Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy – Blood Ties Walkthrough (Chapter 1)
Every objective, both collectibles, and the combat controls you need to clear the opening chapter and unlock the Blood Ties achievement.
Every objective, both collectibles, and the combat controls you need to clear the opening chapter and unlock the Blood Ties achievement.
by Pallav Pathak
Blood Ties is the opening chapter of Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy and works as the game’s combat tutorial. It introduces Sophia, jumps between her childhood in a convent and her later life with her father Alec’s plunderer crew, and teaches the core fighting skills you rely on for the rest of the story. The chapter is linear, so the main risk is missing its one artefact.
Quick answer: Follow the fixed path through each objective, and during Loot the Bodies grab the Handled Cross under the white tree branch before searching the two corpses. Finishing the final mercenary fight ends the chapter and unlocks the Blood Ties achievement.
Image credit: Focus Entertainment
Blood Ties objectives in order
The chapter runs across four sub-chapters: A New Home, Faro’s Cabin, The Search for the Key, and The Fighting Pit. Here is the full objective sequence so you always know what comes next.
Step
Objective
1
Meet with Dad on the docks
2
Train with Ezra
3
Beat Ezra to the Pit
4
Look around Faro’s cabin, then go back to bed
5
Train with Faro
6
Show what you’ve learned
7
Loot the bodies
8
Survive the ambush
9
Train with Irene
10
Beat the mercenary and survive the attack
Image credit: Focus Entertainment / Trophygamers
Combat controls you learn here
Every fight in the chapter drills one new mechanic. The controls below are for a PS5 controller.
Action
Input
Attack
Square
Heavy / critical attack
Hold Square
Sprint
Hold R2
Vault / jump
X
Crouch
Circle
Block
Hold L1
Parry
L1 just before an attack lands
Dodge
Circle
Kick
Triangle
Interact / loot
R3
Tip: Parrying repeatedly destabilises an enemy and opens a safe window to strike. Kicking with Triangle breaks a defensive stance so you can follow up.
Once you take control of young Sophia in the Plunderer’s Den, walk straight ahead, take the right at the fork, and go up the stairs. At the end of the wooden platform, turn right and push through the crowd until Ezra stops you.
Go left, vault through the next window with X, and Ezra catches you in the room beyond. Crouch with Circle to slip through the gap, then keep moving to the Pit. Here you learn Alec did not return from the expedition, and Sophia has a vision before waking in Faro’s cabin.
Push the left stick up to get out of bed. Walk into the next room and interact with each R3 object. That includes the drawers on the left, the sketchbook on Faro’s desk at the back, the figurine on the desk to the right, and the table Faro is leaning over.
Exploring everything is optional and does not affect progress. Once the cutscene finishes and you are done looking around, return to bed to advance time.
The next morning you train with Faro and learn to block by holding L1. Complete the dummy fights until a cutscene skips ahead and Sophia is now an adult, still sparring with Faro and Ezra.
In the following bout you are taught to parry. Time L1 just as an attack lands, and parry the sparring partner enough times to destabilise him. When Irene appears, finish the full fight by parrying, striking, and repeating until the cutscene rolls.
Image credit: Focus Entertainment
Loot the bodies and survive the ambush
This sub-chapter, The Search for the Key, drops Sophia into a desert village with Irene’s crew, searching corpses for a mysterious key. Grab the chapter’s only artefact here before you do anything else.
Walk forward into the courtyard where the bodies lie. Pick up the Handled Cross from the middle of the area, under the white tree branch, before looting anything.
Fight off the attackers using what you have learned. Parry until each enemy is destabilised, then attack, and use Triangle to kick and stun them. Sophia has a brief flashback before Irene steps in to help.
Irene decides Sophia needs more practice and hands her a dagger to use alongside the sword. The training covers heavy hits, so hold Square for critical damage. Parry a yellow attack, then follow it with a heavy strike.
After the next cutscene you are back in the training ring facing a mercenary. Kick with Triangle to break his defensive posture, then attack. Defeat him once to move on.
The mercenary is not finished. His allies enter the arena and you must fight them all at once. Keep parrying, kicking, and striking until every attacker is down.
Clearing that final group ends Blood Ties. The chapter’s completion cutscene plays and the Blood Ties achievement unlocks, which confirms you finished Chapter 1. Both collectibles are non-missable and can be picked up later through chapter select if you skipped either.
Image credit: Focus Entertainment / Trophygamers
Blood Ties collectibles
Collectible
Type
How to get it
Rusty Sword
Blade 1
Unlocks automatically through your early training; nothing to search for
Relic of the Present: Handled Cross
Artefact 1
Under the white tree branch in the courtyard during Loot the Bodies; grab it before searching the corpses
With Blood Ties complete and both pickups in hand, the story moves into Chapter 2 Felons, where the tutorials give way to Sophia’s real journey.
