14th-century France is not a nice place to live, as I wrote about in my A Plague Tale: Requiem review. Especially so when the main character, Amicia, is a teenage girl with only a handful of tools at her disposal. Survival means contending with soldiers, cultists, and slavers that want you dead while also circumventing the rats that infest nearly every corner of the game. If you find yourself struggling a little bit, here are some helpful tips to guide Amicia and Hugo through A Plague Tale: Requiem.
Pick a playstyle and try to stick to it
Amicia gains passive benefits depending on how she tackles each “encounter.” If she prioritizes stealth, she will gain experience in the “Prudence” category, while aggressive actions will see her gain experience in the “Agressive” [sic] category. Since there are a limited number of encounters, prioritizing one playstyle will allow you access to a very powerful ability to complement said playstyle.
That said, Prudence and Aggressive both are more useful than Opportunism — Prudence in the stealth sections and Aggressive for the forced encounters, so the choice is yours.
Here are all three skill trees and their abilities:
Prudence
- Light Footstep: Amicia makes less noise when moving, and so is less noticeable by enemies nearby.
- Nimbleness: Thanks to a better sense of balance, Amicia moves faster when crouching.
- Throwing Stance: Amicia improves her body positioning to throw items farther.
- Armour Piercer: Amicia can backstab armored enemies with a knife as she can now spot their weak points.
Aggressive
- Grappler: Being conscious of her surroundings, Amicia can push enemies into fire or rats when she attacks in melee, killing them instantly.
- Recovery: Keeping her calm when she is attacked, Amicia recovers faster from blows.
- Vital Points: Knowing their vital points, Amicia strangles enemies with her sling faster and more quietly.
- Quick Fingers: Being more dexterous, Amicia reloads and uses her weapons much faster.
Opportunism
- Alchemy Knowledge: Thanks to a better knowledge of alchemy, Amicia crafts alchemical ammo faster.
- Nothing Lost: Optimizing her alchemical craft, Amicia has a chance to save one resource she uses when she crafts alchemical ammo.
- Material Division: Being more meticulous, Amicia obtains pieces when she crafts alchemical ammo.
- Pure Product: Perfecting her art, Amicia crafts one more alchemical ammo with the same resources.
If it sucks, hit the bricks
If you accidentally trigger an enemy by making too much noise (or they spot you from across the way using what must be eagle powers,) there is no shame in standing your ground — if you have the resources to take them on. If not, or if you’d rather save those resources for one of the game’s forced encounters, there is even less shame in running away. Enemies can lose sight of you easily, as long as you are able to break their line of sight for long enough.
You can somewhat “cheat” the AI by running into a bush, hugging the edge far away from where you entered, and sitting still. Most of the time, the AI will take a few steps into the bush, lose track of you, and wander off to try and find you, allowing you to re-enter stealth. Be warned though, if it’s a particularly small bush, they can and will find you.
Use Exsanguis and Tar to buy you time
Exsanguis creates a small cloud of dust on an enemy if thrown or slung directly at them, and while it mostly is used to douse fires, it also can be used to give you a few seconds to either run away or prepare another trap. However, if you need to really buy yourself some time, combine Exsanguis with a Pot to create a massive AoE version — this will give you even more time to do what you need to.
Tar works in a similar way, except instead of causing them to be temporarily blinded, they instead pause to examine what you just threw at them. This is a slightly weaker effect than Exsanguis on its own, as they will return to chasing you very shortly — unless you light them on fire. Depending on which enemy you set alight, it will either heavily damage them or lower their defenses, allowing you to kill them as a follow-up. For the more armored enemies, however, this will simply delay them for a lengthy period of time. Eventually, they will shake it off and resume the hunt.
It should be noted that this doesn’t work on shielded enemies if you toss it directly at them — they will simply deflect the projectile and continue their advance. Instead, you either need to use environmental objects or aim at their feet with a Pot version.
Hunt for scrap and tools
Scrap and tools allow Amicia to upgrade one of four talent trees — Sling, Alchemy, Gear, and Instruments — but there is a limited number of scrap and tools in a playthrough, meaning you cannot max them all out without delving into New Game+.
Each section will have hidden treasure chests that require puzzle-solving or tactical combat to reach, with plenty of scrap and the odd tool for you to gather. The last upgrade for Amicia’s “Instruments” tree allows her to upgrade gear without tools at all, which is a fantastic pick to aim for, but would require skipping upgrades from the other three trees for much of the early-to-mid game.
Keep a Knife on you at all times
Not for the reason you might be thinking, either. Every so often you will come across a locked workbench, which requires a Knife to pry open. Inside are often a plethora of scrap, tools, and crafting materials as well as an opportunity for you to upgrade your gear. There is no worse feeling than discovering one that has been hidden off the beaten path, only to realize that you used your last Knife in the previous encounter.
You can avoid using Knives by not pressing the corresponding button when you get attacked — you will suffer a game over, but it will place you at the nearest checkpoint and is worth the time lost in my opinion. If you do end up accidentally using a knife, you can sometimes find one in large crates, but it is rare.
Written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF.
