: collecting Resonant Points and finding items like rings, charms, and bracelets. Resonant Points allow Sophia to enhance her skills, such as delivering more Critical Hit damage and performing kicks that stun enemies. Items such as rings, bracelets, and charms can permanently increase her stats, like delivering more damage or increasing her throwable weapon capacity. There are two hundred Resonance Points to find, but thankfully, most of these are pretty easy to spot.

You can wear everything you collect all at the same time! I commend this game for finally allowing us to do this!

I also greatly appreciate that Sophia isn’t limited to just one ring on each hand and only one bracelet or charm. I’ve never understood why games would limit the amount of wearable items like this, especially when most of us have two arms, ten fingers, and enough neck space to hold several necklaces. In Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy you can wear and instantly equip every new trinket you acquire. Time to rock all the bling you can find!

It’s not all combat in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy though. There are also a ton of puzzles to solve as well. The puzzles and level design are without a doubt the best aspect of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. As you might remember from A Plague Tale: Requiem, Sophia has a mysterious orb that lights up to reveal hidden messages and stave off the darkness in certain sections. This is essentially the origin story for this orb, which is both interesting and a little sad that this is the biggest connection between Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy and Requiem. 

The orb can help you uncover secrets and hidden truths.

Being centered around Greek mythology, particularly the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, much of the game has Sophia exploring ancient tombs and the Labyrinth. This is where the puzzles come into play. Daedalus, the master engineer, has naturally designed the temples and Labyrinth to challenge those who seek to enter. This is a brilliant way to include puzzle elements into the game without seeming out of place. Even though I found the combat to be nothing spectacular, the level designs are easily the best part of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, in my opinion. 

Early on, Sophia will obtain an ancient mechanical orb that reacts to certain light elements. She can use the orb in a couple of ways: she can shine it to reveal hidden symbols or refract the light into red, green, and blue prisms. Finding hidden symbols can be used in conjunction with Sophia’s journal from when she was drawing her visions as a child, and is instrumental in solving many of the puzzles. The light refracting prisms are crucial in most of the later puzzles, with trying to find the right placement of your standing location, main targets, and the positions of your colored beams needing to be taken into consideration to light up all the necessary gems in order to progress.

Good thing I’m not color blind.

The orb can also use its light concentrating abilities to damage specific enemies. Particularly the main spore-like enemy type and their zombified thralls. The main enemy won’t necessarily die from the focused light-beam attack, but it will damage and stun it enough to make it briefly retreat. Also, the zombie thralls aren’t introduced until the very end of the game, so this cool feature is barely used.

I know I’ve been giving Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy a hard time so far, and even though I feel that my criticisms are valid, I also want to bring attention to other areas where I feel it excels. As I’ve mentioned, the level design is incredible. Some of the areas I felt were reminiscent of the original God of War games. The sheer size and scope of some of these levels are on a such grandiose scale that it wouldn’t seem out of place to look over and see Hades shift from the rocky outcropping beside you. There’s an incredible level of detail here, and that includes the character models. The facial animations are spot on, allowing for the full gambit of emotion to be on display. I’m not sure how many others will appreciate this, but Sophia’s hair was so realistic looking, so painstakingly detailed, that I found myself watching her curls sway in the breeze at times in awe.

Oh what big nostrils you have…

I’ve also spoken about how the dark, grittiness of the other games are absent here, but I do have to admit that the scenery is stunning. Yes, the vibe and tone are different without feeling the claustrophobic tension of the city about to collapse on you at any moment. What we have in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is on the other end of the spectrum, with the vibrant beauty of the Mediterranean sea and isles on full display. It’s a tonal shift, undeniably, but one does have to appreciate the natural beauty of the land the story is set in.

The sound design is mostly solid all throughout. I say mostly, as in the voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from decent to mediocre at best. That said, the ambient sounds of the waves, wind, and birds complete the aesthetic of the Mediterranean setting. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy‘s soundtrack is fantastic, utilizing similar orchestral compositions and melancholy vocal performances that are found in the other games. Even though Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy has its own specific soundtrack, the overall melodic tones are harmonious with the others, especially when the tensions are at their height.

Oh I can hear you. You never stop talking.

Even though I’ve been waiting for a sequel to the Plague Tale games for a few years, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy being a prequel was not what I was expecting. Even after playing it, it’s still not at all what I was expecting. It’s a fine game, even if it’s a bit generic and every single story “twist” you’ll see coming a mile away. It’s an enjoyable time, but only if you eliminate the expectation for a Plague Tale game. This is really only a Plague Tale game in name only. However, if you like the Uncharted or Tomb Raider series, then you might want to check Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy out.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.

A copy of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy was provided by the publisher.