The problem with the above, which is the game’s most redeeming feature, is in how a balance is ‘struck’ between turning narrative moments into gameplay, and vice-versa, all of which are bogged down in the game’s biggest problem -- hard-fail.

Powerful lines of dialogue that centre around Amicia gathering her wits, strength and resolve to face the enemy head-on are quickly snuffed out in a hard-fail scenario. Often again and again and again. The entirety of the game experience is lessened because of it. Even with all its linearity and hand-holding, A Plague Tale is a driving force of an experience because of its excellent narrative and its brilliant characters, but when the writing is cut in half by an antiquated system of trial and error gameplay driven by hard-fail scenarios that are as thick and fast as the game’s swarms of rats, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hard-fail is the game’s plague, and it’s a blight on what would be an otherwise engrossing, enjoyable journey...

A Plague Tale: Requiem’s In Focus series includes four episodes which each brings three members of Asobo Studio together to share their creative journeys giving life to the sequel to the critically acclaimed A Plague Tale: Innocence.

• Episode 1: Story invites Kévin Choteau (Game Director), Sébastien Renard (Lead Writer), and David Dedeine (Creative Director) to situate A Plague Tale’s second chapter in relation to the first and talk about the evolution of A Plague Tale’s heroes Amicia and Hugo De Rune, their relation, attitudes, abilities and new dynamics involved.
  
• Episode 2: World Building invites Olivier Ponsonnet (Art Director), David Dedeine (Creative Director) and Kévin Choteau (Game Director) to chat about the worldbuilding work done for this sequel, still giving a great sense of history while taking Amicia and Hugo south towards the Mediterranean and its burst of light and colours.
  
• Episode 3: Tech invites Brice Davin (Executive Producer), Cyril Doillon (Lead Gameplay Engineer) and Julien Guérin (Cinematic Director) to share the challenges and innovations associated with developing A Plague Tale: Requiem as a next-gen exclusive game, taking full advantage of the most advanced technology available.
  
• Episode 4: Gameplay invites Kévin Pinson (Lead Level Designer), Kévin Choteau (Game Director) and David Dedeine (Creative Director) to let us in on the work they’ve done to offer new gameplay possibilities, towards a more flexible experience, with more freedom for the player yet keeping a strong narrative direction.

Embark on Hugo and Amicia’s next journey and venture south of 14th century France, before setting sail to a mysterious island out in the Mediterranean Sea. Brave a terrible fate and find a cure for Hugo’s illness thanks to Amicia’s new resources—including the use of alchemy to manipulate fire and the long-distance power of a crossbow, but also her cunning use of terrain and ability to wrestle out of an enemy’s grasp. Choose to strike from the shadow or to unleash hell, with the help of Hugo’s new powers: to perceive surrounding enemies’ movements while moving stealthily, and to manipulate hordes of rats to decimate entire squads of soldiers.