Following the Unforeseen Success of A Plague Tale

The surprise hit of 2019, A Plague Tale: Innocence, told the survival story of siblings Amicia and Hugo in 14th-century France, and its success was unexpected for its development team. Three years later, Asobo Studio has released a sequel, A Plague Tale: Requiem. In an interview, Game Director Kevin Choteau admitted that the team did not anticipate the success of the first game, which was their first foray into the stealth adventure genre and ended up selling one million copies in just over a year. The success of Innocence enabled the team to develop a second title in the universe, with Requiem picking up the story six months after the events of the first game. Choteau says the team learned a lot from Innocence, which initially came together through trial and error. The team carried over lessons from the first game to Requiem, avoiding the same mistakes, although Choteau jokes that they were naive and fell into other traps. The quest for authenticity was at the core of the title's development journey, with particular care taken to have settings and storylines that are coherent with the time and place. The team had the support of a historian to build a believable world, but Choteau highlights that historical accuracy sometimes had drawbacks, and the team had to refrain from being too historically accurate in some places. The story and setting were not the starting points for the sequel; instead, the team began with the aspect that A Plague Tale became known for: the rats. The development team grew from 40 people on Innocence to 70 on Requiem, with most of the original team joining for the second title. Choteau himself joined Asobo Studio over 12 years ago and has seen the studio evolve drastically. Despite the stress ahead of release, the team is open to a third title in the Plague Tale universe, and Choteau looks forward to seeing Requiem's reception among fans.