00:00In the opening minutes of Control Resonant, Dylan Faden, prototypical sad boy, perpetually
00:04kicked puppy, and regretful mass murderer is stabbed awake from a seven-year coma and thrust
00:10into a metaphysical war between cosmic forces. His psychokinetic superhero sister has disappeared,
00:15leaving the Federal Bureau of Control directorless, outgunned, and forced to rely on a man who once
00:19killed hundreds of its staff to confront the cataclysm of interdimensional forces,
00:23violently reshaping Manhattan into a labyrinth of silly shapes. Dylan and the FBC might be
00:28going through it, but Remedy is flexing all its finest talents, sculpting uncanny hellscapes,
00:33placing tactical red actions in bureaucratic lore collectibles, and capturing powerfully
00:37human performances in circumstances beyond human comprehension. Unfortunately, melee combat
00:42isn't on that list of strong suits, and Resonant's open world expects you to do a lot of it.
00:46While it should be cool to play a guy who can throw rocks with his brain and has a stick
00:50that
00:50can be infinite swords, Resonant commits the cardinal sin of action design. Its basic attacks
00:55don't have the juice. Instead, Dylan has to pile on temporary damage bonuses, granted most easily
00:59by staggering and executing lesser enemies, to make swinging his magical mystery club worthwhile.
01:05As a result, all fights boil down to the same binary process. Either you've stacked enough
01:09damage buffs that hitting a heavy enemy will accomplish something, or you can spend your
01:12time whittling away at its health bar until you get a chance to set yourself up properly.
01:16If that's not a compelling pitch, I have bad news. You'll be doing it for dozens of hours.
01:21Luckily, if you're a sicko for Remedy's brand of surreal worldbuilding, there's still plenty
01:25of cursed objects and warped geometry to enjoy. Otherwise, it's going to be a slog.
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