This article was originally (partially) a thread on social media, which is why it is formatted with lots of images and short responses.
The text is about the image below that paragraph.
just finished ‘A Plague Tale: Requiem’.
A young woman tries to save her little brother from a rat & plague related curse.
I’ll share my opinion, I’ll be annoying, focused on details, there will be spoilers, etc.
Be warned.
Here’s the trailer:
So the game is much like the previous one, you explore, travel avoid a LOT of rats, do some iffy almost magic stuff and fight some bosses.
Yes it takes place in the 14th century and yes it involves the plague but don’t expect a serious authentic setting.
I wish.
Why don’t we have a good Black Death game yet?
Or TV show? Or film?
It’s only the biggest most awful world shaping event ever, set in the middle ages, deadly pandemic, scary, exciting, weird, etc.
Perfect setting for a big budget 10 episode super series with lots of famous actors.
But no, nothing.
Especially after Covid you’d think someone in Hollywood would realise the appeal such a show would have.
Anyway, our journey begins.
The clothing doesn’t look too bad, there’s some colour as well!
But our main character looks like an eejit from a fantasy game.
This wood looks to have been cut with a chainsaw, I’ve just been reading about this, when you chop all the wood with an axe there’s usually more splitting than sawing going on and there possibly was more deadwood, branches, etc. used back then than cut logs.
I wrote an article about that here:
When did people start using a chopping block for firewood?
Yes I know you youngsters are used to this, but as someone who has been gaming since Pong, I still freak out a bit when game characters leave actual footprints in the sand:
Quite pretty!
And yes, that’s a Roman amphitheatre:
I read this article about watermelons looking different back then.
Oh nice pomegranate, need to get me some in real life.
Did they have all this at a medieval market, did they have crates like that?
The food looks nice but…. a bit tomato-y 😉
This game is making me hungry.
Also I’d buy all that pottery:
The clothes are not too bad, nice colours too, but it does look like they put the medieval filter over everyone, almost nobody has clean clothes.
Medieval people cared about being clean, they did do laundry.
ORANGE CARROTS!!
Noooooo….
Although orange ones did exist at that time, carrots usually came in all sorts of colours, not just orange.
That came much later when the Dutch started cultivating those and made them super popular:
Oh look! Combs!
Lovely detail.
This market is actually rather nice, the whole atmosphere in this town is lovely and far from the dirty sad dark middle ages we usually get in games.
I am enjoying walking around here.
We get to enjoy some entertainment and I get to carry “my” little brother on my shoulders.
This is fun and it even made me a tiny bit emotional.
I’m a big sister and this boy is very cute in stead of annoying (as is often the case in films) and I’m feeling protective.
Hanging clothes on a wash line across a street.
Very scenic, but was it a thing back then?
Laundry being done!
Look at that, tubs of soapy water, people working hard, kids helping, very nice.
Yet somehow nobody in this town looks like they actually make use of this service 😉
Lovely view:
Our new home is dark, good, that’s pretty authentic.
Still, candles cost money and they’re burning a few on a shelf in the corner where they’re of no use.
And look, there is a WINDOW, push the table by the window you eejits:
Nice detail is that you can see the rope in the bedframe that the mattress is placed on:
Oh dear, plague.
Lots of death everywhere, quite gruesome.
I don’t like this, its suddenly all a bit Mad Max:
The rats.
There are SO many.
No matter how long you play the game, every time they show up you shudder a bit, they’re so icky, so scary.
It makes no sense, it’s not historically accurate, the plague wasn’t even spread by rats… but I can’t deny that they’re terrifying, disgusting and… awesome.
It’s the best thing about the game.
Oh no, random torches.
Having torches everywhere is silly, they don’t burn very long, you can’t just use them as lighting and expect them to still provide light after an hour.
More here;
https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2019/09/10/medieval-myths-bingo/#torchesallovertheplace
Under the amphitheatre we find an elephant’s skull!
I LOVED this so much.
It rains and as we run back home you see other people also running to get home but also sheltering under arches.
It’s so cosy, so realistic, little scenes like this built a world.
A well, finally!
Also this looks really rather pretty:
Lovely chapel:
Oh dear here we go.
Yes, some medieval cities sometimes had trouble with the pollution & waste caused by the butchers.
We know people complained about guts & blood & dead animals being dumped where it shouldn’t be dumped.
But we also know that people HATED this and pestered their councils/rulers to do something about it and they did!
The butcher industry was one of the most regulated of all for good reason.
So although some filth & icky isn’t totally out of place, the game is exaggerating.
I mean this is not (just) where the butchers do their work, it’s where they sell their wares!
Would you stand ankle-deep in guts & blood and buy some meat from this guy?
Remember, it was a LOT more work to do laundry back then and people believed in the Miasma theory, which meant that they literally thought bad smells could kill you, they were terrified of stink!
More about medieval hygiene here:
https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2025/11/26/articles-links-videos-about-medieval-hygiene/
I’m glad not all streets here are filthy and I’m happy things only are this bad in the butcher’s quarters, but I still think they went a bit over the top.
EWWWWW:
Okay, that’s just sloppy, there are floating books.
MAGIC…
I see everything, I was trained by a top secret shadowy organisation to analyse images, there’s no escaping my eyes…
Lovely gate!
Ah wonderful, a bowl with soapy water and a mirror, see!
Someone had a bit of a wash here, Medieval people did care about hygiene!
It was frustrating that our hero couldn’t pick up any other weapons.
I so badly wanted a bow.
We did get to mess things up with that ballista though!
The rats are back… running though these streets with screaming people everywhere as thousands of rats chase you was truly a terrifying part of this game:
And then suddenly the game is pretty and wonderful again.
I like that a lot, you never know what to expect next.
And “my little brother” grabbing my hand now and then will never not touch my cold stone heart.
More people doing laundry, great.
But I’m yet to find evidence for washboards existing back then…
Pretty authentic tent!
This is also a fun part of the game, hiding while the enemy passes by is quite exciting.
Another genius tiny little scene.
The kid sees seagulls and runs at them, they fly away.
Such a simple way to make you smile and like that kid more and more.
It seems logical but think of all the games you played that involved kids and how many of those were just annoying brats!
We also get to do some sailing!
What a fun surprise.
Interesting shields though… has anyone seen these before?
We arrive on an island where for some strange reason ALL the shop signs are blank!
I’m pretty sure this is something the developers forgot.
Oh nice fabric being sold at the market, lovely colours, yes medieval people loved coloured fabric, well done game:
Donkey!
Goats!
Yay!
Sometimes I’m easily entertained.
Interesting outfit m’lady.
The game is making me peckish again.
Medieval bread is the best bread I’ve ever had.
BEEKEEPERS!!
I cheered when I saw this chap.
But… the earliest evidence I could find for this particular outfit is from long after the black death…
Lovely mosaic:
A child’s toys.
They look familiar.
The kid who centuries ago lived in that room also made drawings in wax…
I think of Onfim, of course.
Another lovely old chapel.
Inside is stunning.
Follow that knight?
Sure, no problem and… oh… books… BOOKS!!
I get distracted for a while.
Something bad happens, I comfort my little brother.
My eyes get a little wet.
The game does this very well, the emotional story games create rarely work on me because I’m a bitter old cynical woman with a heart of ice, but this game managed to get to me more than once:
More fun sailing.
Oh no we’re being attacked!
Yes, we even get a little sea battle!
I get to play with Greek fire.
Yeah, I’m having doubts about this flame thrower thingy but as we’re being attacked by 928131 billion rats, I don’t question it too much:
Yes, all rats.
Shudder.
I’m not going to spoil the ending for you, it all got a bit silly and way too fantasy/magic/nonsense for me but it did work somehow and made me cry.
Which is quite an achievement not many games can claim.
So in conclusion, it is a pretty decent game with characters & a story that got to me.
The medieval world isn’t too badly recreated but with not that much effort could have been a lot better.
Still too many sloppy mistakes.
I couldn’t stop wishing the game was more authentic but also more realistic.
Anyway, I got about 15-20 hours of play from it and enjoyed playing it.
If you like my game (and book, film, tv, art, etc) reviews check out a list of my other reviews here;
https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2022/11/14/my-reviews/
Fake History Hunter 