A Plague Tale: Requiem Developer Discusses the Benefits of Dropping Last-Gen Development

We’re nearly two years into the ninth console generation now, but that transitional period between generations still isn’t over. Supply and stock shortages, in fact, have arguably even lengthened that period. Even so, while that means that most games coming out right now are cross-gen releases, we are getting to a point where quite a few are being made solely for current-gen hardware. Asobo Studio’s upcoming action-adventure sequel A Plague Tale: Requiem is one such game.

And as you’d expect, developing solely for much more powerful hardware without having to worry about the significantly outdated specs of last-gen consoles has a number of advantages. Speaking in Edge’s recent issue (issue 374), director Kevin Choteau spoke of a few of those advantages, and how A Plague Tale: Requiem has benefited from not being across-gen in terms of both story and gameplay.

“In Innocence, some parts could look a bit like a theatre set due to technical limitations,” Choteau said (via MP1st). “For Requiem, we’ve been able to push the horizon much farther. When we write, [the increased quality] allows us to consider sequences that were previously impossible, such as chases with hundreds of thousands of rats, or locations that evolve dynamically according to the story and events.”

A Plague Tale: Requiem launches on October 18 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and will also be available at launch via Game Pass. The game will also be available on Nintendo Switch as a cloud-exclusive release.