The plague is devouring southern France, rats in their thousands, and Amicia ready for anything for her little brother.

No direct preference vote here, so the per criterion detail does the talking. And it talks loud. A Plague Tale: Requiem dominates absolutely everywhere. Attachment to the characters, fun, the wish to rediscover it, the desert island pick, controller feel, art style, soundtrack: all of it, no exception, clears 99% of titles. A clean sheet this even is not something you see every day. The only blind spot is precisely that missing raw preference: no way to tell whether it sparks the same instinctive love as others.

Next to other narrative action and stealth games, it crafts its staging and dramatic intensity further than most. And it is the bond between Amicia and Hugo that holds the whole thing up.

So, who is it for? For you if you want a dramatic, polished, tense adventure from the first chapter to the last. Much less if you steer clear of dark stories or tension that never lets go.