There are a fair few themes floating around in the first Plague Tale and its sequel Requiem, perhaps none of which have stuck with us as much as the hordes of rats that were occasionally at our beck and call. A very real symbol of plague, and visually, a stunning bit of kit. Strange then, that the next game in the series does away with them altogether. We sat down with David Dedeine, Creative Director of Resonance, to find out why.
“We had to be honest about what we were doing, and it was clear that this tone, this flavor, this story, this arc was gone.” Dedeine talks about the tonal shifts from Requiem: “to open the window and start to explore something else.” The themes of loss, of sacrifice; they’re still there from the first game, but on the face of it, Resonance is attempting something completely different.
Talking about how the team has to expand away from the rats, Dedeine says that the “rat type of gameplay was also somehow a sort of end … sometimes it was spectacular, but in terms of gameplay, it was not quite interactive.” The new Macula being that stalks you is a different approach – it’s an external force applying pressure on the player; it’s an object to avoid; it’s something to fear.
“It was [about] creating different types of strategies and interesting ways of playing and doing, while keeping the stealth aspect of the game.” Dedeine continues: “So on this one, we wanted to break the mold and again try something else and have fun with what could be the Macula in this universe.”
If you want to read more about Resonance A Plague Tale Legacy, check out our review – there aren’t any rats, but as it turns out, it doesn’t really matter. There are much scarier things out there.
Additional reporting by Lauren Bergin for PCGamesN at Gamescom.
