The reveal trailer for Control Resonant, the sequel to IGN’s 2019 Game of the Year, made a few things clear right off the bat. First, we wouldn’t be playing as Jesse Faden anymore, but rather her brother, Dylan. Second, we’d no longer be confined to the Brutalist architecture of The Oldest House. Instead, we’d be trying to navigate our way through a Manhattan that had literally folded up on itself, Inception-style, as a result of The Hiss getting out. And third, Dylan isn’t wielding Jesse’s badass transforming Service Weapon, or even one similar to it. Instead, he’s got his own badass transforming weapon: the Aberrant, a massive hammer that brings combat into much closer quarters than before.
Remedy showed off a bit of proper gameplay at Sony’s recent State of Play, but I’ve had the pleasure since then of getting an extended hands-off look at more gameplay, along with learning more information from the lead gameplay designer and the creative director. What I came away with surprised me: I adored the first Control, but early indications are that I might like Resonant even more. Why? It’s not just that it’s markedly different and not just a same-y sequel, but it’s that its melee combat might scratch my Ninja Gaiden-style itch. “This is not a soulslike,” said lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov. “It’s a push-forward, action-driven, aggressive-playstyle action game. The player is very much in charge and not [simply] reacting. The main driver of combat is you.” Tell me more, Remedy.
Buildcrafting
Remedy is calling Control Resonant an action-RPG, and while the studio confirmed there won’t be a ton of gear or inventory management – “It’s not a survival game, it’s an action game,” said creative director Mikael Kasurinen – the team did show off some of its systemic depth. For one, there are Talents, which Remedy says are “the glue that ties your weapons and combat abilities together.” One such example is Perfect Dodge, which grants you a temporary boost to your next attack if you, as the name implies, time your dodge perfectly. Others include Extended Dash (self explanatory), Backstab Damage, and Sustained Assault. Remedy also made it clear that you can’t unlock everything in a single playthrough.
You’ll also have ample opportunity to customize your build in The Gap, which functions similar to Alan Wake 2’s Mind Place. Here you can test out various abilities, earned by defeating Resonants. The Gap also allows you to tweak your Aberrant, including the primary forms, secondary forms, and combo enders. A big goal is giving players more choice with their gameplay style. Like, for instance, if you’d prefer to tailor your build to focus on turning enemies to fight on your side. Lots of stats are also exposed in The Gap if you want to min/max your build.
Less meaningful customization – meaning, the cosmetic kind rather than the gameplay kind – happens in FBC field offices. Remedy describes these as the heart of FBC activity, saying they’ll evolve over time as the Hiss crisis overtaking Manhattan deepens. As everyone there is trying to figure out how to deal with the disaster out the window, you can customize your outfit.
City Life
Out in Manhattan, which is split into several districts, aims to be visually distinct from zone to zone. Remedy wants to have more visual variety across the world. The team also knows that the map was frustrating in the first game, and so they showed off a work-in-progress version of it that clearly delineates each zone and seemed easy enough to follow along with.
But what of the markers on that map? You’ll have your choice of two major categories of quests at any given time: Dylan’s Journey (i.e. the golden path) and World Quests (aka sidequests). In addition, there are smaller action bits and tiny puzzles, seemingly akin to unmarked micro-gameplay moments. Through these you can discover both secrets and lore. “We want the world to be some place you want to return to,” Kasurinen said. In one early mission I got a brief look at, Dylan enters the Central district office of Zoe de Vera, a new character to Control who speaks to Dylan through his earpiece throughout the campaign. She also assigns him missions. She’s often found listening to music, and Remedy promises that music will play a big part in Resonant’s world-building.
A clip of a conversation between Dylan and Zoe showcased the new dialogue system, which now not only very welcomingly gives you multiple choices for every answer, but also lets you carry out these conversations while moving. Remedy’s emphasis on player-initiated action even extends to not cementing you in place during dialogue sequences, which I can appreciate. Oh, and on this note, Remedy said that while Dylan’s dialogue choices are there to give you a bit more agency over character interactions, they’re not going to meaningfully alter the story. In other words, Remedy confirmed, there won’t be multiple endings to Resonant’s story.
Fast Action
As Control Resonant is only at its alpha stage of development, I wasn’t yet able to see a continuous, uninterrupted section of gameplay. Instead, I got a look at a number of 1-2 minute gameplay clips. But once Remedy broke out the action, my eyes opened wider. Control’s melee-oriented sequel is not only faster-paced than its predecessor, it’s faster-paced than I was expecting. I was mentally prepared for a “Souls lite” experience – something akin to the Star Wars Jedi games from Respawn.
But no, in the action I saw, it’s got some lightning in its veins. I won’t call it Ninja Gaiden fast, but it’s in the Devil May Cry/Bayonetta neighborhood, for sure. Dylan was constantly jumping up, floating, attacking, dodging, strafing, performing finishing moves, and rinsing and repeating in rapid succession. And, I should add, all of this was happening with a lot of enemies surrounding Dylan at once. These are clearly not going to be one-on-one fights, which I admit is what I was expecting based on the gameplay clips teased at the end of the debut trailer.
Oh, and speaking of fights, I also got a slightly less brief look at the Dancer Resonant fight very briefly featured at the end of the State of Play gameplay trailer. It’s not enough to make any judgments on just yet – especially not without getting to play them for myself – but they’ve certainly got the potential to be memorable moments in the campaign.
Extra Info
In a Q&A session after the gameplay presentation, I learned a bit more about what Remedy has planned for this sequel. The team did preface the conversation by saying that they’d talk more about narrative and characters later in the year, closer to Resonant’s release, but for now, there are nevertheless some relevant new details to share.
First, on the technical side, Remedy has tuned its in-house game engine Northlight to enhance draw distance and support more enemies on screen at once. They also want to make sure they’re hitting a solid 60fps on all platforms.
Second, will enemies respawn? Mohov replied, “To a degree, yes, but there’s more nuance.” Apparently that nuance ties to the narrative that Remedy isn’t quite ready to dive into yet.
Next, is a fully range-based build possible? Mohov said, “The main weapon is the Aberrant and that’s Dylan’s preferred method of combat. It’s never going to be ranged-only.”
Interestingly, Kasurinen said, “Music plays a huge part. Zoe’s definitely in the middle of that, and it’s part of how they bond. We don’t want music to just be a thing you listen to. It becomes part of the overall flow. The music is part of that experience, and that’s hugely important to us, and we want to find our own way of doing it.”
As for influences on Resonant, Kasurinen acknowledged Neon Genesis Evangelion and, for the dialogue system, one of my favorite walking simulators. “Firewatch was a big inspiration for this,” he said.
Finally, as expected, you certainly do not need to have played the first Control – or the Remedy Connected Universe Alan Wake games – to enjoy the story or characters of Resonant.
How Long Must We Wait?
And with that, my very impressive demo of Control Resonant ended, and I was left wondering if there’s a chance we might be playing this sequel sooner rather than later. No, Remedy isn’t ready to reveal a release date just yet, and I’d still wager it’s going to ship in the second half of the year, but if the studio is showing off behind-closed-doors gameplay right after its first gameplay trailer, which itself came very shortly after its reveal trailer – combined with the looming meteor impact that will be Grand Theft Auto 6’s release in November – I can’t help but be left with a healthy dose of optimism that this could land closer to Control 1’s August release month than Alan Wake 2’s late October window. Is this just wishful thinking on my part? Quite possibly. And with how packed this year’s slate of big games is, I’m not sure there’s really a quiet time that any game will get all to itself. But after seeing Control Resonant’s aggressive, fast-paced combat for myself, I’m even more fired up to get my hands on it.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of both IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our semi-retired interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
