I wanted to play A Plague's Tale: Innocence before Requiem came out and that didn't happen. I just finished Requiem and I think your thoughts on the first game, kof, hold mostly true for the sequel.
The presentation of the game is fantastic, there are more than a few standout scenes. The story comes to life through the tremendous VO work. Good lord is it depressing though, there is a ton of death from start to finish. They named it Requiem for a reason. It's longer than I thought it would be, I think it took me at least 16 hours to clear the 17 chapters (that is with getting stuck a few times). Puzzles are easy.
From what I understand, the combat has been expanded a bit but it's pretty limited. All of the opponents are bigger than Amicia so if they get close you are dead in one or two hits. The intent is to be as stealthy as you can with one or two emergency way outs to stay alive. You can cheese your way through these sections though. Once you get a certain distance from the exit (when you find it! The game is very linear but figuring out where you need to go in the stealth areas can be confusing) you can simply sprint to get out. Once the door animation starts, it pushes you through no matter what.
Amicia is a ranged-based character, so with the right tools and distance, you can go on the offense. The game forces you to do this in a few arenas where you have to kill your way out of. They do have a decent amount of variety with the enemy types which is basically armor based. No helmet? Rock to the head. Helmet? Burn 'em or crossbow. Shield, no helmet? Flank, rock to the back of the head. Full armor? Stun, hit the weak point to remove the body armor, impale or burn. She doesn't attack quickly, reloading takes time without any upgrades, and she always feels rather clumsy even though she becomes more capable as you go. It's impossible to fully upgrade everything (I only maxed one ability) in one playthrough so you need to be picky (protip: sling and crafting ammo). You have to be decisive in picking who to take out first, position yourself appropriately, use the environment, and stick and move to avoid getting overwhelmed. The game is liberal with leaving crafting supplies around so I never ran out of anything, I always had what I needed to get through an area. The different ammo you can make is inventive and makes things interesting because it gives you options in almost every encounter.
I liked this quite a bit but I think it's a one and done gaming experience because the gameplay isn't the best.
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