A second trailer for A Plague Tale Requiem was just unveiled at The Game Awards. It features an older Amicia and Hugo - Amicia seems weighed down by the events of the first game, although Hugo is his usual annoyingly chipper self.
The new trailer shows off wide, open vistas, gorgeously colourful flowerbeds, and some ship travel. It seems the sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence is really looking to expand the scope and move beyond the narrow streets of feudal France.
If you haven't played the first game yet, it was free on the Epic Games Store earlier in the year, so hopefully, you picked it up then. It's also free to play on Game Pass right now, so no excuses. The trailer showed off some new combat abilities - Amicia now has access to a crossbow, suggesting the game will lean more on combat than stealth now that she's a bit older and presumably tougher.
The stealth puzzle gameplay of the original was its strong suit, with combat more of a last resort, so it will be interesting to see how this rebalance affects the tone of the game. She showed off some impressive new takedowns and fast crossbow firing, so combat has definitely seen some serious work put into it. Amicia may also develop some powers of her own, as she can be heard in the trailer saying, "I don't know what's happening to me, Lucas. I feel my mind going."
To make the huge rat swarms even more realistic for the sequel, the developers spent hours studying actual hordes of the critters. It's a good job they did, as the swarms are even bigger than those in the original - which I didn't think would be possible.
A Plague Tale Requiem will be available to play day one on Xbox Game Pass. It will also be available to play on PC, but not PS5, sorry Sony.