Prequel, sequel, or neither?

It is a prequel — the third A Plague Tale Legacy game released and the first one chronologically. That combination is why the question keeps getting asked, so here is the whole shape of it on one page.

Prequel or sequel?

Prequel. It is the third game released and the first chronologically.

Is it a DLC?

No. A standalone game with its own store page, price and achievement list.

Do I need to play the others?

No. It is set before both and follows a different lead.

Is Amicia in it?

The game follows Sophia. Amicia and Hugo's story is the two earlier games.

The series in story order

Read top to bottom and you are reading the fiction in order. Read the release years and you are reading it backwards — the newest game is the earliest story.

  1. 1334

    Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy

    released 2026this one

    Sophia, a smuggler, on Crete

    The newest game and the earliest story. Fifteen years before Requiem, it follows the character who joined Amicia and Hugo partway through that game — this is where she came from.

  2. 1348–49

    A Plague Tale: Innocence

    released 2019

    Amicia and Hugo de Rune, in France

    The first game. Two children run from the Inquisition through a France collapsing under plague, and the rat swarms that became the series' signature.

  3. shortly after Innocence

    A Plague Tale: Requiem

    released 2022

    Amicia and Hugo, heading south

    The direct sequel, and where Sophia first appears. Its post-credits scene teased what came next — which turned out to be a look backwards rather than forwards.

Sophia walks as a small silhouette down an enormous dark colonnaded hall lit by shafts of light through the mist
For a series that made its name on rat swarms, this one spends a lot of its time being quiet.

Why go backwards at all

Requiem’s post-credits scene teased that something was coming. What arrived was a prequel, and the studio has been open about the reason: after seven years on the same characters they wanted a change of air.

That is also why this one can be somebody’s first Plague Tale. Nothing in it depends on knowing how the de Rune story ends, because the de Rune story has not started yet.

What actually carries over

Three threads, and only one of them is a plot point.

The Macula
The affliction at the centre of every game in the series. Resonance is built on the Prima Macula's ancient history, and the publisher describes it as a brand new manifestation of the same ancient evil.
Sophia
Introduced in Requiem as an ally to Amicia and Hugo. Resonance is her backstory, which is why it can be a prequel without touching the de Rune children at all.
Olivier Derivière
The composer returns from both Innocence and Requiem, so the series' most recognisable thread is the one you hear rather than the one you play.

Where to start

If you areStart with
New to the seriesEither. Resonance asks nothing of you, and Innocence is where the rats and the reputation come from.
Played Requiem, want more of itAdjust first. This is a different lead, a different setting and a combat-forward design — the parry page covers how far it moves.
Here for the rat swarmsRead are there rats before you buy.
Sets up Sophia, Crete and the two timelines without spoiling where it goes.

Where to go next