Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Review: Beautiful, Gripping and Over Too Soon

Our Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy review comes after playing it all the way to the credits, and the honest truth is that we couldn't put it down. Asobo Studio's prequel is one of the best-looking games we've played this year, its story had us hooked from the first chapter, and when it ended we were genuinely gutted that there wasn't more.

Resonance came out on 27 August 2026 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and it's included with Game Pass Ultimate. If you loved Innocence and Requiem, or you've never played a Plague Tale game at all, this is easy to recommend.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy review at a glance

What is Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy?

Resonance is a prequel and spin-off set 15 years before A Plague Tale: Requiem. You play as Sophia, the sharp-tongued sailor from Requiem, now a 22-year-old plunderer known as "the Scorpion of the Seas." After a heist in Venice goes badly wrong, she flees to the legendary Minotaur's Island with her friend Leni, chasing secrets about her own family. As she goes deeper, she starts reliving the Minoan era through the eyes of the hero Theseus, while something terrible hunts her in the dark.

You don't need to have played the earlier games. Asobo says it's built to stand on its own, though fans of Requiem will spot plenty of nods to what comes later.

Resonance review: it's absolutely beautiful

Graphically, Resonance is stunning. The Minotaur's Island is all white cliffs, turquoise water and sun-bleached ruins, then it drops you into caves, flooded tunnels and labyrinths lit by flickering torches and eerie blue light. Venice at carnival time, the bandits' camp in the lagoon and the huge Minoan arenas all look different from one another, and we kept stopping just to look around. The art direction leans on real places, from Knossos and Akrotiri to Santorini's volcanic rock, and it shows.

It's not just the scenery, either. Faces and animation in the cutscenes are excellent, which matters in a game this driven by its characters. On PC it's also Steam Deck Verified, and on PS5 it's PS5 Pro Enhanced.

The story kept us glued to the end

The biggest reason we couldn't stop playing is the story. Sophia is a brilliant lead: fierce, funny and reckless, but carrying real hurt from her childhood. Anna Demetriou, who voices her again and also did the motion capture this time, gives her a wild edge that makes sense of the calmer woman we meet in Requiem. Her friendship with Leni gives the story its heart.

The twist on the Minotaur myth is clever. Sophia's journey and Theseus's trials in ancient Crete mirror each other, and the way the two timelines come together kept pulling us forward chapter after chapter. It's darker than you might expect, it's about family, loyalty and betrayal, and it ties into the origins of the Macula, the curse at the heart of the whole series. We won't spoil it, but the final chapters hit hard.

Olivier Derivière's soundtrack deserves a mention too. He scored Innocence and Requiem, and here he swaps the series' famous cello for Greek and Ottoman instruments and a choir singing in Cypriot Greek, which suits the island perfectly.

Combat, puzzles and the creature in the dark

Resonance plays very differently from the earlier games. There are no rats this time, and instead of mostly sneaking around, Sophia fights head-on with a sword and dagger, parrying, dodging, kicking enemies off ledges and pulling them in with a grappling hook. It's more Uncharted or Tomb Raider than Innocence, and it works. Fights against groups of soldiers feel tense and physical without dragging on.

Between the fights, you explore and solve light puzzles with a stolen Minoan sphere, bending beams of light to open ancient mechanisms. The puzzles are well designed and look gorgeous. And then there's the presence that stalks you through the island's depths: those sections, where you can only hide and keep moving, are some of the most nerve-racking in the series.

Is anything not great about Resonance?

Our only real complaint is that it ended. Asobo says Resonance takes around 20 hours, and some players on Steam report finishing in closer to 10 hours on Normal, so how long it lasts depends on how much you explore. Either way, we'd happily have played more.

A few other things are worth knowing. Some players find the light puzzles start to feel similar in the middle of the game, and a couple of critics mention a clunky camera in big fights. On PC, some players had stuttering and shader compilation problems at launch. Asobo acknowledged them and released a big bug-fix update on 6 October that, among other things, reduces stutter when entering new areas.

What players are saying

Resonance is rated Very Positive on Steam (93% of 6,000+ reviews) and 4.7 out of 5 on the PlayStation Store. A cross-section of the most helpful Steam reviews, credited to the players who wrote them:

• A favourite story of the year. GK-V says they "really got attached to the characters" and calls it "one of the best stories of 2026."
• The details. Feminine Urge, who is Greek, says they spent more time taking screenshots than playing, and loved the care that went into the mythology and its symbols.
• Underrated. Ducky predicts it will "go down as one of THE underrated titles of the year."
• Length. Dansgaming finished it in about 10 hours on Normal and really enjoyed how different it is from the first two games.
• The puzzles. Not everyone agrees: W o o d e h ™ loved the opening hours but felt the light puzzles became repetitive from chapter 4.

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy review verdict

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a must-play. It's beautiful from start to finish, its story about Sophia, Theseus and the Minotaur's Island had us glued to the screen, and the switch to action and combat gives the series a fresh new feel without losing its dark heart. When the credits rolled, the only thing we wanted was more.

If you have Game Pass Ultimate, start it tonight. If not, it's well worth the £43.99 / $49.99 on Steam.

More Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy on iGame Magazine

• Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy review – our verdict after playing it to the end
• How long is Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy? – length, chapters and difficulty
• Resonance story and timeline explained – where it fits before Innocence and Requiem
• Resonance PC requirements and Steam Deck – specs, performance and fixes
• Is Resonance on Game Pass? – price, editions and platforms

Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy review FAQ