Before she met Amicia and Hugo, Sophia had to embark on a little journey of her own. In Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, we go back in time to see her story first-hand, a journey of self-discovery that takes us to 14th century Greece. We’ve been hands-on with a couple chapters of the game, getting a glimpse into Sophia’s younger self as well as a gameplay system that’s been reimagined for this new adventure.
We start off in the training grounds to get familiar with combat. Sophia is equipped with a dagger, allowing for quick, devastating strikes. You can do a fast 3-strike combo before the enemy will try to hit back, for which you can do the usual block, dodge, or parry. I don’t remember if this was seen in previous games, but you can only parry a mid-level attack (yellow indicator). All heavy attacks (red indicator) must be dodged, which is the norm for any game, but typically a parry can also be done on regular attacks, however this isn’t the case in Resonance. You can also give the enemy a good kick to break their guard and open them up for an attack.
Sophia can use her grapple hook to pull lighter enemies towards her; however, some enemies may spring a surprise strike that you must be prepared to block. The environment is also your ally. There are objects that can be thrown to stun an enemy, and the grapple can be used to pull enemies into traps or cause them to fall to their death. The grapple is also used for traversal, helping Sophia to scale certain walls and cross large gaps. After working through several combat scenarios, we are ready to dig into the story.
Going back 15 years before the events of the A Plague Tale games, Sophia left the gang she ran with after she was pushed aside from an important mission, taking with her a notebook that holds many secrets, as well as a sphere. We now find ourselves on the Minotaur’s Island, trying to uncover its secrets and find answers. With her companion Leni, she must complete several trials, solve difficult puzzles and fight off any enemies that get in their way. The puzzles are solved by bending light with the Prism, which is contained within a Minoan sphere. The Prism can be used to illuminate safe pathways as well as directing different colored beams of light to hit corresponding targets, unlocking doors and uncovering hidden or blocked areas. This is just the early game, so I’m sure we’ll discover more ways to use the Prism later.
Sophia and Leni come across a structure that they have to pass through, however their exit is sealed by several hatches. Using the sphere, Sophia activates a pedestal that opens several massive stone doors, each with a corresponding socket with a ring of eight symbols. The correct symbol must be selected on each socket to clear the hatches from the exit gate, but finding which symbols are needed won’t be so easy. We pick a random door and proceed down the path, jumping over collapsed parts of a stone bridge, dispatching some enemies, and finally coming to another large door. It won’t open but there is a hole underneath that we can crawl through to enter the chamber on the other side.
Once inside, we are presented with yet another door but also a chasm that is far too wide to cross, however there are colored stones visible on the far wall. Pulling out the sphere, we use the prism inside to shine red, green, and blue lights, which triggers platforms to emerge from below. We make our way across and proceed through the door and into a long corridor. As we turn a corner, our path is blocked by ominous black spikes. A big mirror in the corner can be used to shine light on the spikes, which causes them to crumble into dust. Continuing down the corridor, we come to another huge chamber, again with a huge door on one side and a massive chasm. Just like the previous chamber, the prism is used to shine lights and raise platforms for us to cross.
As we make our way to the final chamber, we come across more of the weird spikes, but also statues that resemble people fleeing, hiding, and cowering, suggesting something may have been attacking them. They’re seemingly made of the same kind of material as the spikes. But where did they come from?
In the final chamber, a lone platform sits with a mirror at its center. Using a crank and the mirror, Leni helps Sophia navigate several moving platforms as she tries to shine the light from the Prism on more colored stones throughout the room, revealing more platforms, more cranks, and more of those creepy spikes. After the last platform is revealed, Sophia and Leni can finally head back outside into the light where the first symbol awaits them. With the symbol acquired, it’s time to head back to the gate.
Three more of these symbols have to be found before the gate is fully unblocked. We make our way through the other doors to face their respective challenges and acquire their symbols, however the last symbol remains beyond our grasp as an unexpected visitor arrives, attacking Leni and tossing Sophia into a pit of darkness. This wasn’t the end of our preview, but we don’t want to spoil too much of the fun. What awaits Sophia in that darkness is a true test of her willpower and her strength to keep pushing forward, even when the darkness feels like it will quite literally consume her.
Light seems to be a recurring theme in Resonance as it also acts as a haven when Sophia finds herself being pursued by a dark and mysterious presence that lurks within the island, as well as the several other uses of light throughout the preview to clear away some of the desolation that has affected the island.
Themes are abundant as we can see that the title also has a deeper meaning. Something resonates from within Sophia, giving her a hand up in her mission. Through a mysterious connection to the Greek legend Theseus, Sophia can look back in time to the Minoan era, walk in his shoes, and see what he saw centuries before. These flashbacks show the grueling path Theseus had to walk, the battles he fought, and more, to stand victorious, but Sophia can also gain insights into how to solve her current predicament, such as clues to puzzles and tools to help her escape the darkness.
From the story and its themes to the unique light-driven puzzle system, to the combat and exploration, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is shaping up to be another banger for Asobo Studio and Focus Entertainment. Thankfully we don’t have to wait long as the game comes out on August 26th for PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S. We’ll have that full review for you closer to launch day.
