Mysterious "Project Lamordia" Announced, and Thoughts on Modding 5E

 WotC released a teaser for... something called "Project Lamordia." Details are scarce as to what this will actually be, whether it's some book or other product or, as I, frankly, suspect it will be, an actual play show (and look, I watch plenty of actual play, but it's not necessarily as transformative as something we can take home and read and use in our own games).

What's interesting about it is that the setting here is altered, imagining a modern techno-thriller version of Lamordia as, rather than a vaguely steampunk-meets-Bloodborne/Frankenstein riff the setting is presented as in Van Richten's and Horrors Within, instead a company called Mordenheim Kinetics, with something about a "longevity program" seeming to be some kind of experimental medical treatment.

Horror, of course, is a genre that can exist alongside many different other genres and settings, and the trope of ethically abysmal, corporate biotech companies committing unspeakable crimes against nature is well-established (the Umbrella Corporation from the Resident Evil games probably being the most iconic example).

This got me thinking:

I think D&D has historically been very hesitant to really mess with its own rules. We saw this with the rollout of 5.5, which prioritized backwards compatibility over rebalancing. While I'm happy that my 10 years of 5.0 book acquisitions aren't washed away with a full new edition, it has also left certain classes really struggling, like Rogues, who still need to wait until level 9 for their second subclass feature for the foreseeable future.

But I also think this is one of the reasons (though not the entirety) for the disappointment I and many other felt regarding the release of 5E's Spelljammer supplement. Anticipating a way to play D&D adventures in a science-fantasy space opera setting, we instead got a version of space adventures in which you'd fight out on open decks with swords rather than shooting laser cannons or piloting starfighters. As a note, this isn't really 5E's fault - Spelljammer has always been this "fantasy in space" setting rather than a true science-fantasy setting. But... I think most players would prefer the latter.

The thing is, doing so would require actually tweaking the rules of the game, at least somewhat.

Now, I know that Starfinder 2E is built less as an independent game from Pathfinder than its first edition was, but in that case, they really reimagined the whole game from the ground up to build around sci-fi tropes. It's still science-fantasy, because there are magic/supernatural things in it, but it's more in line with Star Wars, where the bulk of the world is built on technology and aliens, and there's this mystical underpinning that is exceptional and wondrous.

Again, my prediction is that Project Lamordia is an actual play show, where if there are tweaks to the system, it's likely not audience-facing. I could be wrong, though, and maybe this will be something like an adventure or other player/DM-facing thing that gives us guidance on doing a modern-set Ravenloft adventure. We truly don't know.

However, here's a reason for optimism:

Previews of the World of Warcraft D&D book have shown that they're doing some pretty extensive work to reframe things to fit the setting. And these aren't just side-systems that might fall by the wayside in a campaign, but pretty core reworks of class features, like how the Oath of the Ebon Blade subclass for Paladins replaces features like Lay on Hands and Divine Smite to work as a WoW-style Death Knight (whether the resultant class winds up being good is another question that I don't have enough information to answer, as we really only have these 1st and 2nd level feature adjustments so far).

WoW, of course, is pretty damn close to D&D in genre, or arguably simply the same genre but with just a few different proper nouns here and there (demons don't reform in the Abyss, but the Twisting Nether, for example).

What will be interesting is when we see the Star Wars Universes Beyond book. Indeed, the Spelljammer example here is particularly salient, as I think that basically anyone 50 (maybe 60?) or younger probably thinks of Star Wars first when thinking about any example of space adventures. While I'd probably prefer to shave off the serial numbers here and have the tools to produce my own science fantasy space opera setting that isn't beholden to the lore choices of George Lucas or Dave Filoni, I'm 100% into the idea of running a D&D game in a world with rust-bucket used future spaceships rather than 17th century sailing ships (or a bunch of weird bug-shaped ships for some reason).

The Star Wars book is still a ways out, and I think probably the overall balance of the game is likely to remain more or less the same. But here are some other thoughts that this brought up:

Ravenloft is, of course, a storied and beloved campaign setting for D&D, but one of the issues you run into with it is that D&D, particularly later editions like 5E, are kind of fantasy superhero games, where player characters tend to emerge victorious against the kind of monsters they're expected to face.

5E has had two Ravenloft setting books and one of its earliest and most beloved adventures was set there. Van Richten's in particular suggests a few special rules systems, like Stress, to up the scares. But I wonder if a more comprehensive rework of the game's rules might instead serve the setting better.

I'm going to try avoid getting fully in the weed here, but this could be something as simple as adjusting encounter balance math, maybe upping the challenges of combat, or giving guidance on running encounters with monsters too difficult to defeat and where the challenge is escape instead.

But wouldn't it also be cool to make a whole separate game from D&D that works on the same principles (classes, levels, species, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, etc.,) but is built to function in a horror setting and adhere to its genre conventions?

Sure, this might fly in the face of the modularity that D&D prefers. But it would be an interesting experiment.

One consideration for such a "mod" would be to take D&D's general medieval/renaissance assumptions about technology and armaments and rework them for a different genre. As firearms grew more reliable, accurate, and easy to shoot quickly, people basically stopped wearing big heavy plates of metal to protect themselves. Armor is still a think for modern soldiers, of course, but I think there's actually something of a gap there, between the obsolescence of metal armor like plate or chain mail and the development of stuff like kevlar, such that a soldier from maybe the 18th century through most of the 20th was just wearing, like, a thick jacket. (I'm sure that there's nuance and complexity to this that I, who am not anything like a military historian, am ignorant of.)

While Project Lamordia is obviously reimagining that Domain of Dread as a modern, high-tech setting, I think that broadly, Ravenloft in general tends toward classic Gothic Horror aesthetics, which tend toward a kind of 18th/19th century look and feel. If I were to build out Ravenloft as its own independent game, I'd probably focus on that era to look for my genre inspirations: for example, I'd likely make firearms the default ranged weapon, and thus make A: a greater variety of them and B: them seriously cheaper than they are in 5.5, and C: easier to use for martial classes without needing a special feat (I determined early in 5.5 that ironically, the people best able to use Pistols and Muskets are Druids and Clerics who take the Warden/Protector orders, though Gunner from Tasha's at least solves the biggest problem for actual martial characters).

Likewise, I'd find a way to represent armor in a way that doesn't fall into the D&D categories of Light/Medium/Heavy, because heavy armor isn't really a thing in that era, and maybe medium isn't really either.

A few months ago (not a year ago yet, right?) I did some thought experiments on a possible game called Deathblow, that would be about sort of Gothic Horror monster hunters. Some of the ideas in that, I think, would be really good for a game like this, such as capping the max level at 5. Horror needs the characters to be underdogs for the monsters to be threatening, but I also think that TTRPGs get some of their satisfaction from character progression.

That game was meant to have a tighter and more regimented adventure structure, where you'd spend a good while investigating the aftermath of monster attacks and then determining what methods you'll need to defeat said monster, really focusing on singular climactic fights against individual epic boss monsters. But I think there's room for a less dramatic modification to D&D that would allow for a more diverse set of scenarios and stories and retain more of D&D's base rules (even being able to potentially use a lot of the same monster stat blocks) but still limit and kind of alter things enough to fit better into the distinct genre's conventions.

We'll find out about mid-October what this thing actually is, but I'm tempted to start working on this Ravenloft mod (modification rather than module).

An Underpass Resonant and Feels Like We're Getting to Plot Point Two

 The Underpass is a real change of aesthetic for Control Resonant, a void-like space that brings back the brutalist concrete of the Oldest House but with a somehow more alien and hostile structure (our ability to Shift makes it profoundly disorienting, as we need that ability to navigate it).

Once again, the Resonants - the major bosses that grant you paranatural powers - aren't really directly tied into the main story in an obvious way besides being examples of the Pattern resonance that underlies the main threat of the story. While they haven't emerged as a true enemy faction the way the Hiss and Mold are, it seems that while the Pattern is less widespread, it's far more dangerous.

Given the alienness of the Underpass, it's an area I could imagine overstaying its welcome if they put as many sidequests and objectives there as they do in the other zones, but as far as I can tell, the game seems to understand that this place shouldn't overstay its welcome. There's a Fault there and a main quest story that is more of a series of confusing puzzles involving alternate timelines and of course all that variable gravity than any difficult combat encounters, but with that handled, you're basically done other than the optional assault objectives and a few other per-zone features.

The result is that I'm leaving the place (with a few things left to do post-Resonant boss) with fond memories.

As far as I can tell, the Western Incursion Zone is mandatory if only to get you the Shift ability, and the Park appears to be entirely optional. I do wonder how much of Downtown I might have completed prior to fighting The Artist, but my recollection was that you were on a pretty linear path to get there.

Let's get into a bit more detail past the spoiler cut: Oh, also, spoilers for Alan Wake II here as well.

WoW D&D Bestiary Monster List (Not Including Dungeon Bosses)

 All right!

The WoW D&D book looks like it will have some really interesting and innovative designs in an effort to replicate the feeling of WoW within D&D. I'm going purely on the information from Insight Check's video about the monster design, which only gave us a couple of (fairly generic) stat blocks, but the details about the blocks he couldn't actually show suggests that the book is going to have some really interesting fights, including the use of Mythic phases to replicate the feeling of a multi-phase WoW boss fight.

Speaking of bosses: the 30 "dungeon boss" stat blocks are not on this list. Presumably, we'll have figures like High Inquisitor Whitemane or Onyxia detailed in that earlier chapter. While I'd love to have an array of memorable bosses from outside of the seven included dungeons, I'm going to avoid getting my hopes up and just assume that we'll be getting the ones that go specifically with Dire Maul, Deamines, etc. The dungeons they picked are generally quite good (I don't really care much about Blackfathom Deeps, but I'll be curious to see how they handle it). Still feels like we should have gotten Hogger as a CR 1 legendary monster.

    (Brief aside: Hogger was the objective of an infamous quest in Elwynn Forest, the human starting zone. He's the leader of a group of gnoll bandits. But he's also the first "elite" creature many players came across when first playing the game, which are designed to be fought in a group and not alone. Players who didn't realize that they were meant to take him on with friends died in droves, giving this fairly nondescript gnoll creature a legendary status as a peerless and savage killer. In Cataclysm, they largely reworked group quests at low levels to be something you could complete on your own, but while players would face Hogger in more or less the same circumstances in Elwynn, the quest ended not with you killing him, but having him arrested. Then, in the Stormwind Stockades dungeon, he became the dungeon's final boss, leading a prison riot. While he was intended to be a challenge for players just about ready to move on from Elwynn around level 10, players have also formed 40-player raid groups of level 1 characters to fight him as well.)

Anyway, let's not beat around the bush and look at the list:

CR 1: Fel Imp, Murloc Forager, Voidwalker

CR 2: Shadowstalker Satyr

CR 3: Murloc Oracle, Voidcaller

CR 4: Felguard, Felsworn Satyr, Furbolg Totemic

CR 5: Felhound, Furbolg Ursa, Naga Myrmidon

CR 6: Green Dragonflight Whelp

CR 7: Blue Dragonflight Whelp, Naga Sea Witch, Quillboar Thornweaver

CR 8: Red Dragonflight Whelp

CR 9: Black Dragonflight Whelp, Naga Siren

CR 10: Bronze Dragonflight Whelp

CR 11: Doomguard, Moonkin, Nerubian Warrior

CR 12: Abomination, Green Dragonflight Drake, Infernal

CR 13: Blue Dragonflight Drake, Nerubian Crypt Fiend

CR 14: Ancient of War, Nerubian Venomancer

CR 15: N'raqi Faceless One, Red Dragonflight Drake

CR 16: Black Dragonflight Drake, Shivarra

CR 17: Bronze Dragonflight Drake

CR 19: Green Dragonflight Dragon

CR 20: Anduin Wrynn, Blue Dragonflight Dragon, Pit Lord

CR 21: Alleria Windrunner, N'raqi Faceless General, Red Dragonflight Dragon

CR 22: Black Dragonflgiht Dragon, Jaina Proudmoore, Thrall

CR 23: Bronze Dragonflight Dragon, Ragnaros, Sylvanas Windrunner

CR 24: Illidan Stormrage

CR 25: Lich King Arthas

    That's actually an impressive spread of CRs. Particularly, it's interesting to see certain monster categories like N'raqi only showing up at quite high levels. I do find it interesting that the Bronze dragons are the most powerful, given that in theory, the Red dragons are the "leaders" of the dragonflights (though the Dragon Aspects are pretty egalitarian, even if there's deference toward Alexstrasza, the Red aspect, who is basically the most benevolent living creature on Azeroth, sometimes to a fault.

Rather than spread out across all the expansions with all their different monster types, it looks like they've focused on a few iconic categories, which is probably wise even if it would have been cool to get, say, Titanforged constructs or something.

There are also a few individual people, and it's pretty impressive that they start at CR 20, though given how superheroic characters in WoW tend to be, that's not terribly shocking.

But let's go category by category here for those who are unfamiliar with WoW terms.

    Demons:

Demons in WoW are pretty much all associated with the Burning Legion, an apocalyptic army under the command of the rogue Titan Sargeras who seek to burn the universe to cinders rather than let it fall to corruption by the Void. (Demonic Fel magic is also corrupting, but think of this as, like, nuking the world to try to save it from horrible mutations.) While the Fel is inherently chaotic, the Legion itself is actually a bit more Lawful Evil, given Sargeras' leadership over it, and sees the madness of the deeply chaotic Void to be the ultimate enemy. Demons include the Fel Imp, Felguard, Felhound, Doomguard, Infernal, Shivarra and Pit Lord. While the Felsworn Satyr and Shadowstalker Satyr are also demons (satyrs are former Night Elves turned demons in WoW,) they sort of may or may not be affiliated with the Legion, as they're more likely to be associated with the Emerald Nightmare, which is actually a phenomenon created by the Void-affiliated Old Gods. Xavius, the first satyr, fought on behalf of the Legion during the War of the Ancients ten thousand years ago, but after the Legion's defeat, he got in good with the Old Gods. Another little asterisk here is that Voidwalkers were long considered demons (they're one of the minions that player Warlocks can summon, and are great for soloing as they basically tank for you) but over time, and as Blizzard has honestly just locked down their lore a bit tighter, Voidwalkers are now generally considered aberrations affiliated with, weirdly enough, the Void.

    Murlocs:

Among the most iconic and beloved (/hated) WoW creatures, Murlocs are silly little fish people. Honestly, not too far off from Kuo-toa, though less weird god-creating powers and more just being silly little guys who tend to be tightly-packed so that it's hard to pull just a single one at a time (this was a bigger problem when soloing out in the world was harder). Unofficially the mascots of World of Warcraft, they had to show up here.

    Void/Old God Creatures:

So, there's a bit of a divide here. The Void is one of the great cosmic forces in  WoW, and while there are benign aspects to it as a source of mystery and cosmic possibility, we usually interact with it as an antagonistic force - the "mystery" often leading to "horrifying abominations" and the yawning darkness of the void being more ravenous and consuming than an invitation to explore. Notably, beings called the Void Lords (only one of which we've actually had named, Dimensius, who honestly just looks like a massive Voidwalker, and was the final boss of 2024's The War Within expansion) send globs of void energy to Azeroth, which took on a physical form to become the Old Gods, eldritch, Lovecraftian flesh-mountains who spawned countless servitors. The Old Gods ultimately settled on Azeroth and created their dystopian Black Empire. Thus, Void-associated monsters come in two pretty distinct categories: ethereal blue/purple energy beings, which I'd say include Voidwalkers and Voidcallers, and then the more fleshy tentacle monsters like the N'raqi, which we see with the Faceless One and the Faceless General. (As a note, the Faceless General is likely technically a C'thraxxi, which are often associated with the N'raqi, but I think might be their own species. When both monsters were introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, they were both simply referred to as "faceless ones," and only later did we get these proper noun terms).

    Furbolgs:

Yes, that's not a typo, and Furbolgs are actually distinct from Firbolgs. Furbolgs are Bear people. That's about it. Just essentially sapient bears. They can be friendly or hostile, and are often affected a lot by whatever is happening to the natural world around them. Generally found in forested lands.

    Naga:

When the War of the Ancients ended and the destruction of the Well of Eternity led to the Sundering of the ancient Pangea-like continent of Kalimdor (the western regions of which retain that name,) the Night Elf Queen Azshara, the greatest mage to ever live on Azeroth, watched as her capital city was about to be consumed by the rushing ocean (Azshara had allied with the invading Burning Legion, so it was partially her fault). Desperate to survive along with her loyal Highborne followers, she accepted a deal from the Old God N'zoth, who transformed her and her people into aquatic, serpentine monsters called Naga. For the next ten thousand years, Azshara rebuilt her empire under the waves. Naga forces periodically raid the surface, and might seem to be just a threat to sailors and fishers, but they're basically the de facto superpower of the ocean depths.

    Dragons:

Dragons in WoW are a bit different from those in D&D. For one thing, broadly speaking, dragons were originally all pretty much good guys, though the Dragonflight expansion complicates that narrative a bit. Originally elemental beings who evolved into living creatures of flesh, the Titanforged Keeper Tyr allied with a group of proto-drakes to fight a dire threat, and upon recognizing their power, "uplifted" them to become the five Dragon Aspects, created modern dragons and having each become demigod-like beings who would sire broad draconic clans known as Dragonflights. The five flights are the Red, Blue, Bronze, Black, and Green. Each was given a domain over which they were supposed to serve as protectors: Red Dragons over life itself, Blue over magic, Black over the deep places under the world's surface, Green over the natural world, and Bronze over time itself. Among the Aspects, Alexstrasza was the most beloved and served as their leader, the Dragon Queen. Infamously, though, during the War of the Ancients (but sort of unrelated to the Legion's invasion,) Neltharion, the Black Aspect, was driven mad by the Old Gods and consumed with a desire to wreak utter chaos upon the surface of Azeroth. This madness spread to nearly all the Black Dragons as a sort of infectious corruption. Other flights have periodically played antagonistic roles: the Blues at one point turning on mortal spellcasters, Green dragons affected deeply by the Emerald Nightmare, and weird alternate-timeline Infinite Dragon versions of the Bronzes fighting to split the timeline into countless branches.

    Quillboar:

Strange that we just get a single Quillboar statblock. These are weird sort of boar-people that also have porcupine-like spines on their backs. Never really front-and-center, they're basically always hostile, though don't seem to be inherently evil on a fundamental level.

    Nerubians:

The Nerubians are spider-folk who were once vassals to the Old Gods' Black Empire. While a humanoid people in and of themselves, our first exposure to them (and where we're likely to see them the most) is after the Nerubian kingdom of Azjol-Nerub was conquered by the Scourge. Thus, the undead armies of the Scourge often have undead Nerubians among their ranks.

    Moonkin:

Weirdly sort of WoW's take on Owlbears, but only very loosely, Moonkin are considered favored creations of the Night Elves' Moon Goddess, Elune, and walk upright with bear-like bodies and owl-like beaks (though no wings other than their feathered arms). Possessing very rudimentary intelligence, they also have the power to call upon astral and lunar magic, and are the preferred form for Druids who wish to focus on offensive spellcasting (there's guidance that if you want to play a Balance Druid, you can take Circle of Stars and just flavor your constellation forms as a Moonkin instead).

    Abomination:

One of the most fearsome and gross weapons of the Undead Scourge, Abominations are massive flesh-golems with several arms and tend to wield hooked chains.

    Ancients:

Ancients are basically Treants, sapient trees that are often allied with Night Elves and help protect their settlements or fight in their wars.

    Individuals:

There are several named characters here. I won't go into a whole biography, but here's the basic rundown:

Anduin Wrynn: The young king of Stormwind after the death of his father Varian during the final Legion invasion. Anduin is a priest/cleric and deeply kind but also has experienced a lot of trauma.

Alleria Windrunner: Former Ranger-General of the High Elves, she left with the Alliance expedition to Outland and, thanks to weird time-warping, spent a thousand years fighting against the Burning Legion. During this time, she cultivated a connection with the Void, using its dark cosmic power in the fight against evil, which makes things... complicated with her husband Turalyon, one of the most devout paladins wielding the Holy Light.

Jaina Proudmoore: Now Grand Admiral of Kul Tiras (effectively the head of state of this deeply nautical nation,) Jaina is also one of the most powerful living mages. Allying with the Horde during the Third War, and ultimately allowing her father to be killed to save the nascent Orcish nation of Durotar survive, this act was thanked with the destruction of the city-state of Theramore that she had founded by an aggressive Horde, which has put her at both extremes of Alliance-Horde relations. Also, she was close friends with Arthas Menethil before he fell to evil (the characters in these games have lived through a lot of trauma).

Thrall: Former Warchief of the Horde, and one of the greatest living Shamans, Thrall was actually the first Orc ever born on Azeroth. Liberating his people from their internment camps they were put in following the Second War, he became a beacon of hope for Orcs who wished to see a Horde free of demonic corruption, but when he stepped down as Warchief and named the hot-headed and, well, honestly, fascistic asshole Garrosh Hellscream as his successor, he found himself weighed down by the erroneous decisions he had made as a leader. Now, basically a private citizen of the Horde but with a lot of power and influence, Thrall mostly tries to live as a family man with his two kids and wife.

Ragnaros: The Elemental Lord of Fire, Ragnaros is staggeringly ancient, having existed pretty much as long as Azeroth. Embodying fire's drive to spread and consume, Ragnaros is a force of pure destruction, and was the boss of WoW's very first raid, The Molten Core. (He would also be the boss of The Firelands later on, when he was killed permanently within the plane of fire).

Sylvanas Windrunner: Sister of Alleria, Sylvanas took over for her older sister as Ranger-General of Quel'thalas right in time for the Undead Scourge, led by Arthas, to carve a path of death and terror through her homeland, killing off 90% of the High Elf population, including her. Arthas personally tore her soul from her body to turn her into a banshee, though she later found her own corpse and possessed it. When the Frozen Throne weakened, Sylvanas was among the first to regain her free will, and led an attempted assassination against Arthas, driving the future Lich King from the Plaguelands. She then rallied the free-willed Undead to become the Forsaken, serving as their "Banshee Queen." However, while she had regained her free will, any semblance of morality had more or less drained out of her, and her rule as Banshee Queen was marked by atrocities. Sylvanas is one of those characters who see-saws between antihero and full-on villain.

Illidan Stormrage: The first Demon Hunter, Illidan was a lowborn Night Elf and twin to Malfurion, who would go on to become the first Druid. Illidan was ambitious, and worked his way up through the ranks of Queen Azshara's mages despite his lack of aristocratic status. When the Legion invaded and Azshara's elite partook of their fel powers, Illidan feigned collaboration but instead used his position to learn all he could about the power that the Legion held and found a way to use it against them. While he played a crucial role in defeating the Legion, many still thought of him as a collaborator, earning him the epithet of The Betrayer. For his crimes, he was imprisoned for ten thousand years, only freed during the Third War so that his expertise could be used again. Truly WoW's most classic antihero, Illidan is ruthlessly pragmatic and makes bold moves that many will... not agree with, though his goals are ultimately for the greater good.

Arthas Menethil: WoW's most iconic villain, Arthas Menethil was the Crown Prince of Lordaeron and protege to the first Paladin (well, the first human paladin,) Uther the Lightbringer. However, his actions when the Scourge began to ravage his kingdom led him to acts of reckless violence and callousness that many would argue showed he had already fallen to evil before he gave his soul to the runeblade Frostmourne. However, with the evil sword in hand, Arthas fully lost his humanity and became a Death Knight, acting as the Scourge's mightiest champion. Ascending the Frozne Throne following his victory over Illidan Stormrage (why Illidan was there is... too complicated for here,) Arthas merged with the Lich King, absorbing Ner'zhul's mind into his own to become the sovereign of the undead and one of the greatest threats Azeroth has ever faced.

Control Resonant Goes Full House of Leaves

 I've made it to (and probably done a fair chunk of) the first zone that isn't presented in your initial vista from the Watchtower, a region called The Underpass. But if you were expecting it to be something like the Lincoln Tunnel, it's... very much not that.

What it is is a departure from the "messed up Manhattan" zones we've had previously, and is instead a descent into a realm that recalls far more the Labyrinth from acknowledged major influence on Control, House of Leaves.

I guess that's the big spoiler, but I'll do a cut to talk about what is going on there:

Park Resonant Down and Probably Really Time to Push the Story Forward

I think (think) that the only things that reset when you clear a zone's Resonant are the assaults and all the monsters, while it looks like things like resource crates and such are just there whenever you want to grab them. Thus, having done a good circuit around the Park and feeling like I had more or less done everything that would be reset, I followed through on taking on my next boss.

While I got the first Resonant (the one in Downtown that is still kind of part of the tutorial) in a single go, the ones in Central and Western Incursion Zone took me four attempts each. The Park one took me three, so I guess consider that progress.

At this point, though, while I know there are other zones to discover, I've done all the Resonants in each of the zones I've had access to, meaning I think I really do need to progress the story in order to get access to more of the world.

Let's talk about that boss:

Going to Moldtown in the Park

 Whatever misgivings I might have about Control Resonant's embrace of somewhat rote open-world gameplay tropes, the world of Control remains one of my favorites in all of gaming. I mean, possessed vending machines as our crystal lizard/treasure goblin equivalent? Fighting evil busses?

There's also the atmosphere you get as you progress into new zones - while Downtown, Western Incursion, and Central are all bright and sunny, there's the noir-ish rainy night of the Evacuation Zone and a sort of false snowy winter of the Park (rather than giant piles of snow, it's Mold growing on everything). While I tend to not focus too much on graphics, Remedy is known for making really gorgeous games, and though I have hit a few hitches with the framerate (I might need to quit out of the game and re-start it in case there's a memory leak) it looks predictably fantastic (though I will say, and this was the case in the first game, for some reason the facial animations are a bit off, which is so strange because Alan Wake II's faces were essentially perfect, and all three use Remedy's in-house Northlight engine).

After some dramatic story-focused missions in the Evacuation Zone, and then some lower-stakes but still weird trips into the subway to align various leylines, I decided to deviate from the path a bit and head into The Park, a zone that at least as far as I can tell is pretty much optional.

There's very little Hiss here, because this is Mold Territory. The enemies are thus a bit more bulky (many Mold enemies have a shield that grows over them that must be broken before you can damage them. Actually, some Hiss have something equivalent, but I think the mechanics work slightly differently). My normal secondary Aberrant form, the massive hammer, is less well-suited to these foes because of their resistance to blunt damage, so I've invested in building up my Drill secondary form, which deals Sharp damage that I believe they are vulnerable to. Likewise, the fiery power I got off the Central Resonant makes building up Falter on them very quick.

Still, maybe they're just tougher enemies or maybe my tactics have become too focused on Hiss-fighting, but I do find I'm ending combat with more missing health (still not dying). Theoretically, if the enemies in the game are finite in number (at least the Heavies) then I suppose that there also might actually be finite health to pick up. Still, there are enough free health pickups that I don't imagine you'll ever be truly on the edge of things without any way to recover (this ain't a survival horror game).

Seeking out a hidden resource box I think I had missed in the Patterned Factory in Central (I still didn't find it) I went back to the boss' room to see if you could re-fight them. It does not appear that you can, though I wonder if we'll get a SHUM arcade cabinet that allows it at some point (perhaps even added in a patch or DLC). Again, I think that the bosses in Resonant are truly the best that Remedy's ever done (well, of the three prior games of theirs I have played). Monty Zander would be very pleased to know (I'm sure he's playing it) that the bosses do not rely on having a bunch of swarming smaller enemies to inflate the pressure (ironically, this would make the fights easier because it would give you a chance to recover health outside getting the bosses to certain health percentages).

I've found what looks like the entrance to the Park's "boss dungeon" area, though I'm hesitant to go in there until I've fully explored the Park and fought everything there, to take best advantage of the resources I can gain.

I do think I'd prefer a version of this where things were just kind of farmable - that they're respawn either simply over time or, in the style of Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom (which I have to imagine was an inspiration for this) have periodic events where everything comes back (actually when you beat a Resonant, there's a similar animation to the Blood Moon one where you see Hiss and Mold enemies pop back into existence).

Still finding more hidden Secret Organization cells around the city, including at least two that have been in Atlantis Cafes (which seem to be kind of the equivalent of Starbucks - I get that for a game world this big, having them as a chain rather than unique coffee shops helps as you only have to make a single set of assets. You find yourself in a lot of laundromats, gyms, and cafes). Still no direct confirmation that it's the Blessed Organization, but I'm leaning that way.

I realize that by slow-playing the main story quests I really shouldn't complain about the slow drip of the story. I think I want to just do a few more things in the Park and then continue on. (There's one infuriating elevator near a fast-travel door where Underhill's lab is set up in the Park - naturally she's studying the Mold and as unpleasant as she was before - that has a power block, but I cannot for the life of me find the energized block to transfer the energy to it. So while I can get back to that part of the Park via fast travel, it's not the usual convenient "you've opened this door as a shortcut" that it ought to be.)

I did do one side quest that was weirdly anticlimactic - it seems to be completed, but I must have picked dialogue choices that gave it the more mundane conclusion - I found a woman out in the Park who said that her twin sister was still stuck in their old apartment. The sister seemed weird, but I basically just told her to hang tight and the FBC would evacuate her, then went and told the first sister. Given that the quest was called "Carbon Copy," I expected something weird like the twins actually being two Mold-based pod people who split from one another or something, but as far as I can tell, it was just the most basic of "go here and talk to this person" quests, which... it can't have just been that, right?

I also continue to find Taxis in each zone - I don't love this style of "there's one of these in every zone" style of quests, but I do find the Taxi Dimension really atmospheric and cool. It also gives us the kind of simple puzzles that Jesse had in the Oceanview Motel, which are not very hard but just feel kind of satisfying to scratch that itch.

I'm trying to do my best to avoid any kind of guides or suggestions on builds here and take the game in on its own terms. (I did momentarily fear I was screwing up the last of the subway puzzles for the main quest, but the IGN guide was so confusingly worded that I found it easier to just trust my own instincts and ignore it. Perhaps there's a lesson in this?)

I have stockpiled seven Reset items that let you reassign your talent points, as well as I think resources spent on Aberrant upgrades, as well as swapping the powers you get from the Resonants. So far, though, I have felt mostly happy with what I've got. I have a ton of Talents on my tree that have a big "this doesn't interact with any abilities you currently have" sign, which probably means I need to get fighting more Resonants.

I'm given to understand that Control Resonant has sold very well - there was a pretty concerted marketing effort, and I wonder if the switch to melee action appealed to more people. Frankly, my relationship with Remedy today is basically "whatever gameplay you like is fine (except online multiplayer, apparently,) as long as I get that signature weird style and story." I do hope that this means that rumors of the studio struggling to stay open will fade in the wake of a big success.

Truly, it's one of the most unique creative forces in the industry, and I think the medium is far richer for it being around.

A Trip to the Evacuation Zone Gives Control Resonant an Infusion of Stakes

 In my last post, I talked about how the need to broaden out the options for players to do countless tasks across Control Resonant's open-world warped Manhattan can wind up messing with the game's pacing and stakes. Yeah, I'm never going to complain about a very good dog appearing in a video game, but I don't know that it needs to appear in every zone with more or less the same task each time.

The Resonants are, so far, all banger boss fights, with unique designs and exciting challenges. But I sort of wish that their role was felt more across their respective zones as an embodiment of what in particular is going on there. Instead, these bosses feel more like just another category of objective on the map, which is a shame.

However, a mission sending me into the Evacuation Zone was a real highlight. Simon Arish, just a plucky mid-ranked security agent in the first game who got very suddenly promoted to Head of Security after everyone above him turned either Hiss or dead, is now also acting co-director of the FBC along with Emily Pope.

I guess we gotta start doing spoiler cuts.