The long-awaited sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence is finally here and it’s back in a big way!

There’s lots more to think about this time with Souvenirs to find, flowers and feathers for Hugo, and more things to upgrade and develop.

If you’re feeling a bit lost, here’s a few things to help you get a start!

If you want to know what we thought of A Plague Tale: Requiem, check out our impressions here

What are Souvenirs?

Think of them as moments that happen live within the game! There will be a few occasions where you can go slightly off the beaten track and do something that doesn’t outright follow the story.

The first one can be found in Chapter 2 where Amicia and Hugo visit a market and a vendor is offering them to play a game. Amicia will have to throw pots at stacked cubes and try to knock down as many as possible. Once the game is over, a Souvenir is added to your codex which you can replay at any time.

There are 21 to find in total and you can see how many are in any given chapter via the Chapter Select screen on the main menu. If you miss one, don’t worry as you can replay any previously played chapter. You can even break it down by scene making it even easier to find what you’re looking for!

What is in Hugo’s Herbarium and Collection?

So, remember in the first game where you collected flowers for Hugo? Well, you still do that, at least to start with, until he decides that he actually prefers feathers.

So initially you’ll be looking for flowers, but eventually you’ll need to try and scout around carefully looking for bird’s nests. The best part is, once you’ve picked up and found anything in Hugo’s collection, you can equip and wear it at any point.

Similar to the Souvenirs, you can see how many are in a chapter via the select screen and revisit to play them at any point. Handy!

Ok, so how should I play?

There’s a few things to think about this time. If you’re going out and just killing guards without trying to be stealthy, you’re going to be rapidly adding points to your aggression skill. Each time you reach a certain threshold, you unlock a new passive skill.

There’s also passive skills to be earned by being stealthy or opportunistic. And ultimately it boils down to the kind of player you are. For me, I found I was earning stealth points naturally by moving from one set of tall grass to another, generally avoiding guards. But I was also gradually earning points in the other fields as well.

While some perks are definitely handy to have, none of them are absolutely essential to own in order to beat the game. That said, I would definitely try to get hold of Light Footstep, Nimbleness, Grappler, Recovery and possibly Vital Points as the quicker and quieter you are later in the game, the better.

At certain points in the game you are forced to kill anyway, despite Lucas and others judging your actions as you go, so it’s best to just do things your way. At least the first time around.

Here’s all the passive skills you can unlock in their respective categories, which may help you’d decide what’s the best route to focus on.

Prudence

Light Footstep – Amicia makes less noise when moving, and so is less noticeable by enemies nearby
Nimbleness – Thanks to a better sense of balance, Amicia moves faster when crouching
Throwing Stance – Amicia improves her body positioning to throw items farther
Armour Piercer – Amicia can backstab armoured enemies with a knife as she can now spot their weak points.

Aggressive

Grappler – Being conscious of her surroundings, Amicia can push enemies into fire or rats when she attacks in melee, killing them instantly
Recovery – Keeping her calm when she is attacked, Amicia recovers faster from blows
Vital Points – Knowing their vital points, Amicia strangles enemies with her sling faster and more quietly
Quick Fingers – Being more dexterous, Amicia reloads and uses her weapons much faster

Opportunism

Alchemy Knowledge – Thanks to a better knowledge of alchemy, Amicia crafts alchemical ammo faster
Nothing Lost – Optimizing her alchemical craft, Amicia has a chance to save one resource she uses when she crafts alchemical ammo
Material division – Being more meticulous, Amicia obtains pieces when she crafts alchemical ammo
Pure product – Perfecting her art, Amicia crafts one more alchemical ammo with the same resources

What should I upgrade?

Again, this is a bit of personal choice but one you will need to be a bit more selective with considering there is only a small amount of tools to find.

If you are an aggressive player, for instance, things like Unstable Reaction could be a gods-end for you, taking out multiple foes at once but stealthy players may prefer to focus on bag space.

Also, you need to bare in mind you get the crossbow a bit later in the game, so it might be worth saving your tools until then.

For me, I’d at least recommend Softened Cords, upgrading your sling to make less noise, especially if you go by what I said above. I’m also not sure Traveller tools is worth the investment as there’s plenty of workbenches around. But here’s all the upgrade paths broken down, so you can make some choices at a glance.

Sling

Softened Cords – By softening the cords, Amicia makes less noise when she uses the sling (1 tool, 40 Materials)
Double Cradle – By adding a second cradle to the sling, Amicia can shoot a second time before reloading (2 tools, 55 materials)
Elongated cords –By extending the cords, rocks shot with the sling are more powerful and stun enemies for longer (3 tools, 90 materials)

Crossbow

Flexible Limb – Choosing a softer metal for the limb of the crossbow will enable Amicia to reload it much faster (1 tool, 40 materials)
Bigger quiver – With a larger quiver, Amicia can carry additional bolts (2 tools, 55 materials)
Reinforced bolts – By reinforcing the crossbow bolts, Amicia can recover them from enemies corpses (3 tools, 80 materials)

Alchemy

Hidden pockets – Sewing new pockets on her gear will help Amicia carry additional alchemical ammo (1 tool, 40 materials)
Strong fire – Amicia improves the alchemical ammo which enables her to kill enemies by throwing a jar combined with an Ignifier (2 tools, 65 materials)
Unstable Reaction – Amicia improves the alchemical ammo to make Odoris explode on contact with fire, killing unarmoured enemies (3 tools, 80 materials)

Gear

Ringed Belt – A new ring on her belt will help Amicia carry an additional jar (1 tool, 40 materials)
Bottomless Bag – Amicia can carry additional alchemical resources thanks to a new pocket on her bag (2 tools, 60 materials)
Belt cases – Adding cases to her belt will help Amicia carry additional knives and additional Pyrites (3 tools, 85 materials)

Instruments

Recycling Tool – A recycling tool is helpful for breaking jars, knife, Pyrites and bolts into pieces if Amicia has no more room (1 tool, 40 materials)
Traveller tools – With traveller tools, Amicia can upgrade her equipment anywhere without using a workbench. (2 tools, 55 materials)
Unbreakable Tool – Amicia can use an unbreakable tool to upgrade her equipment without tool cost (3 tools, 90 materials)

Should I use knives on enemies?

My personal advice is avoid this unless it’s absolutely necessary! Knives can also be used to open some hidden workbench areas and these almost always give you a tool and a bunch of materials. Knives are pretty scarce to find so keeping one to hand is always worth it.

Sometimes it might be a case of life and death and you really don’t want to run through a checkpoint again, but it’s worth considering what you’re missing out on by doing that.

What should I do about the big armoured enemies?

If avoiding them isn’t an option, then the trick is to find a weakness in their armor. No doubt these are trickier to kill than the henchmen with their heads exposed, but when exposed, they can go down just as fast.

The fellows with the fire maces can be blinded with some tar thrown at them to cause a massive fireball. Or keep an eye out for environmental elements that can help. If there’s a big bag of saltpeter near an enemy, throw a stone at it and it’ll send a big gust of salt into enemy eyes.

When they’re distracted, either sneak behind them or attack from the front and slingshot the weak point. When done, you can send an arrow through them or even burn them and they’ll go right down no trouble.

Was this helpful? Anything else you particularly need help with? Send us a message below.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is now available on Xbox Game Pass, PC, and PlayStation

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