Hello everyone! I’m Nicolas Bécavin, chief engineer programmer of A Plague Tale: Requiem. The game launches on October 18, and I’m here to give you a taste of what to expect technically!
Making the next generation leap
We decided to develop A Plague Tale: Requiem on PlayStation 5 to completely free ourselves from last-gen limitations and make the most of the next-generation features. The potential it offers is incredible! Take loading time for example: it is reduced in a way that allows for new map and level designs. With a bigger memory on top, we get a better draw distance, meaning you can see much further. Horizons will literally expand! The result is a much more open environment than was introduced in the first game.
Letting go of the rats
Rats are a key feature of A Plague Tale, and for this second game, we wanted to push the next-generation capabilities to the next level to take rat-induced horror and trauma to the next level. The number of rats on the screen has been multiplied by 60, from 5,000 to 300,000! It’s a good number to convey the vision of the apocalypse that increasingly oppresses our heroes. We’ve also changed the aspect of their movement so that they look like a giant wave, just like a tsunami crashing into you. We’re lucky enough to work with our own, in-house engine and rely on it to tackle challenging renderings like this one, of an element completely specific to A Plague Tale.
Shedding new light on a cloudy world
Thanks to the power of the new GPU, the quality of the lighting can be drastically improved. With a wide range of technical aids and fewer restrictions, we can accentuate the role of light and introduce new situations with light. Hugo and Amicia will discover new sensations as they travel south, and so will the player! Thanks to this new level of detail, they will experience an atmosphere enriched with light rays and improved lighting over atmospheric elements such as volumetric fog.
A feast for the eyes of the new generation
Requiem’s technology will not only bring players to an environment with a more lively atmosphere, but will also give more depth to the visual simulation in general. This includes increased geometric quality: technically there are more polygons across the mesh! The resolution of textures has also been improved. A good example of how these improvements affect the in-game experience is the high level of detail with which terrains are rendered. For example, we rely heavily on parallax occlusion mapping to add small volumetric details over terrain and props. There will also be more physical and dynamic objects, which will affect how clothes are displayed.
3D space
On top of all this magic, the spatial experience is enhanced thanks to 3D Audio. That means you can see where the character is speaking: behind or in front of you, above or below… Players are completely surrounded by the game and are involved in a much more realistic and immersive way.
The PlayStation 5’s new controller, the DualSense, has also been one of our focal points. It brings exceptional immersive technology through haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. I’m going to hand it over to two of my fellow studio members to explain this further.
Using the DualSense controller to break down barriers between screen and player
Hello all! We are Cyril Doillon, lead programmer of Asobo Studio, and Aurelien Piters, audio director. We’re super excited about everything the next generation brings to the game… with a special mention to the PS5 DualSense controller! It brings a whole new level of realism and immersion to A Plague Tale, with a slew of new features added after Innocence. It was incredible to work on and we strived to get the most out of this brilliant technology. Here to introduce you to the DualSense innovations we have in store for you in the next chapter of A Plague Tale!
Haptic feedback and adaptive triggers
One of the most groundbreaking innovations of the DualSense controller is haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. We started thinking about its implementation as we worked on the next-gen adaptation of Innocence, which gave us an idea of the most relevant choices for our new game. Requiem introduces a real physical response and associated gameplay improvements. The sensory feedback provided will create realistic sensations when using weapons and tools.
For example, if a weapon requires more pressure, adaptive triggers will adjust the sense of effort given to the player. As for the sling, if you hold the button too long, you lose precision. Adaptive triggers will give the impression that shooting is getting harder, which also acts as a marker for the player to measure the right moment to shoot.
Amicia will also have a new weapon: a crossbow, which will conform to the same law. At the same time, the physics is not the same as that of the pendulum. It is more powerful, but slower to use and equip. Such sensory qualities will find their place in the simulation thanks to adaptive triggers. You have to press a first time to equip the crossbow and then a second time to shoot. This next-gen vibration technology that allows us to link a physical response to the player’s input is pretty incredible for us developers. We used to work with image and sound, now we can create direct effects on the fingers of the player to simulate a real tool.
There will also be refreshing features to communicate character movements: haptic feedback is used to simulate the effect of each step while sprinting, giving the player small shocks to feel the rhythm of the sprint, giving the impression that he is next to the characters state and share their feelings.
Haptics-enhanced audio
The audio has also been completely reworked with haptic feedback. Swarms of rats can be subtly sensed by the pad, through stereo vibrations. It’s like you can touch sounds. So are explosions and real-time cinematics; they will affect you physically thanks to the range of sensory input provided by the DualSense controller. The possibilities it offers bring a whole new dimension to the gameplay; you will be able to feel movements around you, like where the rats are coming from! The game will offer richer situations thanks to a heightened perception of the environment that will include not only direct interaction but also semi-distant elements.
DualSense speaker
Another innovation of the DualSense is the built-in speaker. We use it to play the sound of weapons when not using a headset, and provide audio feedback to the player when using the sling and crossbow. It delivers a much more dynamic experience, with the ability to hear an arrow or a rock in the air. It’s a third speaker that’s given to the player, allowing subtle feedback to be given on top of the rest of the soundtrack, independent of the music and ambient noise.
A Plague Story 2.0
In short, we have fully embraced all the new technical possibilities to offer a more open environment, with more light, more detail, more geometry, more texture. Oh, and more rats!
We hope you enjoy all these prospects and are ready to embark on Amicia and Hugo’s next journey on October 18! You can now pre-order the game on PS5.
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