A Plague Tale: Innocence was one of the surprise hits of 2019, putting the game’s French developer Asobo Studio on the map. Such was the critical acclaim that it was nominated for Best Narrative at the 2019 Game Awards, and all players were keen to see where Amicia and Hugo’s adventure would take them next. That next adventure, A Plague Tale: Requiem, is finally about to be in players’ hands, with the game releasing on October 18. We recently sat down with Requiem’s Creative Director Kevin Choteau to find out how the studio is hoping to raise the bar with A Plague Tale: Requiem.
WellPlayed: Innocence caught a lot of people by surprise when it launched in 2019. Requiem, on the other hand, has a lot of hype around it – do you feel more pressure (both internal and external) to deliver the same, if not better, quality experience?
Kevin Choteau: Launching your first game is like diving headfirst into a turbulent sea. However, the pressure we feel now is new: this time the players, the public have expectations and we want to fulfil them. We want them to feel the passion and hard work we put into the game.
WP: Did you ever think that Innocence would receive the amount of love and praise that it got?
KC: We were so happy when we realized how much players loved Innocence. After three years, we still get a lot of feedback from people who were hooked by the story and very excited to know about what’s next for Hugo and Amicia. It was very exciting and stimulating for us to start working on this sequel with that amount of feedback from Innocence. We have spent considerable time studying those to decide what we would do in Requiem, and what improvements we would bring.
WP: One thing I loved about Innocence was that a lot of the world was inspired by the studio’s home city of Bordeaux and southwest France. Given Requiem takes place in new locations, what inspirations and resources did you use for the settings this time around?
KC: This sequel takes place in the southeast of France, in Provence, with very different landscapes and places we visited in Innocence much brighter, more colourful and wider. Amicia and Hugo will be able to visit the flowery valleys of the Garrigue, the Calanques, the Ochre of the Roussillon, red brick towns on cliffsides…including a lot of places full of history and influences from the past. As for Innocence, we have done a lot of research with Roxane Chila, a Doctor in Medieval History, to base our story on historical facts or anecdotes that we have altered.
WP: Combat looks like it’ll be a bigger focus in Requiem, with Amicia having access to a crossbow and being able to stealth kill enemies. How are you ensuring that the balance doesn’t tip too far to the side of Amicia being a relentless killer and that killing feels like a necessity for survival rather than a thoughtless action?
KC: After everything they endured, Amicia and Hugo have changed. Amicia knows how to fight and Hugo controls the rats. This starting point allows us to imagine even more intense sequences than in Innocence but the majority of situations have been designed to allow the player to be free in the way they approach the events, from stealth to combat (often a mix of both). To support this logic, we have a system that rewards the player by unlocking skills related to prudence, opportunism or combat depending on his/her play style.
WP: Amicia’s relationship with Hugo is a key part of the narrative. Now that Hugo has powers, how do you maintain that bond remains strong and continues to grow?
KC: The relationship between Amicia and her brother always has been the heart of A Plague Tale. In Requiem, Hugo is still young and vulnerable, even now he has powers. He is an extremely effective tool against threats in most situations, but it can become a dangerous game if he loses control. Amicia’s part is essential. She still has to protect Hugo, not only from their enemies but from himself and his disease, to avoid sowing chaos.
WP: Once again Oliver Deriviere is composing the game’s soundtrack, which adds another layer to the narrative. How integral is Derivere’s work to the overall experience?
KC: The music in Plague Tale is considered as a key element. Each music note is intertwined with the story, the characters and their emotions. The music grows and develops as much as the plot and the characters. It also transmits information about the tone and intensity of a scene. The music forms a coherent whole with the rest of the universe. We work as early as possible with Olivier to expose him the story and our directions so that we can work as long as possible hand in hand during the development.
WP: What is one thing from Innocence that you wanted to improve on in Requiem?
KC: We wanted to stay true to Innocence while pushing the player experience into more open and free gameplay areas. This was one of the biggest feedbacks from players that we absolutely wanted to solve and that forced us to redesign our entire controls, tools and level design (of course).
Requiem will take Amicia and Hugo to new locations
In Requiem, Amicia will have to face even more devastating tsunamis of rats – up to 300,000 on-screen!
WP: How long are you expecting players to take on average to finish Requiem?
KC: Approximately 16 hours of gameplay, but players are free to take their time to explore everything or to hurry.
WP: What’s your favourite thing about developing a single-player game?
KC: Even if at the studio we are fervent players of multiplayer games, we like the single-player games for the more intimate experience they offer, this aspect of a ‘game to share on the couch’ that you devour at your own pace.
WP: When we last spoke before the launch of Innocence, it was mentioned that the dev team was around 40 people. How many people are working on Requiem?
KC: 70 people worked on Requiem. We are growing but we try to keep a small team to maintain the group spirit that is so important to us.
WP: Last-gen hardware allowed the team to display up to 5000 rats on the screen in Innocence. Has this number increased with the advanced hardware of the newer consoles?
KC: In Requiem, Amicia will have to face even more devastating tsunamis of rats – up to 300,000 on-screen! But rats are also more intelligent now. They move with better awareness of their environment, climbing over certain surfaces and avoiding areas of light to surprise the player.
WP: Has developing the game for new-gen consoles and PC allowed the team to expand its vision for A Plague Tale? If so, how?
KC: Thanks to the power of the new generation, we improved the rats, as well as the environnement. We’ve been able to push the horizon much further, than in Innocence, giving a new dimension to Hugo and Amicia’s adventures, with more exploration. We also made major improvements of characters rendering thanks to motion capture – including facial capture, a powerful support to the narration.
WP: Accessibility has become a big part of any game’s development, what features are you including to make Requiem accessible for more players?
KC: Despite our limited team size, we tried to add a maximum of accessibility options so that the greatest number of players can play our game both for the gameplay (static camera, joystick inversion, full remapping, invincible mode …) and readability (size of subtitles, colours, backgrounds, …).
WP: Is A Plague Tale a series you’d like to keep working on after the release of Requiem?
KC: We will first finish the game and then let the team rest for a while before thinking about what to do next. 😉
WP: Thanks heaps for your time. Best of luck with the game’s development, we can’t wait to play Requiem on October 18.
KC: Thank you 🙂
A Plague Tale: Requiem will launch on October 18 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S (and Xbox Game Pass), Nintendo Switch (Cloud version) and PC.
Are you excited for A Plague Tale: Requiem? Let us know in the comments or on social media
