Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Key Art
Image: Asobo Studio & Focus Entertainment

Whew, it's a busy day for big game releases today! Amongst the Metal Gears and the Star Warscoms, we've got the latest in Asobo Studio's excellent A Plague Tale series. However, this one's not nearly as plague-ridden. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a prequel, set before the rats decided to unionize and become a hairy, bitey tsunami. Fifteen years earlier, even starring a new protagonist, the roguish pirate Sophia. While digging around ancient ruins for treasure on the fabled island of the Minotaur, she ends up getting a bit closer to the myth than planned.

I've always been a sucker for blending real-world history and mythology like this (and will admit that I like the trilogy of big RPG Assassin's Creed games), so this one's on my weekend to-play list. So far, reviews for this one are - unsurprisingly - pretty dang good. Asobo have a solid track record (on both this and the Flight Simulator series, proving their range) and I'd be surprised to see them drop the ball at this point. Still, this is a very different game to the previous two Plague Tale titles, with a heavy focus on melee combat against human enemies.

Of course, where there are Minotaurs, there's Theseus. While a secondary presence in the game, you'll sometimes be controlling the ancient Greek hero in 'resonance' events (title drop!) that let Sophia dive into the REALLY ancient past, as opposed to the quite ancient past that she's part of. And naturally, he's even more of a combat-heavy character.

Despite the heavy shift away from horror and evasion (although those do seem to be partially present still) and into full-on fantasy adventure, everything looks solid here. Combat is unsurprisingly parry-heavy (it's sword fighting after all), but despite it being relatively new ground for the studio, it feels like they've got the fundamentals right. While I'm hoping to see the Plague Tale series return to its more plague'y roots eventually, I'm curious to see what Asobo might be cooking up in future.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is out now for £44/$50, with no discounts at launch here. There is an optional 'Heritage Pack' DLC that includes several booster items, including stat increases and a special sword that stuns enemies with every third hit. Not too keen on boosters like that, and usually they mess with the game's balance, so consider skipping that.