What can I say about Control Resonant except that it is some of the most fun I've had in a video game in a very long time. During my first playthrough of a little over 40 hours, I was in utter disbelief at just how non-stop invested I had been in the third-person-shooter-turned action RPG up until the credits started rolling, and I couldn't wait to start New Game Plus to get into it again. The original Control was already great, but Control Resonant somehow advances that greatness to a level I didn't think was possible, especially with it taking the franchise's formula into a much larger, far more open world. This is a game that pulls out all the stops to keep surprising you at every turn, and I sincerely did not expect to walk away from it with only one complaint—which is massively overshadowed by everything else the game does so well anyway.
Let me emphasize that this isn't just the first Control with Dylan in Jesse's place, nor does it feel like Remedy simply took what worked before and expanded it into a bigger game. So much of the foundation has changed, from the move away from gunplay and into melee combat to the much heavier action RPG focus and the freedom that comes with exploring Manhattan instead of spending nearly all your time inside the Oldest House. It's a pretty dramatic shift from what Control was, but I never once felt like I was playing something that had forgotten where it came from. In fact, I think the biggest compliment I can give Control Resonant is that it feels like Control's Mass Effect 2 moment. It has that same sense of a sequel looking at a great first game, figuring out what it really wanted to be, and then going all-in on it, raising the bar in the process.
I don't care how many hours I've already poured into this game or how many fights I've already won, Control Resonant's combat never gets old. I personally consider that high praise because, believe me, there is a lot of combat to be had here. Sure, there is plenty of story and exploration to go around as well, but the way the open world is designed to behave, and the expectations it puts on players, ensures you are almost always looking to pick another fight with the Hiss—especially once you've landed on a build that makes you feel like an unstoppable powerhouse.
The biggest difference from the first Control is that Dylan doesn't have Jesse's Service Weapon, with Control Resonant's combat instead revolving around the Aberrant, a shapeshifting melee weapon that can take on several different forms. Rather than simply equipping one of those forms and sticking with it, though, you can assign a Primary Form for your standard attacks, a Secondary Form for special and charged attacks, and a Combo Finisher that ends certain attack strings. Each form has its own range and speed, so Dylan might be swinging a massive two-handed hammer with one part of his moveset before switching to something much faster for another. Those forms can then be upgraded further, with new attacks and modifiers gradually opening up as you progress.
Dylan's supernatural abilities are worked directly into that melee combat system as well, and the two are constantly feeding into each other during combat. Landing melee attacks restores Power, the resource used for Combat Abilities, while those abilities can stun enemies by inflicting Falter and leave them open to executions. Performing an execution then temporarily increases Dylan's melee damage, essentially starting the cycle over again once you move onto the next enemy. There are also several different abilities to work into that loop, including projectile attacks and summon-like abilities like the Volatile Anomaly, which can fight alongside Dylan before being thrown and detonated. New Combat Abilities primarily come from defeating Resonants, with some of those encounters giving you a choice between different powers rather than simply handing you everything at once.
And therein lies why Control Resonant's combat never stops being fun. The buildcrafting potential in this game is some of the deepest I've seen in a modern action RPG, and while I eventually found something I liked and stuck with it, the road I took to get there involved plenty of experimentation. There are three Primary Forms and three Secondary Forms, each with their own upgrade paths, and then six Combo Finishers that also each have their own upgrade paths. There is also a fairly sizable talent tree with 60 unique talents to unlock, and then a generous handful of unique Resonant Combat Abilities that each have a couple of different forms to choose from. There are just so many routes Control Resonant lets you take to personalize your playstyle, and that's a large part of the reason the combat never stops being fun.
What really sold me on this aspect of Control Resonant's combat was how well my build actually interacted with the game's environments and other mechanics as well, and it was in some of these moments that I began to feel Remedy had truly thought of everything. One of my personal favorite moments happened when I became Infected (Control Resonant's poison debuff) and I activated my Ignite ability, which turns Dylan into a walking fireball who can inflict fire damage with every hit. But because the game's spore clouds, which inflict the Infected debuff, are incredibly flammable, activating Ignite actually removed the Infected debuff from Dylan and triggered an explosion that also severely damaged the enemies around him. At that point, I already knew Control Resonant was special, but that definitely sealed the deal for me.
I don't care how many hours I've already poured into this game or how many fights I've already won, Control Resonant's combat just never gets old.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://gamerant.com/control-resonant-review/
