Asobo Studio has always treated the world of A Plague Tale as more than a backdrop for gaming shenanigans, using light, colour, architecture and atmosphere to put you inside the heads of its characters. With Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, that visual language moves from 14th-century France to the sun-soaked landscapes of Greece, while also reaching much further back into history, with the game’s Trials of Minos taking players between the 14th century and the Minoan Bronze Age.
It’s a fascinating challenge for the art team to create believable, playable environments, particularly when so little of the Minoan world survives, and much of what we know comes from fragments, museum collections, and reconstructed sites. When discussing historical accuracy versus artistic interpretation, the New World team similarly talks about taking real-world inspiration and transforming it to fit a game's own visual identity.
The result is a world that takes some historical liberties, the team had to actually wind in some of real history's excesses to make the game believable, “We had to tone down that historical reality”, says art director Olivier Cannone, but is packed with the kind of details that make a setting feel lived-in, from pottery and bronze artefacts to colourful architecture, weathered materials and ancient frescoes.
Here, Asobo art director Olivier Cannone explains how the team evolved A Plague Tale’s distinctive visual identity, balanced historical research with artistic licence, and drew inspiration from everything from Gladiator and Troy to Assassin’s Creed Origins.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy releases 27 August 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Creative Bloq: How did you evolve A Plague Tale's visual style while keeping its identity intact?
Olivier Cannone: In the A Plague Tale games, we made extensive use of contrast between light and darkness as part of our visual language, always trying to align it with both the characters’ emotions and the gameplay. We alternated between colourful, cheerful, sunlit environments that felt safer and darker, foggy, muddy, horror-inspired settings that created a greater sense of unease.
Since a large part of the art team remained the same for Resonance, we wanted to preserve and reinforce this approach as much as possible. The colourful and sunny landscapes of Greece allowed us to push these contrasts even further. We also aimed to maintain the historical realism of our environments and architecture, at least as much as the game's setting and creative goals allowed.
CB: Which environment best defines Resonance, and why?
OC: For me, it is definitely the environments featured in the Trials of Minos. They are quite unique, and, most importantly, players experience them across two different time periods: the 14th century and the Minoan Bronze Age.
CB: How do you balance historical accuracy with artistic expression?
OC: It is often a difficult balance to maintain. On A Plague Tale, we already had a wealth of references and surviving examples of 14th-century French architecture. Many villages in France still have churches or buildings dating back to at least the 12th century, which made the process easier.
For Resonance, it was much more challenging. The Minoan civilisation lived during the Bronze Age in Greece, and very little of its architecture survives today, aside from a few reconstructed sites such as Knossos. As a result, we reused the well-documented elements of Minoan culture, including frescoes, columns, statues, and armour, and often combined them with elements from later periods of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. These are architectural features that the general public readily recognises as “ancient.”
This approach also allowed us to create believable coliseums and arenas, even though such structures did not exist during Minoan times. Furthermore, Minoan architecture can feel relatively austere by modern standards, so we introduced more elaborate architectural elements, later influences, and softer, more curved shapes to make the environments visually richer and more appealing.
The Minoan world we portray is therefore not perfectly historically accurate, but I believe it feels authentic, which was ultimately our goal for the game.
CB: How did the setting shape the game’s colour palette, materials and overall visual language?
OC: We adapted the visual style according to each time period. For the island during the Minoan era, we opted for something vibrant, pristine, and colourful, using rich materials such as marble and gold ornamentation. By contrast, the 14th-century environments, shaped by the passage of time, feature more desaturated architecture, with a strong emphasis on dust, wear, and decay. In these sections, most of the colour comes from the fauna and flora rather than the built environment.
Another interesting aspect is that statues and buildings were actually highly colourful during the Minoan period. However, we had to tone down that historical reality somewhat to avoid surprising modern players, who often have a more restrained, albeit inaccurate, perception of Antiquity and the Bronze Age.
CB: What details did the team add to make the world feel lived-in and authentic?
OC: Achieving authenticity required a very detailed approach to environmental design, because it is often the smallest details that make the biggest difference. Once the major architectural forms were established, it became essential to focus on everything within the player's immediate reach.
Many of these details existed in reality but have since been destroyed or lost at historical sites. To recreate them, we relied heavily on museum collections, studying pottery decorations, bronze artefacts, Minoan casts, and many other preserved objects. These sources helped us recover shapes, patterns, and practical uses that could then be reintegrated into our environments.
Museum collections were invaluable for this work. They preserve much of the richness of everyday life that has often disappeared from archaeological sites themselves, and they contribute enormously to making the world feel more authentic and alive.
CB: Were there any specific artworks, films or historical references that influenced the game’s visual direction?
OC: We looked for works that were closest to our lore and the atmosphere we wanted to create. Films such as Troy and Gladiator were important references because they depict colourful, believable arenas and ancient settings with a strong sense of authenticity.
Among video games, Assassin’s Creed Origins was a major source of inspiration. Ubisoft did an incredible amount of historical research for that title, and it remains an outstanding reference for the way it brings an ancient civilisation to life while balancing historical fidelity and engaging visual storytelling.
