RESONANT EVIL: Control Resonant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJTBoQhWaC0

I was a little worried that the change to melee meant that we were getting a combo-based style, but it looks like it's going to be something a button masher like me might be able to enjoy. Cool abilities, too.

That looks incredible.

I'm agnostic. Control is bloody brilliant, but it's got quite a specific vibe to it, and from what I've seen this is quite a different vibe so far

It is a different vibe, but I like it. I do hope that it's optimized well enough to run on my fairly modest PC, but Remedy has a bad track record with that. We'll see.

Control was reportedly a frame-rate mess on PS4 when it debuted, but they fixed it up and it ran fine on PS5, that's for sure.

They must've fixed thst cos it played fine for me

Played Control on an early model Xbox One, and longer play sessions would reliably freeze. Lots going on, so wasn't miffed, and was a good spur to take breaks.

I anticipate / look forward to / drool over another game this quickly.

September 24th! We'll see if that actually happens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAzxTMaA6j4

Looks great, and we get an actual look at Jesse -- and Dr. Darling!

ooh! I can confirm Control ran on the PS4 but less than optimally. I ended up restarting the game on PC once they made the aiming easier because I suck at console aiming, but play most PC games with a controller anyway because that’s just what I do now

can’t wait to see what role a certain ethereal janitor takes in this one

Gotta love how, six or whatever years into the PS5's lifespan, developers finally seem to be taking advantage of its power and delivering on its original promise.

Early previews have been positive!

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-steam-machine-handles-control-resonant-capably-but-the-promised-steam-deck-support-is-a-letdown

Deck support turns out to be overstated, so it looks like I'm getting this on PS5 instead.

I never clicked with Control, but I gotta say the new one looks pretty wild. I like that it seems to be melee combat rather than gun-based.

I started playing. Not sure how i'm going to beat the first boss

hope it lives up to the quality and atmospheric precedent Control set. I'm more looking forward to this than GTA VI

I'm getting very tempted, although I don't care about the story/lore and don't want to commit to a big open-world game just now. But the traversal, combat, and Escheresque environments look cool for sure.

Trying to remember from the first game, but believe the side quests area in the Office were unlocked mid-game, right? Curious if there's a similar area in this game. Have forgotten the name of the sections where you [meet / interact / learn from] the beings and noticed a similar area in the trailer. Cool to see that return. Will buy this soon.

Man. First boss is Souls level hard. I was finding it all a bit easy till now. Even with a bit of help from Youtube I'm getting so close but no cigar

First boss took me a lot of tries too. But you'll get there. Sort of a skill check moment.

Have you upgraded anything yet? Can't remember if that's available before the 1st boss. I clearly missed the "HOLD DOWN ON THE DIRECTIONAL PAD TO ENTER THE GAP TO UPGRADE YOUR SHIT" prompt and played a good chunk of the early game needlessly underpowered.

xp to Jordan, i liked but didn't love the first Control myself. never finished it. i wouldn't let that chase you off though, i'm having a lot more fun with this one.

No, the "Gap" thing is not obvious. Something flashes up very quickly, but i missed it

It's definitely a challenging game. Even grunts take a good few hits. And there are often large groups of them, mixed in with turret enemies and larger, even tankier ones

FYI, clear the Factory Resonant before the Park one. Relatively easy and you get a fire ability that helps you tear through the Park enemies. That upgrade’s kind of a game changer, dope.

I switched over to the Volatile Anomaly ability, the one that summons a little orb ally. Recommended, especially with some of the skill tree upgrades. Helps get guys in a falter state.

Once you get the “grappling hook” (Reach) and you’re zipping around doing executions in the more Arena type encounters, can feel a little Doom Eternal. Similar flow. Fun.

Definitely a lot easier as it goes on and you have more tools. Difficulty thus far feels front loaded.

What weapons you guys using? Been running the dual sword thing primary and hammer thing secondary mostly. Split Pivot combo finisher. Works pretty good.

I'm still really only at the start. Beat The Artist boss, with difficulty. I'm still getting used to some of the mechanics. For some reason the game is being a bit random as to when and how it offers Tutorial stuff. I seem to get Tutorial cards quite a bit after I'd already figured it out. Or several seem to appear all in one go while an NPC is talking to me, and it's distracting.

Not entirely sold on this game yet. I'm finding the combat encounters a bit frustrating so far. The enemies are verrrry tanky and there's always a whole bunch of them in mixed varieties. Sometimes my camera will just be showing a bunch of red and black lines. I won't know where I'm looking or where I'm being attacked from.

The story so far seems to suffer a little from GOW: Ragnarok style issues of not really having much of a central goal beyond Dylan "wanting to help". A lot of games, especially sequels sugger from this feeling of "Let's do it again, except bigger and more diffuse"

xp I'll second the recommendation to take out the Factory Resonant early. I'm going to have to loop back and take out the theater one because my dodge skills are a little rusty and that fight is all dodge-hit or dodge-dodge-dodge-hit. The entire section with the mold monsters is still a bit difficult for me, but the fire ability bumped the difficulty down several notches

DL, if you haven't taken out the first resonant, then you're not getting story elements because you're basically running around in the preamble to the main plot?

My PC seems to just about handle this on low settings, but I do get a lot of framerate drops in busy areas. I'm not very far along yet. It's interesting that people have such variable experiences with the first boss. I died a few times to it, but once I figured out its pattern it wasn't so bad IMO. I'm having much more trouble with the mobs around the overworld; it's very easy to leave yourself open to attacks when you're trying to keep track of like 6+ guys. I died several times to a mini boss/mob in the underground supply tunnel.

The first game is an all-time favorite for me, but I'm not as immediately enchanted with this. It seems to be the Remedy version of an overstuffed AAA open world, which is a style of game I don't really like very much, some exceptions aside. I'm already feeling overwhelmed by all the different paths/quests/upgrade trees. I don't know if I'm going to stick with it, which feels bad for a game I dropped $60 on!

I've heard enough disappointment that I'm heard going to wait a bit before getting this. I've seen reviews that are over the moon about the game and one video definitely made it look breathtaking, but also enough reviews that don't like the combat vs normal enemies.

I don’t see mention here of the Assist Mode in the gameplay options where you can adjust damage values, dodge windows, and more, without affecting achievements. Not bad for casual gamers who just want to experience the world.

I didn't even know those options were there!

I keep checking out videos and going back and forth about whether it's something I would enjoy spending time on. Intrigued by the combat although it looks like a lot of manic button pressing, maybe more like the Arkham Asylum games than anything else I've played? And I also tend to get overwhelmed by a big list of open quests.

(and I also can't bring myself to care about game stories or reading lore text anymore)

what are videogames if not manic button pressing

Slightly slower button pressing

Like, I mostly play games for the reflex-based adrenaline rush, but certain ones have such a high input pace that it's bad news for my hands and wrists if I play for too long (like those Batman games at times, Armored Core VI for sure, etc).

No one talks about developing a relaxed controller technique!

I'm just goofing, most of my favorite games are a more relaxed pace of button pressing

Yes, the Assist Mode is useful but... I'm not showing off here, I've completed all the Souls games. I shouldn't need it on. It sounds like a balancing issue really, which might get sorted later.

I think once I'm into it, this game will click. I can't remember how long it took me to start really getting to grips with Control. I know it wasn't immediate and I DID find it a bit hard to get my head round it.

The systems and upgrades on Resonant feel very arcane to me so far though. I'm not too sure I'm doing the right things to level-up. Neither am I entirely sure what causes certain level-ups to take place. I swear at certain points I've died a few times to an enemy mob and the game just goes "Ah, here, have an upgrade"!

Fighting enemies so far seems to mostly reward just battering them with a light attack so they can't retaliate, as opposed to trying out smarter tactics.

And like the original game, navigation is tricky. I was looking for a Warehouse area for a long long time, despite being right on the marker. Kept accidentally bumping into sidequests and getting even more lost. The lack of a Y axis on the map was part of the challenge in the first game. Not sure how it'll work in the open format style

I think I'm getting to the part where I'm getting some abilities that have synergy. I'd recommend bouncing between areas because not only do you level up the area, meaning they get progressively enemy-heavy, but the upgrades you'll want are spread across the different parts of the map

interesting variety of takes for sure re: combat and difficulty. assume build and upgrade tree variability plays a big part here. and the amount of tools you have in the chest. enemies feel a lot less tanky to me now than they did in the early game.

combat system finally felt "complete" to me in a sense when i had Reach, Perfect Dodge/Dodge Attacks (w/ some associated skill tree bonuses), and the fire Ability in the arsenal. and by that time i had a better handle of managing the power meter and using Abilities efficiently, which is important. with the fire and summon orb Abilities, grunts and heavies are often knocked into Falter state almost passively and the damage bonus you get from those Executions is pretty huge.

i think i was over-using the Secondary attack early on too. at least with the hammer, it seems best to use more strategically and not as a regular damage dealer. armor breaking, interrupting attacks, etc.

"I think I'm getting to the part where I'm getting some abilities that have synergy"

xp

yeah, precisely. basically what i'm getting at.

I was about to complain about not having reach yet, but apparently that's what you get from the quest I failed to complete because the mold guys were too annoying when I didn't have some mitigating weaponry. Time to dive back in and unlock that!

The animation on the perfect dodge is so good

yeah, love that. dopamine hit.

also one thing that took me way too long to realize. when comboing attacks, pressing the attack button as soon as your previous hit lands makes the next attack come out faster. don't know if that's the case for the all the weapons, but that's made my slow-ass hammer in the secondary slot more useful.

lol i might be completely wrong about that cuz i can't find anything confirming it online. might just "feel" that way for whatever reason.

that’s the comboing working, I think. this game is a lot more forgiving about keeping in the combo chain and lets you even do a dodge, but the one warning i’ve seen is not to attack while finishing your dodge because dodge-attack is its own move and breaks combo

Thinking you’re right, hopping on and experimenting with it tonight. Definitely a more nuanced and involved (and yes, arcane) combat system than it may initially appear.

Just unlocked an Ability that inflicts Infected. Which interacts with Burning. With more status effects yet to unlock that interact with each other.

I’m sure you can beat the game without getting too deep in the weeds with all this, but seems like there’s a lot to play with there if you want it. Curious to see what combat might look for the sweaty contingent playing on Nightmare, NG+++ difficulties.

https://aftermath.site/control-resonant-architecture-brutalism/

I haven't had tons of time to play this. But I did stay up till quite late on it last night. Decided to adjust my outgoing attacks from 100 to 150 and it's just enough to make some of the multi-enemy encounters a bit less tedious while still being challenging.

I also rejigged the controls so the shoulder buttons are the attack buttons (Souls-style), and I think I prefer it.

It's not entirely obvious which way I should be going or what quests to prioritise. I spend most of my time trying to navigate my way around the place and getting diverted/distracted/what?/where?/when?

I also made the 100 to 150 adjustment; still feels hard jeez.

I also prefer the square and triangle buttons being primary and secondary attack - to the point where I switched Elden Ring to that years ago. Reason why? That's how the controls in Zelda BotW and TotK are setup and I got very used to them.

There’s a real element of training your brain to better conceptualize three dimensions in these gravity flipped areas.

I’m starting to think I should try my childhood exercise of hanging my head upside down off the side of my bed and imagining the ceiling is the floor before I take another swing at some of the later visits to the underpass

OH MY GOD. All the way through this game I've been wondering why I can't see a damn thing.

Even with the brightness settings turned up, I'll be working through pitch black corridors with matey commenting on things he's noticing and all I can see are black shapes, wishing I had some sort of torch or something.

Eventually I followed some Google advice and switched from HDR to SDR and WOW! It's like having the lights switched on. Thank goodness, but all the more WHY?!

I'm still playing this. So far it's the type of game I enjoy while I'm playing it, but have difficulty getting excited about picking it up.

I went all the way out to the Excursion Zone, fought through a lot of bland brutalist rooms fighting really quite samey enemy swarms, found Dr Arish, and now I'm just supposed to go back? No boss, no nothing, just a dead end and instructions to turn around? Or is something coming later? Don't tell me.

I think what I'm missing is the shock of the new. I know I'm still near the start, but so far very little of what's happened is unfamiliar after the first game, or after other city-based open worlds. I'm sure that will all change, but I have to admit I'm finding the pace a bit strange.

Like, you get given all these abilities and upgrades right near the start, and then it takes ages for anything else significant to come along. I also can't figure out how the upgrades and abilities work - it seems a bit arbitrary, just based on killing enemies or entering new spaces.

As others have said, killing enemy swarms isn't especially challenging even though I die quite frequently. It more feels down to luck and not getting trapped by too many of them at a time.

I'm a bit further along than you at this point, and I find it fun but a step down from the level of creativity and immersion of the first game. There's still elements of that surrealism and weirdness, especially in how you can navigate the environment (gravity ability is the big one I just got).

It's fun enough to play, especially with some of the challenge reduced, to keep going though. I'll probably play this one out over the next couple months, but I'll readily admit it's not quite as "awesome and amazing" as I was hoping for out of the gate.

While it's got some souls-like elements with combat, it's ultimately the same type of faux "open world" Metroidvania many other games are, including the original - it just wasn't so "open world"-like since it "indoors", but it's ultimately the same game but with more space to move around.

I have wondered if a 2nd update further nerfed the game, as it seemingly has gotten easier more recently and no boss I've faced was as challenging as the first one

my enthusiasm has also cooled on this a bit. level design still continually impressive, but the left-field "wow" moments Remedy is known for are kinda too few and far between here.

also combat engagements don't seem to incentivize exploring the nuances of the system. feel like there was some challenge earlier on, but i've been just as capable sloppily button mashing for the last several hours.

"I have wondered if a 2nd update further nerfed the game"

i have my suspicions about this as well. with all the "enemies are too spongey" criticisms the game got on release, i imagine the combat system was designed with an expectation the player would more fully explore and take advantage of the synergistic status effects and combinations available. and they overcorrected with their softening of enemies with these patches.

some miscalculation of design any which way.

still a solid game fwiw, just can see a better one in there and that's a bit frustrating.

I also wish devs would sort out this problem endemic in almost all games where the character speaks their thoughts out loud, that they wouldn't just speak them as soon as they walk into the room. Let me see what's going on before telling me!

finished the main plot. if the dlc for this game are as good as the control dlc, this is going to cruise to my top tier favorites. main game is excellent but the weird control dlc bits pushed it over the top

main complaint is that the skill tree references a skill you don’t get until pretty late game, if not end of game, for most of the upper echelon. I think they may have pushed a certain battle too far back in the game and didn’t adjust the skills accordingly

other gripe would be that the single
merchant is locked to your completion level in the area, and that level isn’t immediately obvious from the map