Seven years after the release of the first one and we finally have our hands on Control Resonant. It’s a much different game to that of the original. The focus has moved from Jesse and her telekinesis to that of her brother now, and his hand-to-hand combat instead. The Oldest House, whilst still present, is no longer the main environment, with the district of Manhattan taking centre stage now. And it’s no longer a linear-esque game, but instead an open world.
A lot has changed, and whether you’re a Remedy die-hard fan, played or didn’t play the first game, or just wanting to try something different, getting to grips with Control Resonant is no easy feat. We have some tips and tricks that’ll make your life easier, and make the adjustment to the game far simpler.
Get Gravity Shift as Early as Possible
One of the major marketing beats of Control Resonant has been the Gravity Shift ability, which surprisingly is not unlocked by default in the game. No, you have to earn it by closing a Fault alongside Jesse over in the West Excursion Zone. If you need help getting there, understanding what to do or just a guide on how to get Gravity Shift, check it out here. Either way, with the terrain in Control Resonant, you should make this a priority in your early game, as it’ll make everything easier for you.
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Explore as Much as You Can
It might seem obvious to say, especially as its an open world game, but you need to explore in Control Resonant. Some of the best experiences will come from just going off the beaten path and exploring the world that Remedy has created for us. With some of the traversal mechanics you can unlock, you’ll be surprised as to how far that exploration actually takes you, including changing gravity, but one thing remains constant throughout – look in every nook and cranny you can find.
Rank up Districts and Earn Rewards
Control Resonant features multiple districts. Each district is unique to itself, with unique weather, time of day, enemies, and quests. You shouldn’t sleep on the Vendor Rewards mechanic, which means that as you do more things in a specific district, you’ll receive more rewards, discounts etc from those in said district. You can level up the district by destroying enemies, finding items, completing side quests, beating bosses and more.
Side Quests Are Your Best Friend
There’s a lot to do in Control Resonant. Find collectibles, locate special items, main story quests, side quests and more. The side quests are great for two reasons. You get more context and story, and you’ll get more resources, experience and a higher level. Some of them are genuinely bonkers (for example a teleporting radio that broadcasts radio from throughout the ages), and all of them are great fun.
Rank Up Your Weapons to Gain an Edge
As mentioned below, you’ll need to head to The Gap to rank up your weapons, and it’s something you should do regularly. The game does a good job of explaining enemy levels and how they represent the chance of being able to beat them, and a lot of that goes into your Build Level. You can upgrade your Build Level by upgrading a multitude of things, one of which is your weapons, or Aberrant Forms. Don’t be stupid and waste time, money and resources by not doing it, like I did. Don’t struggle needlessly, just head to The Gap and upgrade.
Secrets are Hidden Everywhere, Find Them
Just like the collectibles mentioned below, there are secrets absolutely everywhere in the game. Some are just notes, but others are things like World Feats, individual mini-stories that are one-and-done events. Others are items or upgrades that’ll make your life simpler as you play, and then there’s others that are there for no other reason than to increase the immersion and tell a story. Always keep a look out for stuff, because if nothing else, Control Resonant really is the game where some things are something worth looking at.
Unlock and Use Finishers as Much as Possible
Combat can be made harder for yourself if you’re not paying attention. One such way is the use of Finishers in Control Resonant. They’re not Finishers in the traditional sense, as the game already has a baked in execution system, but instead, they’re Combo Finishers. They represent a chance to cause a large amount of damage to an enemy (or enemies) in one attack, and will always come at the end of a combo. Get hit or interrupted? Well you need to start the combo again. You’d be silly to ignore them, silly not to upgrade them, and even sillier if you were like me and got a chunk of the way through the game before you realise you’d made life harder for yourself.
Sometimes Running Away is Fine
There’s nothing to be ashamed of by running away from a fight. Sometimes you’ll realise there are too many of them, maybe they’re too high a level, others you’ll just not fancy the skirmish and want to get on with objective you’re on. That’s all fine. Just run by, through, or over the enemies in front of you and pretty quickly they’ll give up chasing you and you’ll be free to keep going.
Just. Keep. Moving.
Don’t stand still. Standing still is tantamount to wanting to die. The enemies in the game hit hard, hit fast, and don’t mess about. You need to keep moving every single second if you expect to keep alive. Dodge, float, use your various methods of traversal like gravity shift, and don’t stop moving. As well as keeping your health up, it’ll also confuse the enemies, as they’ll not be able to get a lock on you, or keep up with you. Some enemies can’t hit anything in the air, so it automatically nullifies that threat if you’re permanently floating, for example.
Don’t Forget Your Special Ability
The combat of Control Resonant is ridiculously fast-paced. It’s hectic, aggressive, doesn’t seem to stop and is easy to get lost in. You’ll be pulling off all sorts of madness as you fight every enemy in sight. It’s also easy to forget your abilities. Don’t do that, don’t hamfist yourself. My favourite ability, by some distance, was Barrage, which allowed me to throw a single, or cluster of, rock at the enemies around me. In essence, it gave me a ranged method of hurting those around me, and I’d regularly have to remind myself to use it. So do that. Use your special ability.
Search Out Medical Crates
Dylan starts the game with a paltry amount of maximum health. It’s easy to die, hard to fight, and harder to stay alive for any amount of time. You upgrade your health bar by searching out large crates, which are scattered across the multiple districts in hard-to-find places. The first one is found as you first leave The Oldest House at the beginning of the game, in a little shop on the right. Don’t miss it, and also don’t miss the others. You need to find three to upgrade each time, so get looking.
Read Everything You Pick Up
There is A LOT of collectibles in Control Resonant. There’s memos from FBC members, notes from civilians, pictures, posters and so much more besides. Most will paint a picture of the events that’s going on, and give you some context as to what’s happening that you’re not seeing, but some will also have some mission-critical information like codes, directions etc. You’re doing yourself a disservice by not reading every single thing you pickup. Immerse yourself!
Don’t Be Afraid to Change It Up
You’re not stuck with the weapon you chose at the beginning. You can in fact unlock the other Aberrant forms, and it’s a big suggestion from us that you do so. Each form has its own benefits and negatives to a player, based on what they like and how they want to play, but more than that, they also have status-like effects against enemies. Some enemies are weak to blunt, so the hammer would be better, others would die quicker from the dual Aberrant, and so on. It’s very much a game where you’ll quickly realise not one tool fits all. Change it up. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Head to The Gap Often
You’re introduced to The Gap pretty early on in Control Resonant, but it’s also easy to forget about it, due to the way you get there. To enter and exit The Gap, you’ll need to hold down the down directional on the d-pad, which will snap Dylan in and out at will. While the game does prompt you occasionally as you level up and gain extra resources, it’s not enough, and as such, you can be going into battle underpowered for far longer than you need to. Head to The Gap regularly, upgrade plenty, and stop making the game harder for yourself than it needs to be.
Always Aim for the Heavy Enemies
As mentioned, combat is hectic. However, it doesn’t always need to be. If you’re paying attention, the game makes a lot of noise about taking out the heavy enemies to minimise your time fighting. This is because once the heavy enemies are gone, the basic enemies will stop spawning. Unsure which ones are heavy? Take a look at the top right corner of your screen at the minimap there, and look for the red circles, the bigger ones, and now you know which are the heavy enemies. They’re usually bigger, have a lot more health, and do a considerable amount of damage to you if you’re not paying attention.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Resonants
The Resonants are the bosses of the game. There are also plenty of smaller minibosses like William and Linus, among many others, but the Resonants are larger and much more harder-hitting. These Resonants are an entire section of quests on their own, and will really showcase the absurdity of Remedy’s collective mind. Whether its The Artist, or the mold-based Collective, you’ll see a range of weird and wonderful enemies, but they can be intimidating to fight. Just make sure you’re paying attention to what they’re weakened by, use the right weapons and abilities, and most importantly, don’t give up. The rewards you receive are almost always worth it, and the experience is definitely worth it.
For your next read, check out our review of Control Resonant, or our review of Marvel’s Wolverine.
Luke Addison is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Thumb Wars. Having previously been a part of multiple outlets over the years, including building an entire gaming team from nothing to something, he thought it best to forge his own path and answer only to himself. As likely to be found playing the latest game as he is in the kitchen relaxing (by cooking), he always brings the same bold and brash attitude to everything he does, with a heavy leaning on sarcasm and dry wit!
