Gaming, at its core, is about gratification, but not always the same kind. When you start a game, it has to be immediate, be it the visuals, the presentation, or the gameplay feel. Each of these, separately and together, needs to create a sense of gratification. And while a game can fulfil that, every second of every hour, there’s also that underlying sense that it has to build to something. Something looks amazing and feels amazing to control, but surely it’s all leading to something even better, and then the cycle repeats, right?
Granted, that’s not always the case; in other situations, that gratification may be fairly delayed, not appearing for hours on end. It may simply manifest in another form. That’s why we coddle the instantaneous and immediately rewarding elements so fiercely – they don’t just sustain or distract us. They’re sometimes the main reason we play, and encompass many aspects, including combat.
Which is why Control Resonant is so interesting.
Out now on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, Remedy Entertainment’s action RPG seems to have been received well by players, at least based on Steam. It’s the studio’s biggest launch on the platform ever, with nearly 35,000 peak concurrent players and an 89 percent “Very Positive” rating from 1,411 user reviews. There’s praise for various elements including the combat.
Remedy actually put out a hotfix shortly before launch to address several criticisms from reviews, essentially reducing the health and falter of most enemies. That even applied to two of the initial Resonants, but it also buffed the strength of Aberrant attacks and abilities. I haven’t really tried out the changes, only slightly dipping my toes into New Game Plus, so everything here is pre-hotfix.
But I really can’t emphasise how, as much as I empathised (while not agreeing, mind you) with those who found the combat to be repetitive, it also felt like Remedy knew exactly what it was doing. And before you think this is going to devolve into a ludo narrative dissonance about how “Of course Dylan isn’t one-tapping fools left and right! He’s been in a coma for seven years!” – spoiler, it’s not – hear me out.
In the first hour of Control Resonant, before Dylan leaves the Oldest House, you choose the Aberrant’s first form. Right off the bat, you’re smacking fools with a basic three-hit combo and learning how to dodge. Anyone who’s played a character-driven hack-and-slash title in the past decade will immediately feel some familiarity with these mechanics, especially when triggering a perfect dodge. But it’s incomplete – not just because of the limited tools available, but because there’s a sense of more to discover.
Obtaining a new tool or ability, and immediately working it into your combos, or creating any in general, is a big appeal in these kinds of titles. Within that same hour of Resonant, you discover another form, a combo finisher, and an ability. And yet, even with those, plus a few upgrades from the Talent tree and to your weapons, things don’t really feel like they’re clicking just yet.
Granted, nothing has really changed about the fluidity, and even as new enemy types are introduced – the Hiss bus that’s continuously spawning minions that feel really good to Slam, the flying Hiss with a weak point on its back that you need to destroy, the ever-forsaken Mold – there’s this sense that combat feels incomplete or like it’s missing something. In my review, I said it feels like you’ve been handed a bunch of underdeveloped tools, and while they all feel pretty good to use, your tactics remain roughly the same. By now, you’re probably past the instant gratification of the gameplay carrying you through, and want the payoff. Whatever it may be.
And it’s hard to really put a finger on when exactly that happens. Maybe it’s when you realize just how busted Ignite can be when paired with Flurry, the dual-bladed form. As you unlock further upgrades, it quickly becomes clear that this is a critical damage monster, one that emphasises dodging and not getting hit. Why that last part? Well, the more health you have, the more damage you deal.
Or maybe it’s when you realise that Split Pivot, one of the six available combo finishers, can not only inflict Weakened – causing enemies to take more damage – but also explode and deal fire damage. Now, pair that with the Mold turrets from The Park. When an enemy has the Infected status, you can use fire to make them explode, reducing a huge chunk of their health. It’s worth noting that at one point in a regular playthrough, you’ll have the chance to unlock a second ability from a Resonant which allows for blasting enemies with fire until they crumble – alongside Ignite, you can.
“With what Power reserves?” you might ask. That’s where one of the Artifacts, Lockpick’s Tool, comes in. Execute a perfect dodge, and your next ability doesn’t consume any Power. That one use may be just what you need to stun an enemy, execute them, and gain Dominance, which increases all damage dealt for a short period. Pair that with a Talent which restores more Power when executing bigger enemies to keep the engine rolling.
Keep in mind this is only one build I’ve “put together”, and there’s still room for improvement. After all, Ignite also works with Barrage and the Shield, letting you crash into enemies with a flaming barrier of rocks or throw objects from afar. So if you want to use a completely different set of Forms and finishers while still maintaining that fire + infected detonation combo, you can. If you want to create a build that’s all about Summons – and there are quite a few abilities that fall under that category – you can.
That’s even before considering the final Resonant ability, Command, which pretty much dominates the upper half of the Talent tree. I haven’t even begun fully harnessing its potential, despite finishing the game, much less figuring out which Artifacts and Forms to pair with it. And don’t even get me started on a Talent that unlocks after finishing the story. It buffs your damage to obscene heights, but requires slaying enemies as quickly as possible to activate. It even stacks with Dominance and other buffs.
You might argue that Remedy should have front loaded the game with these options, or even included crazier abilities. I can somewhat sympathise because when you hear the words “action RPGs” and “build-crafting,” your mind may gravitate towards a power fantasy fulfilled by the likes of Diablo or Path of Exile. Balancing that with the combat expression and variety of a hack-and-slash title isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying to keep it in line with the universe’s power-scaling.
Remedy’s first hotfix definitely helps – not just because it eases players in, but because the builds I’ve already created are even better. Even if I came out appreciating the combat far more when it was all said and done, Control Resonant definitely remains an interesting case study. The fact that it does this without falling back into the usual parrying and deflection systems that have defined so many action games over the years is equally fascinating.
I still maintain it isn’t for everyone, but those who like the combat early on and wonder when it kicks things up a notch, it’s well worth sticking with.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
