CONTROL Resonant: Has Remedy Created One of the Best Hack-and-Slash Games?

CONTROL Resonant: Has Remedy Created One of the Best Hack-and-Slash Games?

Short Description

CONTROL Resonant takes players into a mysterious Manhattan where Dylan Faden battles supernatural forces through fast Hack-and-Slash combat, extraordinary abilities, cinematic visuals, and a gripping story filled with secrets.

Full Article

After the success of the original Control, expectations were extremely high for Remedy Entertainment's next entry in the series. Instead of simply repeating the formula that made the first game successful, Remedy decided to take a major risk with CONTROL Resonant.

The new game introduces Dylan Faden, the brother of Jesse Faden, as the main protagonist. The story takes players far beyond the mysterious halls of the Oldest House and into a distorted version of Manhattan, where supernatural forces have transformed reality itself.

The biggest change, however, comes from the gameplay.

While the original Control focused heavily on shooting and supernatural abilities, Resonant puts much more emphasis on Hack-and-Slash combat, melee attacks, movement, supernatural powers, and character customization. The result is a faster and more aggressive experience that feels very different from its predecessor.

A Dark and Mysterious Story

CONTROL Resonant continues the strange supernatural mythology established in the first game while introducing a new perspective through Dylan Faden.

After years of isolation and experimentation, Dylan finds himself caught in a new supernatural crisis. His journey is connected to Jesse and the mysterious forces surrounding the Federal Bureau of Control.

The story keeps Remedy's signature approach to storytelling. Instead of explaining everything immediately, the game encourages players to discover information through conversations, documents, recordings, environmental details, and strange events.

This creates a constant feeling that there is something much bigger happening beneath the surface.

Dylan himself is also an important part of the narrative. His history, relationship with Jesse, and struggle to understand his own abilities give the story a more personal dimension.

Stunning Graphics and World Design

Visually, CONTROL Resonant is one of the most impressive entries in the series.

The game transforms Manhattan into a surreal supernatural environment where buildings, streets, gravity, and architecture can behave in completely unexpected ways.

Instead of simply creating a realistic version of New York, Remedy uses the city as a playground for its supernatural ideas.

Buildings can appear distorted, objects can float through the air, and entire areas can feel like they belong to another dimension.

The lighting, particle effects, environmental destruction, character models, and visual effects help create a cinematic AAA experience.

More importantly, the graphics are not simply there to look impressive. The environment itself becomes part of the storytelling.

Every strange room, impossible structure, and distorted street can make the player wonder what happened and why reality has become so unstable.

Hack-and-Slash Combat

The most important gameplay change is the combat system.

Dylan uses a supernatural weapon capable of changing its form, allowing players to switch between different melee styles during combat.

Instead of relying primarily on traditional shooting, the game encourages players to get closer to enemies and combine melee attacks with supernatural abilities.

This creates a much more aggressive combat rhythm.

Players can chain attacks together, use supernatural powers to control enemies, move around the battlefield, and then finish opponents with powerful melee attacks.

The game also introduces progression and customization systems that allow players to develop Dylan according to their preferred playstyle.

One player might focus on powerful melee attacks, while another may prefer supernatural abilities and tactical combat.

This gives the gameplay more depth than simply attacking enemies with the same combination of moves throughout the entire game.

Does the Hack-and-Slash System Work?

This is where critics have had some different opinions.

Many reviewers praised the ambition behind the new combat system and the way Remedy combined supernatural abilities with melee combat.

However, some criticism has focused on repetition.

The combat can be extremely satisfying when several abilities and attacks are combined successfully, but some encounters can start to feel repetitive during longer sections of the game.

This is one of the main differences between the game's strongest elements.

The world, atmosphere, exploration, and story are generally considered stronger than the combat itself.

Still, the Hack-and-Slash direction gives Resonant its own identity instead of simply turning it into another version of the original Control.

Exploration and Movement

Exploration is another major part of the experience.

Dylan has supernatural abilities that allow him to interact with the environment and move through the world in unusual ways.

As the player progresses, new abilities can open previously inaccessible areas, giving exploration a sense of progression.

The game does not simply depend on traditional open-world design.

Instead, it focuses on large interconnected areas filled with secrets, optional activities, side content, and hidden locations.

This approach allows Remedy to maintain its strong environmental storytelling while giving players more freedom to explore.

What Are Critics Saying?

The critical reception has been generally positive, although far from unanimous.

PC Gamer gave CONTROL Resonant a 7.6/10, praising the game's world, atmosphere, story, and visual design while criticizing aspects of the combat and repetition.

Other reviewers have also praised Remedy's ability to create a strange and memorable supernatural world while acknowledging that the combat does not always reach the same level as the game's exploration and storytelling.

This makes Resonant an interesting case.

It is clearly not a perfect game, but it succeeds in doing something many sequels fail to do: it takes the original concept and pushes it in a new direction.

How Does It Compare to the Previous Game?

Comparing Resonant with the original Control is difficult because the two games emphasize different things.

The first Control was heavily focused on supernatural shooting, exploration of the Oldest House, psychological horror, and uncovering the mysteries of the Federal Bureau of Control.

Resonant expands the world while making combat more aggressive and heavily focused on melee and Hack-and-Slash mechanics.

For players who loved the atmosphere and mystery of the original, Resonant offers more of that strange universe.

For players who preferred Control's original shooting mechanics, however, the new combat direction may take some time to get used to.

Ultimately, Resonant should not be viewed simply as "Control 2 with better graphics." It is a different interpretation of the same universe.

Final Verdict

CONTROL Resonant is an ambitious sequel that takes several risks.

Its strongest elements are undoubtedly its story, atmosphere, world design, graphics, exploration, supernatural abilities, and unique visual identity.

The biggest weakness is the combat, which can become repetitive in certain sections despite being exciting when different abilities are combined effectively.

Nevertheless, Remedy has once again created a world that feels completely different from most AAA games.

If the original Control was about discovering the impossible inside a mysterious building, Resonant is about watching reality itself collapse around you.

It may not completely surpass the original in every category, but it successfully expands the universe and gives the series a much more aggressive Hack-and-Slash identity.

Recommended Rating: 8/10

A visually impressive and ambitious supernatural action game that offers a fresh direction for the Control universe, even if its combat occasionally struggles to maintain the same quality as its story and world design.