Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy launches today, August 27, on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S — day one on Game Pass — and the review embargo has lifted on the most divisive entry Asobo Studio has ever shipped. The prequel currently sits at 79 on Metacritic (85 on OpenCritic), behind both Requiem (82) and Innocence (81), and the spread of scores tells the real story: this is a game reviewers either love as a bold action-adventure pivot or bounce off as a shallow, misery-drenched departure from the series' stealth roots.
Here's where every major outlet landed, and what the split actually means for your first session.
The Fans: A Genuine Reinvention
The strongest reviews argue the switch from rats-and-stealth to treasure-hunting combat was overdue. Game Informer's Kyle Hilliard gave it 8.5/10, praising protagonist Sophia — "strong, smart, and like many of the pirates in her community, I questioned why she wasn't already in charge" — and calling the performances excellent in both dramatic and quiet moments. Metro awarded 8/10 and reported a flawless technical run: no crashes, no glitches across a 17-hour playthrough, with combat that "gets more interesting with the addition of special moves and more enemies." TheXboxHub went even higher at 4.5/5, calling it "a spellbinding adventure that successfully mixes A Plague Tale and its universe with Greek mythology," despite combat that "does outstay its welcome a little."
The Skeptics: Shallow Combat, Excessive Grimness
The other side is sharp. IGN's Travis Northup gave 6/10, arguing the shift from stealth to open combat "isn't the most seamless transition — not exactly bad, but consistently shallow and sometimes sloppy," with enemies offering just "two or three different attacks to learn." Eurogamer's Chris Schilling landed at 3/5 with different complaints: the Tomb Raider-style exploration worked, but the storytelling "ladles on the trauma in great heaping portions," a "full-on descent into abject misery." Polygon's Willa Rowe was similarly middling — "deeply boring" action paired with world design and performances strong enough to recommend it as an Uncharted-style adventure, just not a Plague Tale one.
What the Split Means for You
The consensus reading: if you're coming for more of Amicia and Hugo's slow-burn stealth, this isn't it — expect sword combat, light-beam puzzles, and a Minoan Minotaur retelling instead. If you're happy with a polished action-adventure in the Tomb Raider mold with a superb voice cast (Anna Demetriou's Sophia is singled out everywhere), you'll likely land with the 8s.
Game Pass is the deciding factor for most people: at zero additional cost, this is an easy weekend pick-up regardless of the score wars. On the other hand, if you're paying the $49.99 PC / £49.99 console price, the IGN and Eurogamer takes carry more weight — this is a game whose value hinges on whether the combat clicks with you. Our pre-order breakdown of the editions and Heritage Pack bonus still applies, and for the full picture of how the franchise's fans arrived here, the preview roundup from yesterday tracks how the critical conversation shifted between previews and final reviews.
What to Watch
The interesting number to track is OpenCritic's 85 vs Metacritic's 79 — as harsher reviews get ingested, the gap will narrow. For now, Game Pass subscribers get the cheapest possible answer to whether Asobo's reinvention works, and everyone else gets a genuinely interesting debate about whether a franchise's identity should be allowed to change this much.
