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Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy really proves the adage that “less is more.” In fact, as a story-focused action-adventure game that wraps itself up in around 14 hours and never gets bogged down, it served as a perfect palette cleanser to my usual diet of 100-hour titles. If you’re looking for a game with mechanical depth to sink your teeth into, this may not be the one for you, but if light gameplay and a well told story sound like a good time, Asobo Studio has you covered.
Resonance serves as the backstory for Sophia, a character that originally appeared as an ally in A Plague Tale: Requiem. As a child, she was experimented on by a convent of morally dubious nuns. That led to visions of a mysterious island inhabited by some kind of monster. It is the search for this island and the treasure it probably contains that consumes both her father and much of her community until Sophia can finally make it to the island herself. This is where most of the game takes place, a good 15 years or so before her story intersects with the others.
Having not played said other games, one of the things I was looking out for was whether the plot made sense to a newcomer, and I’m happy to report that it does. There’s one small scene at the end tying the games together and probably some thematic parallels or references I may have missed, but Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy never made it feel like I was missing critical background information. While several plot points and twists were predictable and occasionally the dialogue throws a clunker, it works out as a solidly told story of loss, grief, forgiveness and, yes, legacy. My biggest gripe is the tragic underuse of Ezra the cook, a jolly great bear of a man and easily my favorite early character.
The simplicities of the story are elevated to no end, however, by the environmental design. I lost count of how many times I stopped still to just enjoy a striking vista of the Venetian carnival, Aegean beaches, or some truly cyclopean architecture. The use of light warrants special mention. Beyond being spectacularly pretty at times, it matches the mood and tension of the story well. Twilight heralds the end of Sophia’s adolescence, pleasant sun bathes the sand as she and Leni solve puzzles and hunt for treasure, night falls when stakes are raised, and the hopeful light of dawn precedes the climactic final chapter. All very obvious when I point it out like this, but in play it works rather sublimely.
As for the gameplay, the vast majority takes the form of exploration and puzzles, with combat encounters sprinkled liberally in between. Now the puzzles in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy are not exactly difficult. They mostly involve shining light into the right place or following clues written in Sophia’s dream journal, but the rumble of ancient machinery when you succeed is satisfying and keeps the pace brisk. As long as you don’t keep massively overthinking them like I did, at least.
The combat is similarly straightforward. You survive with parries and dodges while filling up enemies’ stun meters, opening them up to charged attacks and finishers (or just knocking them off a cliff). Kills regenerate a segment of health so you can afford to take the odd hit, and it feels appropriately scrappy. It’s not the most in-depth system and cranking the difficulty mostly just reduces how many mistakes you can make, but a more beefed up system would probably only get in the way of exploring and solving puzzles. Even the stubby skill tree and collectible swords with special effects feel unnecessary, but at least that means I could just stick with the one that looks coolest. (The Khopesh, naturally.)
Other than those misplaced RPG trappings the whole game is refreshingly focused, especially compared to some games that can feel unnecessarily stretched out. Instead, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy knows not to outstay its welcome. Asobo delivers an enjoyable story with just enough gameplay and mechanical complexity to keep you engaged, then leaves before anything starts to drag. It’s not a game-changer or trend-setter, just a well made game that knows what it is and its limits.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
