Control Resonant, much like its acclaimed 2019 predecessor, famously begins at a measured, deliberate pace. Players find themselves wielding only a handful of fundamental weapon powers and abilities well into the opening chapters, leaving the early game feeling somewhat sluggish before opening up significantly by the closing third of the adventure. Describing those introductory hours as slow is putting it quite kindly; the early chapters could easily feel like a grueling slog—at least they certainly did before developer Remedy Entertainment adjusted several underlying settings just prior to the game’s official commercial release.
My own comprehensive playthrough of Control Resonant spanned roughly 50 hours, heavily padded by plenty of side quest distractions, yet it still featured several distinct moments of genuine struggle later in the journey. One particular area of New York City’s Manhattan, completely overwhelmed by aggressive moss, creeping mould, and deadly mold-spewing monsters, proved exceptionally challenging. Despite protagonist Dylan’s supernatural ability to float and leap across the environment with minimal gravity, poisonous terrain hazards and relentless enemy attacks constantly chipped away at his health bar. Meanwhile, standard blunt attacks registered barely a scratch against the larger, tougher adversaries inhabiting the zone. It was only later in the experience that I discovered fire-based attacks are overwhelmingly effective against mold-based enemies, though players must first defeat a specific resonant boss encounter to unlock those crucial abilities.
Like many modern action role-playing games, the final stretches and major boss encounters in Resonant suffer from the classic pitfall of massive damage sponges. Once a player successfully decodes an enemy’s attack pattern and learns to navigate the specific environmental quirks of the arena, the gameplay frequently devolves into a repetitive loop of executing favorite combos and attack powers until the terrifying creature finally collapses. Yet, Remedy once again excels brilliantly at major enemy design throughout these encounters. I was particularly struck by a striking, unsettling puppet-dancer amalgam that materialized midway through my playthrough, showcasing the developer’s trademark knack for nightmarish, surreal aesthetics.
Fortunately, Remedy implemented a thoughtful solution that avoids a reductive casual mode which might otherwise completely nerf the entire game’s balance. Rather than relying on a traditional, rigid difficulty selector—though the original Control did eventually receive its own post-launch assist features—Remedy built a robust Assist Mode directly into Resonant. This comprehensive feature includes three distinct presets that can be roughly categorized as an easy mode, a high-risk configuration that scales up incoming and outgoing damage for both the protagonist and foes alike, and a low-risk configuration that scales down damage values on both sides to create a more forgiving combat loop.
The depth of this system allows players to fine-tune adjustable parameters such as increasing overall damage output, reducing the amount of damage the player character sustains, or improving falter damage so that Dylan can more reliably trigger one of his visceral, raging execution animations. For those struggling specifically against large groups, the game even permits adjustments to projectile speed and enemy aggression levels. The game’s interface issues a gentle warning advising players to experience the adventure using the default settings first—a recommendation I personally followed throughout my main campaign. However, while engaging with the post-game content, applying just a few subtle nudges to falter damage and power recovery made me feel astonishingly powerful, even when confronting the exceedingly rare Apex monsters that yield massive rewards in crafting materials and valuable in-game currency.
These far-reaching accessibility and modification features practically guarantee that a broader audience of players will actually reach the end credits of the game. For context, many players—myself included—started and stopped the original Control countless times when it first debuted due to its steep initial learning curve and demanding combat encounters. At the same time, this level of customization strips away a portion of the inherent challenge and hard-earned delight that defines the genre. It will certainly be fascinating to observe how streaming content creators showcase their prowess in Control Resonant when players possess the tools to beef up their characters so early in the progression timeline.
Beyond the combat mechanics and stat adjustments, these options make it much easier to fully immerse oneself in everything the game does exceptionally well. Aside from expanding deeply upon the overarching lore surrounding Dylan, Jesse Faden, and the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), the world is packed with delightful distractions. These include clever spot-the-difference taxi cab puzzles, intricate mini logic puzzles hidden away inside retro diners and local laundromats, and various other sci-fi environmental mysteries—some of which possess a narrative weight and structural meatiness that could easily anchor a standalone episode of Doctor Who.
Throughout my playthrough, I rarely encountered regular enemies operating at levels significantly higher than my own, yet the aforementioned difficulty spikes still presented immense hurdles. I found myself desperately chipping away at stubbornly persistent enemy health bars or getting overwhelmed and eliminated repeatedly in rapid succession despite being precisely where the game intended me to be, matched to the appropriate recommended level.
Remedy’s Day 1 patch appears to have successfully flattened this jagged difficulty curve to some degree, ensuring that incoming players should encounter fewer severe roadblocks during the opening hours of Control Resonant. As for those persistent, deeply troublesome mold monsters scattered throughout the ruined city streets? Be sure to track down and acquire one of those paranatural fire powers as quickly as possible, and you will undoubtedly thank me later.
