Movies of War

Image Credit: Remedy We’ve known for a while that Remedy was working on sequel Control Resonant, but if you had given me ten guesses as to what form it would take, I would have never come up with what was revealed at last year’s Game Awards. Rather than a third-person shooter starring Control protagonist Jesse Faden, we were presented with something that looked more akin to Devil May Cry, switching the main character to Jesse’s brother Dylan for a melee action-focused story. The footage showed the streets of New York warped by supernatural forces, a far cry from the claustrophobic, brutalist interiors of the Oldest House. Honestly, this twist couldn’t have been more exciting to me. While the action looked very different, it was still unmistakably Control-esque, which says a lot about the strength of the brand they’ve built. Last week, Remedy invited us to take part in a virtual hands-off preview event to give us a deeper look at Control Resonant, due out later this year. New Characters and Some Familiar Faces Will Join Dylan Faden in Control Resonant Dyan Faden in Control Resonant. Image Credit: Remedy Control Resonant Creative Director Mikael Kasurinen started off talking about the big changes. It’s clear the team didn’t want to rest on the success of Control, instead taking a risk by inverting the feeling of the original game. “The first game was a lot about isolation, being trapped inside a strange and brutalistic building filled with monsters. With the sequel, we want to turn things upside down. We’re stepping into the outside world and get to see how the paranormal forces collide with the everyday human chaos.” One thing they wanted to get out of the way quickly was that this would be a largely new cast of characters, with some returning favorites. They emphasized that Jesse Faden would not be playable in Resonant, but did tease that she would play some role in the plot. Remedy wants to focus entirely on making this game Dylan’s experience, and that includes a new cast of side characters for him to interact with. The first footage we saw was of Dylan talking to Zoe De Vera, his FBC handler. She was outside the Oldest House when the lockdown occurred seven years ago during the events of the first game, so the two bond as Dylan learns about the world at large, and she learns what happened in the Oldest House. It’s a clever setup that allows them, in theory, to very naturally be able to add in recap exposition in a way that feels unobtrusive. Mikael said that this relationship is representative of one of the game’s core pillars. “It’s all about connecting with others; it’s about Dylan learning to rely on people around him as they learn to rely on him.” In the footage, we see Dylan visit her in a makeshift office overlooking Manhattan. This scene demonstrated their new dialogue system, which features choices of how you respond to the characters around you. “It’s designed to be as unintrusive as possible and also works while on the move. With it, you can shape how you interact with the characters and story.” Mikael said they were inspired by the dialogue system of Firewatch, trying to make it feel naturalistic and easy to use. From the way he described it, it seems like it’s more to allow you to express your character as you see fit, rather than leading to any sort of multiple endings or branching paths. It’s an interesting addition, and I’m intrigued to see how it plays out over the course of the game. New Settings and Visual Variety Are Key In This Sequel Image credit: Remedy I loved the look of the Oldest House, not only the brutalist architecture, but also the weird FBC technology that filled it out. Thankfully, Control Resonant retains a lot of that, even as the action spills into the streets of Manhattan. There’s a mobile Panopiticon, makeshift firebreaks, and even an FBC Field Office, which helps retain a lot of the Control vibe even with the setting change. Manhattan itself is split into many sections, which Mikael promises will be dramatically different from each other. “One of the key things we want to achieve in the sequel is to have more visual variety across the world.” They didn’t give too many examples of this visual variety in the presentation, but they showed the greatly improved map that you’ll be using to navigate, showing off some of the zones you’ll be exploring. There will be side quests and activities that pop up on the map for you to do, but they wanted to emphasize that they are focusing on making them all killer, no filler. Mikael elaborated on this philosophy, “We don’t want the map to stress you out, with tons of similar things to grind through. Instead, it should convey an exciting selection of distinct options of how you want to spend your time in this world. Less is more.” In addition to these extra missions, which they say are focused on action gameplay and puzzle solving, there will also be secrets for you to discover as you explore, rewarding you with tidbits of lore. For me, many of the best moments in Control were found in the side quests, so I’m glad to see they are again focusing on quality over quantity. Combat is Control Resonant‘s Biggest Change Image credit: Remedy From here, they let Lead Gameplay Designer Sergey Mohov talk about the gameplay, which is obviously the biggest change-up in the game. “A big goal of ours for the sequel is giving players a lot more choice in what kind of combat their version of Dylan can do. Abilities allow Dylan to fight and move beyond human means, so he can, for example, telekinetically control the environment, turn enemies to fight on his side, or hover in the air. He can also attach himself to altered gravity surfaces.” The melee combat is designed with a push-forward mentality, rewarding you for being aggressive by recovering ability resources with each melee strike. Enemies can also be executed after being stunned, which applies a temporary melee damage boost. The team intentionally built the game without a parry mechanic, as they wanted to further encourage this aggressive playstyle. The aforementioned upgrades will all be handled in The Gap, a metaphysical space you can enter that represents Dylan’s psyche. Here you can upgrade the three components of your build: abilities, weapons upgrades, and talents. Abilities come from Resonants, former persons of power that have been corrupted by the mysterious pattern that’s changing the world. When you defeat them, you inherit their powers, choosing from multiple options. Your weapon, the Aberrant, can take several forms, all of which have their own skill tree to be upgraded. Talents are the final piece of the puzzle, acting like different modifiers that allow you to create synergies between your weapons and abilities. Sergey mentioned that you won’t be able to unlock all options in a single playthrough of the game, so the choices you make as you progress will create a version of Dylan all your own. Image credit: Remedy They showed clips of encounters with two different builds, one extremely melee-focused and the other focused on summoning abilities, and it’s clear that you’ll be able to come up with unique strategies that fit how you feel most comfortable playing. Even in just these brief glimpses, it also seemed like there was more enemy variety than in the previous game, which was a common criticism about Control. In addition to demonstrating mechanical depth, it also showed off some of those great Remedy visual effects that add an element of chaos to the arena. This genre is really based on feel, so while it’s hard to make a judgment without getting hands-on with it, everything they showed here was extremely promising. Their final video during the presentation was a boss fight with an enemy tentatively named The Dancer, a human-sized creature that quickly zipped around the arena. To me, this was one of the most exciting demonstrations of the combat in action, with precise melee action and great little audio-visual touches to make it feel impactful, with killer music on top of it. During the Q&A portion, Mikael mentioned that they don’t think of the Control franchise as tied to a specific genre, but rather a series that focuses on the world first. Control was a third-person action game. FBC: Firebreak was a first-person co-op shooter. Now Control Resonant takes the form of a third-person melee combat game, but it all still feels in line with their goals of presenting the same universe through a different lens as they continue to develop it. It’s a bold approach to a franchise that I absolutely adore, giving you many of the same aspects you enjoy without feeling like it’s doing the same thing. Everything that was shown today was not only exciting, but went a long way in justifying all the major visual and gameplay shifts they’ve made for Resonant. The true test will be how it feels in the hands, but so far, I’m extremely optimistic that the talented team at Remedy will be able to pull it off. Related Topics:Control ResonantEpic Games StorefeaturedPCPlayStation 5Remedy EntertainmentsteamXbox Series Aaron Boehm Game Designer, Tabletop RPG GM, and comic book aficionado. Advertisement You may like Escape a Failing Space Station While Facing Existential Choice in ‘Angels in Orbit’ [Trailer] Reworked Tanglewood Map Now Available in ‘Phasmophobia’ [Trailer] ‘Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered’ Out Now on PC, Consoles [Trailer] Survive an Industrial Hellscape in Throwback Arcade Survival Horror FPS ‘BLIGHTEN’ [Trailer] Cinematic Horror RPG ‘THE TAG-ALONG OBSESSION’ Coming to PS5, Xbox Series This May [Trailer] ‘Wolf Creek Legacy’ – First Look at the Return of Mick Taylor in Brand New Movie [Exclusive] Click to comment