A Plague Tale: Requiem is as stunning as it is stressful

I'd forgotten how stressful A Plague Tale can be. These kids really don't get a break do they? It's probably not right to even call them kids any more either - I'm not sure how old Amicia is now, in Requiem, the sequel, but she's a young woman in attitude alone. She's been through some stuff, they both have - Amicia and her younger brother Hugo - and they've been shaped by it. And whereas they largely ran from trouble in Innocence, and all of their abilities were based around escaping, more or less, now they've got some fight in them. They're killers, and that changes things a bit, but I'll come to that.

The stress: it's a good and bad thing. Part of it is absolutely intended, I believe. Developer Asobo wants us to feel the relentlessness of the challenge Amicia and Hugo face in staying alive. They're still mercilessly hunted by a shady organisation with a never ending supply of soldiers, and they're still very much at danger from the plague ravaging the land: The Black Death and the hordes of rats that carry it.

Their existence is one escape from death after another. My goodness, by the end of the few chapters of Requiem I play, Amicia is a walking wreck, carrying a concussion that's made her collapse more than once. But she slogs on because she has to - I really like Amicia (both the character and the way she's acted and brought to life); I'm less keen on Hugo. The point is, they don't get a moment to relax so nor should you. And that's fine, but when the game is frustrating to play, problems arise.

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