I enjoyed 3/4s of Plague Tale: Innocence, right before the story flew off the rails and landed straight into anime territory for some bizarre reason. Requiem doesn't have this problem, but the overall story and character development did make me raise my eyebrow a number of times. Without spoiling much, the way Amicia rationalizes her actions throughout the game is questionable at best, and psychopathic at worst. And since the game is completely linear, we are forced to enact her obsessive behavior even when it's clearly immoral or delusional. Another issue is the overabundance of rats. In the first game they were filthy, scary, and slowly spreading everywhere, but here there are literal oceans of them right from the start so their dramatic impact is greatly diminished. The gameplay is almost identical to that of the first game with some extra tools and segments thrown in for variety. It's serviceable, if not particularly inspired, but it's clear that the devs were concerned with delivering an affecting story, not a "fun" experience. Presentation is stellar, voice performances are excellent, and music is once again memorable and haunting. Requiem is a solid yet flawed story-driven experience that fans of the first game will most likely enjoy (term is used loosely here, since the game is intentionally oppressive and miserable). It's a 3.5/5 game but I will round it up to reward the devs' ambition.
Try to soldier through the first chapter(s): everything that happens before you first board the ship is jarring, childish (literally and figuratively) and quite off-putting. I was setting myself up for frustration. Thankfully, the game's plot and humor start to click after that. There's plenty of nostalgia baiting and some of the returning characters are not used to their full potential, but what's there is at least entertaining enough. I didn't mind the simple puzzles, in fact I was glad to see a game that finally respects your time and does away with unnecessary padding of any kind. The story makes an attempt at giving the universe (and its protagonist) a coherent meta-narrative that also speaks to its creators' sensibilities and changed life perspectives. I wasn't fully sold on the ending or the "emotional" beats it tries to deliver, but I respect the effort. The art style is certainly different and some things (mainly Guybrush's design) never clicked with me, but it has a certain wild charm. The voices are consistently good, though LeChuck never sounds quite "right" despite the new actor's noble efforts. All in all, it is an entertaining 10-12 hour adventure that, weirdly, is at its best when it's not desperately grasping at its roots for easy nostalgia points. This is more of a 3.5/5 game but since you can't do half stars and I was in a charitable mood, I decided to round it up.
What a chill and wholesome experience! There is no grand story or drama, it's just a little bird running around doing fun things and interacting with the nicest cast of characters you'll ever meet. Lots of lovely little secrets and side activities to uncover, but even if you do everything, you'll still probably finish it in under 3 hours. It's also a great game to play alongside your kid/nephew/little sibling.
