Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy has taken inspiration from the likes of Tomb Raider and Uncharted in the best ways

After only two hours of playtime, it's clear that Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a breath of fresh air for A Plague Tale fans. It provides an engaging narrative with fresh but familiar ground, suitable for both franchise veterans and newcomers.

It's all thanks to an original story that will leave you wanting more after every discovery — and notably, one that doesn't absolutely require knowledge of previous entries.

Asobo Studio has taken a risky but bold step in a completely different direction with Resonance, and while there is still plenty more to be seen, it's off to a great start in both its narrative and gameplay.

In Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy (set 15 years before A Plague Tale: Requiem), we follow a familiar face that both previous main characters, Amicia and Hugo, encountered. Sophia, labelled a 'fierce young plunderer,' will be center stage as she journeys to uncover the mystery behind her past, while on the run from a gang she left behind.

Unlike anything the franchise has offered before, Asobo sets out its stall in Resonance from minute one, focusing on action-adventure aspects to a greater extent, with combat that will not only entertain players but also test their mettle.

Resonance borrows from the best action-adventure games

If you love Tomb Raider and Naughty Dog's Uncharted games, or even Bethesda's Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, you're likely going to have a lot of fun with Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy.

In exploration, you'll be tackling a wide range of puzzles, many of which will require you to look through clues in a notebook (just like you would with Nathan Drake in Uncharted). Set pieces will see Sophia jumping from ledges or shimmying in tight and dangerous spots, all in a fascinating spectacle that left me smiling, ready for more.

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Remember those sequences in Uncharted or Tomb Raider that saw either Nathan Drake or Lara Croft finding a key item, only to be stopped by an antagonist, leading to an epic escape? Resonance captures the essence of those moments in its own charming and entertaining way.

Unlike Amicia, Sophia can wield swords and a dagger, pull enemies off of rooftops with a grappling hook, and engage in a brutal and bloody back-and-forth with enemies thanks to the game's parry, dodge, and attack functionality. You'll feel like you can hold your ground against a barrage of enemies, with a character who isn't afraid to make a foe think twice about approaching.

While some areas of sword clashes and fights can feel slightly janky, particularly with dodges or general strafing that feel as though they lack much weight, the melee mostly holds up quite well, featuring multiple skills to unlock and enhance Sophia's capability in combat.

Asobo has seemingly structured Resonance's combat encounters, puzzles, and exploration very well. It doesn't feel like there are too many moments of combat, puzzles, or exploration, as each moment does just enough to keep you engaged and ends before it overstays its welcome.

Perhaps above all, Resonance features one of the best horror-like, thrilling sequences I've seen in a long time, forcing an unarmed Sophia to survive and escape a deadly and terrifying creature that can snatch her life away with very little effort.

It was during this encounter that I realized Resonance has just about everything I hoped it would in a new entry within the series, and I genuinely can't wait to see what more it has to offer when it launches later this year on August 27, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.

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Isaiah is a Staff Writer for the Computing channel at TechRadar. He's spent over two years writing about all things tech, specifically games on PC, consoles, and handhelds. He started off at GameRant in 2022 after graduating from Birmingham City University in the same year, before writing at PC Guide which included work on deals articles, reviews, and news on PC products such as GPUs, CPUs, monitors, and more. He spends most of his time finding out about the exciting new features of upcoming GPUs, and is passionate about new game releases on PC, hoping that the ports aren't a complete mess.