Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy | REVIEW | PC/STEAM

''No rats here.''

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Developed: Asobo Studio

Published: Focus Entertainment

Genre: Action

Release Date: August 27th, 2026

Platforms: PS5/XBOX Family/PC

GAME PROVIDED TO ME BY SANDBOX STRAT

The Plague series is back with a brand new entry, Resonance, and it is developed by Asobo Studio and published by Focus Entertainment. With the franchise having two successful games under its belt already, the team at Asobo decided to take a crack at making it three successes in a row with Resonance. But, do they succeed in their attempt, or is it a case of quit while you're ahead? Only one way to find out, so lets go!

''Miiverse water guy would've loved this''

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GAMEPLAY:

Plague Tale as a series has been a very interesting development to watch. A franchise born out nowhere, received extremely positively and then, at least to me, figured it was gonna be a one off and sail into the sunset. Oh how naive I was, since today in the modern era, NOTHING gets to stand alone on its own and EVERYTHING needs to be turned in a franchise, even when its not warranted or asked for. Like, why is there 500 versions of Five Nights at Freddy's but only ONE version of Plumbers Dont Wear Ties? seriously, come on, Plumbers had the lore and backstory to become an MCU type of universe ending with a climatic battle with John saying ''Plumbers!.. Assemble!'' and then he and the thousands of other plumbers, who also dont wear ties, rush to fight Thresher and his mob of perverted bosses as they scream ''TAKE YOUR DAMN CLOTHES OFF''. What? I mean I see the vision, maybe we'll get into that one in another video in the future, but for now were off topic. The point I was TRYING to make was that a lot of unnecessary sequels exist because of ''gimme more money'' over artistic values, but sometimes, honestly, it kind of works out, case and point being here with the Plague franchise. With Innocence being a resounding success with gamers, along came Requiem, not to be confused with Resident Evil Requiem, and besides one of the most overused subtitles in media history that every movie seems to use, it actually was a fairly good sequel as well and warranted its right to exist. However this now brings us to the game in question, Resonance. Does it warrant its existence? yeah mostly, albeit with some things that might tick off earlier fans of the franchise due to the gameplay switch up it pulls on players that abandons a more stealth like gameplay in favor of heavier action based combat, which in turn makes the franchise lose some of its identity and makes it less innovative, sure, but honestly it kind of works. But where the game makes up for its shortcomings on less stealth in the way you know it, is with its environmental puzzles and even character development, that much stays intact to the point where they might actually carry the heavy weight of the game itself overall for people and I cant blame people for feeling that way either.

If I'm going to be honest right off the bat, as far as combat goes, its fairly straight forward, no true innovation to what they're attempting here and if you've played any button mashing or melee based action game in the last ten years, then yeah, t will be like riding a bike all over again because its something you're already familiar with. In Resonance you play as Sophia who was introduced in Requiem, but has now taken over the main lead in this story that takes place roughly 15 years before the main series, thus making itself a prequel. Being somewhat a pirate due to her father, shes fixated on adventure, finding out about her past, but also about ancient secrets that lie on a far away island. Much like people fell in love with Amicia and Hugo previously, so to will they find that same level of love for Sophia due to her personality and connectability the character brings to the forefront through her journey and as she meets brand now friends, allies and even grander enemies and in any era of mary sues all over the place, she isn't one of them, thankfully. Combat for me, never got dull either, again, while being uninspired and nothing new, the combat just feels fluid and concise, albeit with a few points in my playthrough hitting a snag with some slight clipping issues, but they were far and few in between. By switching from your normal melee combat versus a plethora of enemies, right before it gets a little too tedious, the game will insert you into puzzle solving that breaks up the pacing to focus more on racking your nogging on some puzzle solving and while most of them are pretty simple, there's a few of them that might make you stop and think for a period of time, or if you're like me, overthink it to the point of nausea and then realize how simple it was the entire time. Yeah, sometimes my brain aint brainin guys, I is winner, thank you Big Rigs. Beyond that as you explore your environments to uncover the next mystery to solve, which are the clues of the island, you'll partake in platforming and even stealth, which honestly, the stealth could've been better, but with the focus on melee combat with swords over stealth, its to be expected. What surprised me though is the more arcade like mechanics that involve its gameplay that I wasnt expecting in the game, most notably when taking damage, instead of just using a health item to regenerate health, for every enemy you defeat, you gain a hit point back, which I guess would align more with older God Of War games? but its very ''old'' game design when that was prevalent in the industry, and for an old head like me in regards to gaming history, I welcomed it, where I think a lot of newer generation gamers might find it off putting. But this is what brings me back to stealth talk as well, cause while the melee sword combat, platforming and puzzles are fun overall, the stealth falls short as it feels like an afterthought that was tacked on because ''oh wait, this franchise is supposed to have stealth, so lets add it''. Its very underwhelming and it honestly intrudes on the pacing of the game quite a bit whenever a segment is introduced. It just doesnt feel good, like knowing Night Trap didnt get a sequel when you could've had an MCU universe of... ok were not doing that again, Having to stealth from dangerous monsters is cool, yes, but when its so scarce in the first half of the game, and then is a main focal point of near the last half of the game, it honestly feels like padding to make the game length extend longer than it needs to be and that my friends, is one of my pet peeves.

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''When I lose my phone & use my phone to try to find it at night''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day, Resonance A Plague Tale Legacy more than justifies its existence, and to me proves that the decision to continue making sequels, actually ended up a very smart decision. Is it perfect? not even close. Its stealth missions could've been lowered or spread out more to fix the pacing, or just be removed altogether since the mechanics push it more towards an action game than a stealth game anyways. But other than a pacing issue and stealth issue, with beautiful environments, great characters like Sophia with depth, fun combat albeit even if a little uninspired, intriguing puzzles and a narrative that has you wanting to learn more, easily makes it a recommended playthrough at least once, especially if you're a fan of the Plague series. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW.

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