The hype for Remedy’s Control Resonant is turning out to be pretty big, with over 1.5 million wishlists ahead of its launch next month. There’s still a lot more that the development team is keeping under wraps, whether it’s late-game combat or the other Faults that Dylan explores. However, it’s interesting to hear about what it didn’t include in the action RPG.
Speaking to IGN, lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov revealed that originally, Remedy prototyped a means to switch forms on the Aberrant, your main weapon. However, the desire to make everything “feel immediate and visceral” ultimately led to its removal.
“We want everything to feel immediate. You press the button, the thing happens. That’s the philosophy of design. You press Square, Dylan does the attack. You press R1, Dylan does the ability. There’s no, ‘I’m switching to the mode of this, and then I am pressing another button or holding a modifier key’. We did prototype all of these things, and those slowed down the combat quite a lot, and we don’t want you thinking about that.”
Another mechanic that you won’t find is parrying or deflection – which is interesting since Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is one of its inspirations. Aside from dodging, Dylan’s only means defense is conjuring a shield from surrounding rocks. But otherwise, the development team is avoiding what’s become one of the more popular combat systems over the years.
“We did prototype parry and deflect mechanics, and decided to remove them,” said Mohov. “The idea behind the combat system of Control Resonant is that offense is the best defense. When we implemented these kinds of defensive mechanics, we noticed that we’re waiting for enemies to do something to press the button in return. And that just didn’t seem to fit the philosophy that we had for the combat system.”
Like its other inspiration, DOOM (2016), ripping and tearing through enemies is the modus operandi, either slicing them apart with the Aberrant’s dual-blade mode, Flurry, or breaking their stance with the two-handed hammer to execute them. Classic abilities from Control also come into play, and Remedy isn’t messing with the ease of use flinging a massive rock at any enemy entails.
Control Resonant is available on September 24th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.
