An extraordinary/incredible/awe-inspiring display that will stick with you long after you’ve finished.
As I plot how to outsmart a camera that can freeze time, I think CONTROL Resonant isn’t that much of a deviation from the original. Then I’m back in Manhattan, dodging attacks from a possessed city bus, and I’m reassured there’s not a lot of commonality at all.
CONTROL Resonant builds an unapologetic, whiplash-inducing distance from its sibling from the first minutes. The hardest part for me was accepting how different it is, both in gameplay and in tone. The rough start is worth it: the sequel is a whole other beast, spectacular, fast-paced, and melee-focused—and unlike anything I’ve ever played.
CONTROL Resonant starts with 34-year-old Dylan Faden, who was captured as a 10-year-old by the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) after a phenomenon in the small town of Ordinary, ME, and spent 17 years under lockdown, being experimented on by Dr. Casper Darling and his team. His sister, Jesse Faden, evaded capture, and entered the FBC headquarters looking for Dylan during the events of CONTROL in 2019.
Dylan wakes up from a seven-year coma just as Jesse disappears from the FBC. In good time, too: New York is being invaded by the Hiss, a paranatural entity that corrupts most who come in contact with it. Dylan’s “training” under the FBC made his paranatural powers particularly deadly, and he’s looking to save New York and find his sister.
While Jesse Faden has her Service Weapon, Dylan Faden receives the Aberrant, a weapon that changes forms depending on what he needs—including a two-handed hammer, a scythe, gauntlets, twin daggers, and even a drill.
Because of that, CONTROL Resonant plays closer to a hack-and-slash than to the original title. It’s fast-paced, relentlessly aggressive, and undeniably stylish. Give Dylan a white wig and a red trench coat, and it might as well be Devil May Cry.
Combat is brilliantly intuitive and wildly satisfying. Attacks have a ton of weight behind them, and dodges are so snappy I often thought Dylan was doing the evading for me. I don’t recall being caught in a single animation lock, even as I was switching the Aberrant from scythe to gauntlets to a whip, and such responsiveness wins you over easily. Unlike CONTROL, you don’t lose any resources when you die, so there’s no downside to getting wrecked.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/control-resonant-review/
