Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Review – Let There Be Light

It’s rare for my first impression of a game to drastically change between an early preview opportunity and the full launch. There just typically isn’t enough time for developers to address issues ahead of release. So, when I booted up the full release of developer Asobo Studio’s new adventure in the A Plague Tale series, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, I was expecting more of the same from my time playing an early build. However, every passing chapter in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy builds on itself to deliver a genuinely smart, very fun adventure that action and puzzle fans should keep an eye on.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Story and Characters

To get this out of the way at the top, you don’t need to play the previous A Plague Tale entries to enjoy this game. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy features new characters and is set in a different area and time in the world, but there are a few very strong ties to the entire series for fans to catch. This story introduces us to our lead protagonist, Sophia, as she is forced into experiments conducted by the Order that infect her with visions from the past. These visions show her an island that’s home to a monster but also filled with treasure. Further into the opening cinematic, Sophia is saved and taken home to her crew.

I don’t want to spoil too much about the relationship dynamics in these early scenes, but Sophia’s visions lead the group of pirates on an expedition to this island to face the monster, get the treasure, and end Sophia’s pain. In these early chapters, we meet Sophia’s friend Leni. The pair are kind of inseparable, but after an invasion, they decide to travel to the island together and meet whatever is there head-on.

A lot of Sophia’s past is skipped when shifting from her as a child to an adult, but as you explore, she and Leni fill in the blanks to give you a pretty good idea of who Sophia is. Over time, she opens up about her visions and how she sometimes sees through the eyes of a Greek warrior named Theseus on his way to destroy a Minotaur. The narrative does some clever things with these characters and how they shape the story’s trajectory. It uses your assumptions against you in some areas to reveal some decent twists that keep you hungry as a player to get through the second half.

However, I do think these twists happen too close together to have their full impact. As I was recovering from one reveal, two more were waiting within five minutes, and you still have another eight hours of playtime after these reveals. Further, the linearity of the narrative, while it makes sense in retrospect, is tough to stomach in a game with so many paths to explore.

Regardless, Anna Demetriou and Lisa Delamar act their butts off in this game and really sell the relationship between the leads. They also show immense range in some highly emotional scenes. It’s very powerful to watch play out. The facial animations also complement the experience as the characters react to these scenes. It really helps with immersion and does a great job of selling the stakes.

Exploration and World Design

Gameplay comes in three different areas: exploration, puzzles, and combat. Exploration is a huge part of the adventure. Every area seems to feature optional paths and multiple ways to get through. Further, trinkets and weapons can also be found, some of which require you to solve a puzzle to reach them. The levels can get fairly large, and I was constantly surprised by just how big this team was willing to go here.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy features some gorgeous set pieces and environments. Each new area comes with bouts of beauty, even in the more nightmarish places. Thankfully, there’s a very capable Photo Mode to capture these moments, which I don’t typically use, but I guess I have a crush on Sophia because I kept taking pictures of her.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Combat and Progression

This leads me to combat. Thankfully, this team has cleaned up the combat systems to give players this impressive combo-led system where attention to the field and possible ways to clear crowds are the name of the game. Paying attention to the screen will give you some cool options for chaining together attacks using the base skills Sophia has. For example, take down an enemy, they drop a knife, you throw it to stun another enemy, take him down, unleash your special to clear the crowd around you, and as they recover, clean house. It’s honestly a fun little system that can be pretty challenging on the highest difficulty. Still, if you do die, the checkpoints are pretty close.

As you explore and pick up new trinkets, Sophia will gain passive buffs. Strangely, you can’t turn off these buffs, but they basically make the game easier as the enemies become more demanding. This means that if you’re having trouble with combat, you can search out some of the items. Sadly, the levels don’t tell you how many items are left in an area, which would have been a great New Game+ addition. To jump ahead real quick, there’s no New Game+ after the credits.

The weapons and equipment are pretty boring mechanically, but I thought it was really cool to see Sophia wearing the rings and bracelets you pick up, which act as trophies for your progression. Skill upgrades exist in a similar fashion. While they help extend your combos, they don’t do much to make them feel worth it. I believe the Skill to block even unblockable attacks is way too overpowered. Still, I liked the Skill to pocket throwable items, but I didn’t like that they disappeared after battles. I should also mention that there aren’t too many bosses in the game, but the enemy pool is large enough to keep the tension up without weighing the experience down in the late hours.

Puzzles and Environmental Challenges

Finally, we get to the puzzles. Okay, hopefully you like mirrors and light puzzles because that’s all that’s really here. While platforming is used throughout the entire campaign, the puzzles typically exist in contained areas to keep you from trying too hard. The puzzles can get challenging if you think too far outside the box, but I found them to be a nice distraction, and I appreciated the little hit to my ego when I couldn’t figure something out.

If you do get stuck, there’s this really cool feature where Sophia can look at her book to follow notes left by her crew and fill in the blanks as she goes. While I used it a few times, part of me wishes I had looked at it in every area to see the cool illustrations, which you can point to on the pages and Sophia will talk about. Throughout the entire game, the world’s design and characters show close attention to detail and do a good job of highlighting the path forward. I don’t know where to add this, but it’s a huge disappointment that rats don’t even appear in that game.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Review Final Thoughts

I think the best parts of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy exist in its world design. There are some pacing issues here and there, but I didn’t find the 20 hours it took to beat the game tough to get through. Still, I wish there were unlockable costumes. I don’t want to unpack that further; I just want to say it. The game also felt like it was meant to be a 2-player co-op adventure in many ways. Still, the partner AI never held me back.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy completely changed my first impression of what this adventure was going to be. What starts off feeling somewhat familiar quickly grows into something much more confident, carried by Sophia and Leni’s relationship, some genuinely fun combat, and a world that constantly gives you a reason to keep moving forward. It has a few pacing issues and some ideas that don’t fully come together, but none of that stopped me from enjoying the 20 hours I spent with it. By the end, I was surprised by how much this adventure stuck with me, and I’m glad my early impressions didn’t tell the whole story.