Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, a new action-focused spinoff from Asobo Studio, attempts to forge its own identity by stepping away from the familiar stealth and puzzle-solving mechanics of its predecessors. Set 16 years before the events of the main Plague Tale series, the game shifts focus to Sophia, exploring her origins and how she became a key figure in Amicia and Hugo's journey. While the game introduces a new combat system and narrative, it ultimately struggles to retain the distinct qualities that defined the original titles.
The narrative begins with a young Sophia, who was kidnapped by the Inquisition and subjected to a poison that induced visions of a mysterious island. Her father, a smuggler, died searching for this island and a cure for her affliction. His successor, Faro, continues these expeditions, seeking to uncover the island's secrets. Early chapters depict Sophia's growing frustration with Faro's relentless, casualty-ridden explorations and her subsequent decision to withhold her visions. This period also introduces Resonance's core gameplay loop: combat.
Unlike the main Plague Tale games, where avoidance and stealth were paramount, Resonance places emphasis on melee combat. Sophia is trained by the smugglers in swordplay and knife fighting, incorporating parries, dodges, and environmental interactions. Players can utilize throwable items to break enemy combos and stun them, opening them up for attack. The combat system is described as scrappy and characterful, with a powerful kick move that can be used to knock enemies into each other or off ledges. Asobo Studio's inexperience with melee-focused games is not evident, as they have successfully crafted a distinct fighting style for Sophia.
The Island's Secrets and Linear Progression
After years of trying to access the island's core mysteries, Faro and his team realize they need a specific 'key' depicted in island paintings. Learning this device is in Venice, Sophia orchestrates a heist and ultimately finds herself on the island with her friend Leni, key in hand, pursued by a Venetian army. The objective is to reach the island's center before the army catches up. Over roughly 12 hours, players unravel the island's secrets, including its trial chambers, puzzles, maze iconography, and statues of a half-man, half-bull creature, while also discovering the reason behind Sophia's visions of a warrior named Theseus.
Despite efforts to create an environment ripe for exploration, Resonance succumbs to the pitfalls of linear action games. The experience is often akin to a rollercoaster, with set pieces occurring along a predetermined path. Deviating from this path can lead to instant death, as falling off ledges or into water often results in a restart, discouraging exploration. Even when deviation doesn't result in failure, the environments off the main path are often static and unexciting, offering little reward.
Asobo Studio does attempt to encourage exploration by hiding Resonance points throughout the environment, which are used to unlock new combat abilities like a super kick or double dodge, as well as passive buffs found on artifacts. However, these upgrades are not essential to progression, and the often fruitless nature of searching the environment feels at odds with the game's momentum.
The narrative also suffers from the combat focus. While Sophia's story hinges on her unique ability to progress using her visions and the stolen key, players frequently encounter soldiers in areas that should be inaccessible to them. Although developers have justified the presence of soldiers with evidence of their alternative routes, each encounter undermines Sophia's significance. In one of the game's final sequences, Sophia even hallucinates soldiers to fight, leading to a sense of player fatigue with combat and a perception of Sophia as a villain due to the sheer number of enemies she slaughters.
The Absence of Rats
Perhaps Asobo's most significant deviation, and one that fails to land, is the complete absence of the trademark rats that made the earlier Plague Tale games so unique. The first two titles combined stealth, puzzle-solving, excellent art direction, and strong storytelling, all elevated by the distinctive, water-like swarms of rodents. While understandable that the developers aimed to explore new narrative avenues and gameplay styles without relying on familiar elements, Resonance feels less distinct without them. The game introduces a new enemy in the island's undercroft, which is ghastly but fails to evoke the same visceral horror as the original series' rats.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a competent action game that draws comparisons to titles like Tomb Raider and God of War. However, in its pursuit of new ground, Asobo Studio has left behind many of the elements that made the Plague Tale series stand out, resulting in a spinoff that, while enjoyable, does not match the unique strength of its predecessors.