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.
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