After the better part of a decade working to tell the tale of Amicia and Hugo in A Plague Tale: Innocence and Requiem, Asobo Studio are taking a different direction with their breakout hit series. Instead of continuing the story from the teaser at the end of Requiem, Asobo are stepping back in time for Resonance, putting Sophia into the spotlight for a very different feeling adventure.
From the more stealthy survival action of the first two A Plague Tale games, through which Amicia had to avoid head-on confrontations, it’s a surprising change of pace playing Resonance, a game that is much more combat heavy and in the style of a classic blockbuster action-adventure. Sophia has been trained in the fighting pits by her plundering gang, and that sets her in good stead when facing off against the more organised forces that are chasing the same treasures and myths that she is.
With both a sword and dagger in hand, Sophia’s approach to combat would surely be considered dishonourable by some of the soldiers that she fights against. It’s a no-holds-barred approach that leans on parries and dodges, but also allows Sophia to take the front foot. It’s a familiar style of combat gameplay to other melee action adventures, so enemies winding up for attacks are signalled with yellow glints for those you can parry and red for those you need to evade. A simple parry won’t immediately open an enemy up for a counter (unless you get perfect timing) so you need to chain them together to break their guard – a second meter below an enemy’s health bar – to unlock a quick finisher. Then again, for basic enemies you can often just cut them down with a string of rapid strikes of your own.
Tougher enemies will force you to be more considered in your approach, but Sophia’s clearly a bit of a scrapper. I loved being able to kick enemies off the side of bridges and ledges – AC Odyssey’s Spartan Kick is here in spirit – but she can also use her grapple hook to drag enemies towards her. That’s particularly useful when archers try to stay out of the fight on higher ledges, either pulling them down to somewhere you can reach them or, in a moment of devilish level design, having them standing right above some spiked pits.
You see, the chapter of Resonance that we got to play saw Sophia and her partner Leni arriving on the Minotaur’s island and taking their first steps down into the maze of puzzles and trials. Key to this is Sophia’s stolen Minoan ball, a strange device that has multiple purposes and uses. When stood in the light, it can catch it and brightly reflect into Sophia’s surroundings, revealing hidden paint that provides clues and pointers for the puzzle room you’re in.
That’s often the key, whether it’s revealing the runes that you need to select when placing the ball into special pedestals, or showing the path across spike traps. There’s one particular segment that features a huge cavern with the whole floor made of these spike traps, Leni having to control a reflecting dish so that Sophia can reveal the safe path to follow, but with dangling obstructions forcing you to remember certain sections.
It might not be mind-blowingly original in terms of gameplay, but the blend of traversal through this ancient setting, the puzzling and moments of drama and combat were paced really well through this stage.
There’s also plenty of narrative drive and mystery to this segment. Sophia has long had dreams of glittering, golden circles, and she’s clearly afflicted by some kind of curse, given the blackened, stony appearance to her left forearm. There’s moments where visions take over, almost luring her to her demise as you follow an imagined path ahead, or when confronted with a room filled with corpses frozen in running poses, she’s transported back to inhabit Theseus at the heights of the Minoan civilisation.
Suddenly, the ruins are resplendent, the statues lining the passageway lit from flame-filled channels and you run forward to a huge arena filled with thousands of onlookers. As sparks fly around you, Theseus is just one of dozens of competitors heading across a bridge to a central column with a pit in the middle, as an announcer claims that a beast will soon arise. But the minotaur needs sacrifice, it needs blood, and the final stage of this competition is a battle royale, a frenzied bloodbath as everyone turns on each other.
Theseus can carve his way through this with ease. That pit is far too inviting not to kick unsuspecting rivals down, for one thing, but he’s a master swordsman and can unleash a devastating attack after chaining moves together.
It’s a great interlude before switching back to Sophia and Leni just as mirrored dishes emerge and the final challenge of facing the minotaur is about to consume the competitors. Stepping into the same arena, now much the worse for wear, and having to solve that puzzle and reveal the path ahead.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy gripped me from the start of my preview to the end. I’m intrigued to learn more about Sophia, and the way that Asobo will explore the myth of the minotaur through her, while embracing that more direct action-adventure approach to gameplay and tone. Whether you’re a fan of A Plague Tale already, or are keen for a new Uncharted or Tomb Raider-like romp, you should keep an eye out for Resonance’s release at the end of August.
