A Plague Tale: Requiem is one of the most emotionally powerful games in recent memory. It gave us unforgettable characters, haunting visuals, and the ending was tragic. But it left many of us unsatisfied because the ending did not make sense narratively and because there was potential for so much more. And because we loved Hugo, we fought hard for his life throughout two games. Being literally forced to give up the fight entirely, felt unnatural. Especially as Amicia herself either had not shown any signs of giving up and giving up did not fit her character, it was forced on her too. Nraative logic and character logic was abandoned in favor of symbolism and a medieval tragedy.

We also felt that completely denying even the possibility to experience a happy ending was not the right way to go especially in a fantasy story like this. And especially in a video game format which is the only medium that provides a chance to offer agency in the narrative experience, to offer the player a way to shape a story that is the most powerful, natural and satisfying for them personally.

We’re asking Asobo Studio to release an Enhanced Edition of A Plague Tale: Requiem that includes a hidden alternate ending—one that players can unlock only through persistent, determined action during the game’s final scenes.

Imagine something like this:

- If the player chooses to keep fighting the rat men over and over—ignoring the voice urging surrender—it is revealed that the voice is not Hugo, but the Macula trying to manipulate Amicia into giving up her efforts to destroy or contain it again. It would fit the way Hugo's voice is speaking to her during her fight in a far too mature way for a 5-year old, and fit the Macula's motivation to keep existing in Hugo.

- Through enough perseverance, Amicia breaks through. Hugo slowly reclaims his mind when he realises Amicia hasn't died and is still doing everything and anything for him, encouraging hope. The Macula is repelled/contained again. Hugo is saved, and the siblings get to go heal and be at peace together at their mother's house on the mountains. This would not be overly happy as the Macula would still be there in his blood but now they'd finally have the chance for hope and peace they were looking for.

- This alternate ending would be emotionally challenging to reach, and would not replace the original ending—only coexist with it as a test of love and resolve, and highlighting the story's themes of light and hope as well as the sibling bond that beat back the Macula many times earlier in both games.

We believe this addition would not cheapen the story—it would enhance it. It would respect the existing narrative and lore and characters while rewarding players who formed a profound emotional bond with Hugo and refused to give up on him.

Or if an Enhanced Edition would not seem like the way to go, make this story a trilogy. Use the lore and characters to their full potential. Provide an alternate happy ending choice similar to that proposal at its end. Because your lore combined with the way Requiem's final scenes as well as the epilogue were portrayed, both in narrative and vidually, did leave it open to interpretation whether Hugo actually died or not. You left yourself a pperfect chance to have Hugo be alive and have him and Amicia meet again down the line and have a happy ending.

- You never showed Hugo's death or body.

- Amicia was visiting a mountaintop Memorial, not a grave. It was at the end of a route a body could not be carried to. That is, she never recovered a body.

- The way Hugo's voice spoke to her during the rat men fight was too mature for a 5-year old's subconscious. The way Hugo moved when Amicia was allowed to see him was not natural and it did not match the light tone of the voice. He looked and moved like a tired, miserable puppet operated by some invisible force.

- You've showed the Macula is deceptive in nature and can create untrue visions in an attempt to get people to do something, like Hugo's island dream.

- Lucas said "all natural laws stop here" at the edge of the Nebula where Hugo's supposed death took place.

- Hugo's killing happened from far away and through a blurry wavy barrier like an illusion created by the Macula to trick Amicia into thinking Hugo is no more, as in to stop her quest of destroying it.

- The Sun didn't get devoured even if Hugo didn't die because even though this is clearly a fantasy world with supernatural powers, maybe you never meant it to be literally physical death of the star but a metaphor? As he story takes place in the 1300s when the Sun, eclipses, plagues, natural catastrophies, failed crops due to long overcast skies, and such were about religion and devine punishment. Death of the Sun makes much more sense as that, and as Hugo's descend into darkness. Especially among the story's themes of lost innocence and light and the fight to save it and hope.

- The epilogue takes place only one year since the moment she thinks she killed Hugo. Amicia is setting out to another Macula related quest which can naturally and logically lead her to reuniting with Hugo.

- You showed in many ways that Hugo and Amicia's shared bond is stronger than the Macula's hold on Hugo. This could well be enough to pull the child slowly back to the light even from beyond the Third Threshold. Not enough to expel the Macula completely but to get them back to executing their plan of containing it with lifestyle and emotional regulation and find peace in a home they deserve. As in a happy ending, but not free of challenges and not all sunshine and rainbows.

A wonderful little child like Hugo having to be a monster for 1+ year and then getting pulled back to the light by the strength of a sibling bond and family love, having changed but still retaining his core goodness and having to live with his past and learn to manaege his condition instead of pursuing a cure and normalcy...Try to live as long as possible to study it and make it easier for the next Carrier and Protector to defeat it for good...Amicia's arc could be learning to tame her flame, to fight and protect in a healthier and more defensive way. All this is potential for a compelling, beuatiful story and gameplay.

- Something like that would allow the story and characters to have an arc, to live up to their full potential and have a somewhat happy ending. To get back to its roots and its heart which was the ultimate strength of family and sibling bond, instead of being about saving the world. To be more than a Medieval Tragedy.

Asobo, we treasure the story you’ve told, it was exciting and moving. And we respect it if you don't want to use its full potential through a continuation like this proposal, and that you didn't want to offer only a happy ending in the first place. But please, give us at least the chance to choose our narrative path through an alternate ending, to choose hope and peace. After all this is a fantastical story in a fantasy world, not a story about the real world history or set in the real world.