Review #073 – Control Resonant

I don’t think Resonant is as enthralling as the first Control but I’ll give Remedy props for trying something different. It’s an unusual sequel—the story is a direct follow-up but the larger open world environments, melee-based combat, and role-playing mechanics make it feel like a much different game. It’s still very good, no doubt, but it’s a little less tidy overall.

The biggest deviation is the combat. It’s more of a hack-and-slash where you’re encouraged to use your abilities to trigger status effects in order to defeat enemies more efficiently. Your build can also change fairly drastically depending on which weapons and abilities you choose throughout the story—I honestly didn’t expect this game to lean so hard into RPG stuff like status conditions and debuffs.

It’s a very fun game and satisfying to play but the multitude of combat mechanics can make it feel messy at times. The open world is overstuffed with too many repetitive activities that get quite exhausting to do over and over. It’s still a great game despite its messiness though, and I’m glad we got another Control game even if it’s not necessarily as strong as the original.