How Asobo Studio Built Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy From the Ground Up
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Asobo Studio reveals how they built the melee combat system for Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy from scratch by drawing inspiration from games like Sifu and Sekiro.
When Asobo Studio set out to build Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, the team faced a unique creative hurdle. They had to design a full melee combat system without any prior experience in the genre. According to lead level designer Valrian Robert in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, nobody at the studio had ever shipped a combat game before. To pull it off, the developers looked outward for inspiration, studying the mechanical flow of action titles like Ghost of Tsushima, Sekiro, and Sifu to find their own distinct style.
That combat design naturally evolved alongside the backstory of the protagonist, Sophia. Long before her appearance as an established pirate in A Plague Tale: Requiem, a younger Sophia ran with a plunderer gang. Since heavily armored soldiers outmatched her physical size, the developers leaned into speed, environmental hazards, and dirty tricks. Players can use grappling hooks to pull enemies off balance, smash bottles over heads, or kick foes off high ledges. The influence from Sifu shines brightly in these improvised, scrappy encounters.
Finding the right difficulty balance proved to be another major hurdle during development. The studio initially aimed for brutal combat, but the early builds proved punishingly difficult and failed to gel with the overall experience. Asobo had to carefully recalibrate the challenge since many loyal fans of the franchise were coming from a stealth background rather than demanding action games. With a low health pool that leaves room for only a few hits, players must master parries and environmental improvisation to survive, proving that fresh perspectives can sometimes yield the most creative gameplay solutions.
Tags: Asobo Studio, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, Action Games, PC Gaming, Console Gaming
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun