Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Preview

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It has been four years since Asobo Studio released A Plague Tale: Requiem, the most recent game in the A Plague Tale series. It was justifiably praised for its storytelling and gameplay, which focuses more on stealth over in-your-face combat. Requiem expanded on the combat a lot, but it still felt like stealth was at its core. So, for the next game in the series, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, Asobo decided to do a 180. Instead, we are getting an action, combat-focused entry, with Sophia’s origin story being explored. It was an interesting move, though it does make sense given Sophia’s history. Still, I was a bit worried about this change because that hasn’t been one of the core pillars of this series.

Recently, I was able to check out the game for myself, going hands-on to see how it’s shaping up and how it’s running on the Steam Deck so far. However, all of my worry washed away as soon as I started playing. Not only is the storytelling still pristine, but the combat that I was worried about was extremely fun and fluid. Now, all I want to do is play the full game.

The preview started us off in chapter 5, where Sophia and Leni have traveled to the island that Sophia sees in her dreams. There, we have to overcome trials to open the doors, but we will ultimately find ourselves face-to-face with a monster that we have to get away from. I won't go too much into detail here, since the story will be something best experienced first-hand, but it pulled me in.

With how focused the series is on story, it did feel a little odd just being dumped in the middle of it. Still, it did its job of effectively roping me in and wanting to know more. It’s great seeing Sophia return in a new light, giving us some backstory after she became a significant part of Requiem. It’s very clear that she’s interconnected with something bigger, and it gets clearer and clearer the longer I played. The masterful storytelling is on full display, with great dialog, voice acting, surprisingly good animations, interesting moments, and some very tense scenes.

I’m also loving the dynamic between Sophia and Leni. It gives this playful sisterly vibe that can easily swap between genuine, serious conversations and humorous jokes. It does so naturally, reminding me of the great bond between Noctis and his team in Final Fantasy 15. It makes me even more curious what led them to the events of this preview, and I want to see more.

Then we have the visuals, which are just downright beautiful. From the environments and their minute details to the character models and their careful animations, almost everything visual with Resonance is just amazing. I was in awe of how beautiful the lighting looked in caves and how Sophia's face contorts as she hides in the light from the creature; it just all comes together nicely.

However, what surprised me the most about Resonance was how great the combat felt. Coming from the stealth-focused series, I was worried that the switch to more action-focused gameplay was going to be on the rougher side. However, I was wrong, and what we have is fast-paced and enjoyable to experience.

Combat is definitely on the simple side, but it flows together nicely. We have one attack button that can be held down for a critical hit, and the ability to kick to build stun, dodge, block, which can be timed to parry, a grappling hook to bring enemies to us, and a special attack. These all work in tandem with each other way better than I expected, keeping the action going without letting up.

There is a small skill system where we can get some new abilities and master them for extra effects, and there are some Charms we can find to give us some passive bonuses. I didn’t see much else yet, but it’s possible the systems may expand in the full game. But, for what it’s worth, I don’t mind them one bit.

There appears to still be some semblance of stealth here, as in the second chapter I played, I had to hide behind pillars, and crouch-walk around to make sure it didn't notice me. Combat definitely takes front and center in Resonance, but the solid stealth mechanics of the franchise are not completely forgotten.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy - Steam Deck Performance So Far

Another big surprise was actually Resonance’s performance on the Steam Deck. Now, it’s worth knowing that this is not a final build of the game, and knowing that, I expected it to perform poorly. However, I was actually quite surprised that it was running pretty well, so there were still some very clear issues.

There are definitely some CPU-bound limitations so far, and it does lead to some stuttering here and there and led to a few crashes. There were also some clear moments when stuttering would occur, which could be fixed with the shader cache that Steam creates for the full game releases.

But apart from that, it was running very well. Even at the low settings with FSR 3 upscaling at Balanced, the game looked beautiful and was able to stick above 30 FPS. Even when running around in the open areas and fighting groups of enemies, the framerate was able to hold strong. This is definitely not what I was expecting, and knowing this is an early build makes me feel very confident that the full release will be decent on this Steam Deck.

It’s also worth knowing that I was really only able to check out two different chapters, so it’s very possible that later parts of the game, or earlier parts of the game, will perform better or worse. This is just an early preview to check out how it is so far, and I can happily say that it left me impressed.

Overall, I left Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy satisfied and excited on all fronts. The story is exciting and interesting, the dynamic between Sophia and Leni is great, and the new combat-focused approach is fast-paced and exhilarating. On top of that, it’s performing quite well on the Steam Deck, despite this being a preview build. I can’t wait for the full release, and I’m looking forward to finding out how Sophia’s origin story unfolds.

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