The landscape of modern action-RPGs has long been defined by a tension between developer intent and player accessibility. For years, the "soulslike" philosophy—which often prioritizes uncompromising difficulty as a core tenet of the experience—has dominated the discourse. However, Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind the celebrated Control franchise, has taken a decidedly different approach with its latest release, Control Resonant. Rather than forcing players to hit a wall of frustration, the studio has implemented a sophisticated, highly granular Assist Mode that aims to keep players engaged in the narrative and world-building without stripping the game of its mechanical depth.
Much like its 2019 predecessor, Control Resonant begins at a measured, almost deliberate pace. Players are introduced to the protagonist, Dylan, and a suite of initial weapon powers and abilities that feel somewhat limited in the game’s opening hours. To call the early game a "slog" would be an understatement; it is a period of adjustment that requires significant patience. Interestingly, Remedy recognized this potential barrier to entry, implementing adjustments to the game’s pacing and difficulty settings just before the title went on sale. This proactive balancing act suggests that the studio is keenly aware of the modern player’s time and the necessity of maintaining momentum to keep audiences invested in the FBC’s latest paranatural mystery.
Even with these adjustments, the game presents legitimate challenges. A standard playthrough, inclusive of the various side quests and distractions that make the world of Control so compelling, can easily reach the 50-hour mark. During such an extensive run, players are bound to encounter spikes in difficulty. One particularly memorable sector of Manhattan, reclaimed by nature and overtaken by a persistent, mold-spewing infestation, proved to be a major hurdle. Even with Dylan’s gravity-defying mobility—his ability to float and dash across combat arenas—the environment itself serves as a constant threat. Poisonous zones chip away at health pools, while enemies prove surprisingly resilient to standard ballistic weaponry. It is a classic lesson in adaptation; as I eventually discovered, the environment demands specific tools, such as fire-based resonance powers, which are gated behind a challenging boss encounter.
The design of these challenges speaks to Remedy’s penchant for creating memorable, if occasionally punishing, boss encounters. As the game enters its final acts, it falls into a common trap within the action-RPG genre: the "damage sponge" problem. Players often find themselves repeating established attack patterns and cycling through their favorite combos for extended periods until a boss’s health bar is finally depleted. While the repetition can be a source of fatigue, Remedy’s artistic direction remains a highlight. The visual design of these threats is consistently inventive; one particular encounter featuring a puppet-dancer amalgam stands out as a high-water mark for the game’s creature design, blending surrealist horror with tight, kinetic combat.
For those who find these hurdles insurmountable, Remedy has eschewed the traditional "Easy/Medium/Hard" difficulty sliders in favor of an expansive Assist Mode. This feature, which debuted in the original Control via a post-launch update, has been refined and integrated into the core of Control Resonant from day one. It is not a blunt instrument designed to "nerf" the game, but rather a surgical set of tools that allows players to tailor the experience to their specific needs.
The Assist Mode in Control Resonant is organized into three distinct presets that provide a baseline for the user: easy, high-risk, and low-risk. The "high-risk" option increases damage dealt by both the player and the enemies, heightening the tension, while "low-risk" scales down incoming damage, providing a more forgiving buffer for those primarily interested in the story. However, the true strength of the system lies in its granular customizability. Players can independently adjust parameters such as damage output, player damage resistance, and "falter damage," which dictates how easily an enemy can be staggered or knocked off balance. Tuning the falter damage higher allows players to more frequently trigger the game’s satisfying, cinematic execution animations, turning the tide of a battle through sheer force. Furthermore, if a particular encounter is characterized by overwhelming numbers of foes, players can reduce enemy aggression or slow down incoming projectiles, allowing for more strategic positioning and crowd management.
While the game offers a gentle warning that the intended experience is best enjoyed with default settings—a recommendation I followed for the bulk of my playthrough—the inclusion of these tools is a game-changer for accessibility. In the post-game, when taking on high-level "Apex" monsters that guard valuable build materials and currency, I found that making subtle tweaks to power recovery and falter damage allowed me to feel like a master of the paranatural. It transformed the experience from a desperate struggle for survival into a rewarding display of power fantasy.
There is, of course, a philosophical question to be asked about whether these assists diminish the sense of accomplishment. By lowering the stakes, one might argue that some of the "delight" of overcoming a difficult boss is lost. It will be fascinating to see how the streaming community utilizes these features. Will they use them to showcase high-level mechanical prowess, or will they leverage them to move quickly through the narrative to focus on the world-building? Given how much there is to uncover in Control Resonant—from the intricate lore of Jesse, Dylan, and the Federal Bureau of Control to the environmental puzzles involving taxis, laundromats, and diners—it is easy to see why players would want to avoid getting stuck on a single combat encounter for hours. Some of these side activities are so well-realized that they possess the narrative depth of an episode of Doctor Who.
Throughout my journey, the balance between player level and enemy difficulty felt generally fair, yet the frustration of chipping away at a massive health bar while being slowly overwhelmed is a feeling that many will recognize. Remedy’s Day 1 patch appears to have done the necessary work to flatten these curves, making the opening hours of the game feel more accessible than they might have been otherwise. For those struggling with the mold-infested zones of Manhattan, the advice remains simple: seek out those fire-based paranatural powers early. They are the key to turning a miserable slog into a manageable, rewarding experience.
Ultimately, Control Resonant succeeds because it respects the player’s agency. By offering these tools, Remedy ensures that the game’s dense, imaginative world is not gated behind a wall of mechanical perfection. Whether one chooses to play on the intended difficulty or opts to tweak the variables to suit their playstyle, the core of the experience remains intact: a strange, beautiful, and deeply engrossing descent into the unknown.
