Asobo Reinvents A Plague Tale With Resonance, Trading Stealth for Sophia’s Dagger-And-Sword Action Combat, But Puzzles Are the Real Highlight

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, the third installment in Asobo Studio's acclaimed action/adventure series, finally materialized in the form of a remote preview organized by publisher Focus Entertainment around two months ahead of the launch date.

According to Studio Asobo, Resonance has been in development for nearly four years following Requiem's release. The team expanded to roughly 80 developers over that period specifically to support the shift toward an active combat-driven protagonist, which producers identified as one of the project's biggest creative challenges. Asobo has stated that the production budget is in line with previous entries in the series, despite the larger scope.

Originally announced at the Xbox Games Showcase 2025, the game is a prequel set in 1333, about 15 years before the events of 2022's A Plague Tale: Requiem. As you would expect, given that the protagonists of the first two games (Amicia and Hugo) were very young in Innocence and Requiem, this also means that Resonance features a new main character: Sophia, a fierce young plunderer who briefly appeared in Requiem as a mentor figure.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy could therefore be considered her origin story, with Sophia on a journey to discover her connection to the Prima Macula's ancient history. The demo begins in Chapter 5, when, after fleeing the plunderer gang she grew up with, and haunted by visions, Sophia arrives with her friend Leni on the Minotaur's Island, near Crete, Greece. The duo is on the run from an army as well as from Faro, the aforementioned gang's leader, who isn't too happy that Sophia took an item necessary to find the fabled island's hidden treasure.

The game's main twist, and one that the demo only briefly touches upon, is the so-called Dual-Timeline Mechanic: as Sophia explores the island, she begins experiencing flashbacks in which she inhabits the perspective of Theseus himself, the legendary hero who lived over 2,000 years before her and famously defeated the Minotaur.

A mysterious entity appears to link both eras, and uncovering that connection sits at the heart of the plot. Playing as Theseus comes with a different moveset, different enemies, and a distinct tonal shift toward more mythological, arena-style combat, though, again, the demo only featured a very brief playable section where the player takes control of Theseus.

Overall, the narrative seeks to reinterpret the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Asobo worked again with historian Roxane Chilà (who consulted on Requiem) to weave the myth's symbolism into the story. Still, the narrative is something that will have to be properly judged after completing the full game, which launches August 27, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series S and X, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, with day-one availability on Xbox Game Pass (and Xbox Play Anywhere support).

The demo, however, provided plenty of opportunities to test the main gameplay pivot of Resonace: A Plague Tale Legacy. Previous entries leaned almost entirely on stealth survival, with Amicia and Hugo forced to take their foes by surprise to have a chance. Resonance, however, moves toward genuine action combat, thanks to Sophia's prowess in melee fights. She is equipped with a dagger and a sword, using the latter for basic attacks that can be chained together and the former for big, situational attacks the game calls Critical Strikes. You'll have to use those when the enemy is stunned or in long recovery, or you'll risk being hit yourself.

All enemies have both a Life gauge and a Stun gauge. The latter decreases over time, and when it's full, it stuns the enemy for a few seconds. You can either fill it bit by bit with regular parries or in one single successful parry of a "yellow attack". Red attacks, of course, as action game convention dictates, can only be dodged. The toolkit also includes a kick, which is particularly helpful to break the defensive posture assumed by some enemy types, and the grapnel, a grappling hook that can pull enemies into hazards or off ledges. This is very handy when dealing with archers, but can also be utilized on melee foes, though it is not effective on certain enemy types.

Stealth is still available, but only as the opening combat move, at least in the demo: Sophia can drop off from above and take out one foe, but there's unfortunately no chance to systematically pick off enemies as you would in an Assassin's Creed or even in a game like Guerrilla's Horizon. Every once in a while, a defeated foe will drop off an item that Sophie can pick up and throw at another foe, dealing damage and/or stunning them.

The demo also included a preview of the progression system, which is based on Resonance Points looted across the game's environments. The skill tree featured three skills in this build (another three were locked):

• Echo's Return — While being attacked, snatches and throws enemies into their allies, causing stun damage to everyone. Does not work on yellow and red attacks.
• Bullbreaker Kick — Combos into a second powerful kick that deals stun damage and pushes back enemies.
• Heroic Surge — Killing an enemy with a Critical Strike grants a brief surge of protection, absorbing the next hit.

Each of these skills has two more options that can further specialize it. Moreover, in keeping with Sophia's nature as a plunderer, she can gather six types of accessories that unlock passive improvements. For example, Beads add a slight chance that an archer's arrow misses her; Arm Bands introduce a slight chance to increase the parry window; Bracelets add a low chance to deal more damage with a Critical Strike; Trinkets provide a slight Chance that Sophia doesn't actually die upon suffering a lethal hit; and Seals increase by a slight Chance that a throwable falls from a killed enemy. There's a sixth category, Pierced Coins, but since I didn't loot any, I don't know what bonus they offer.

Overall, I thought the combat system was enjoyable, but hardly remarkable. There are many action games that offer a deeper and richer experience; however, Asobo's expertise has always lain elsewhere, and that's true in this game as well. In Chapter 5, there are a lot of great light-based manipulation puzzles tied to a stolen Minoan sphere. Daedalus, the island's mythical architect, designed the island as a maze riddled with these puzzles. Sophia also carries a crew notebook to help track her path. These puzzles can be pretty challenging, and I can imagine there'll be even more complex ones in the full game, bringing a touch of Tomb Raider flavor to the experience.

In Chapter 6, the adventure takes on a thrilling twist as Sophia falls into the depths of the island and is stalked by a relentless, seemingly unkillable creature that constantly tracks her movements and is only stopped by light itself, not unlike the Prima Macula seen in previous games. Indeed, this section of the Resonance: A Plague Tale's Legacy demo heavily echoed the tension-driven pursuit mechanics the series is known for, even within this new action framework.

The game's release date puts it near many major releases, so it's hard to imagine how successful it will be from a commercial standpoint. However, after playing the game, I believe fans of the franchise, and even more so regular action/adventure aficionados, should definitely keep an eye on Asobo Studio's new game, as it's likely to be yet another well-crafted title from the French developer.

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