While Remedy Entertainment still hasn’t revealed the release date for Control Resonant, it offers new details on what to do after finishing the game. Lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov explains on the PlayStation Blog that pretty much everything from the first playthrough carries over, including Aberrant upgrades, abilities, Artifacts, and more.
The exception is traversal abilities since they tie into the story, but New Game Plus isn’t about just facing tougher enemies. “One of the goals for New Game Plus is to give players more room to experiment with builds that weren’t possible during the first playthrough, as you cannot unlock everything in your arsenal in one go,” says Mohov.
New talent nodes are one such means to mix things up, and being able to equip multiple abilities from a boss (likely the Resonants) is also pretty cool. Also, you can unlock a fourth slot for Artifacts which offer “passive modifiers” and help with exploration, resources, and whatnot, but also have “conditions or trade-offs.”
Along with discovering Artifacts, they can be crafted in the Gap, Dylan’s mind space. But what can you do with all this power? Face a world that’s evolved significantly.
“Enemies grow more dangerous, encounters shift, and even familiar fights can take on new dimensions. Some bosses may surprise you with new behaviors, forcing you to rethink strategies that once worked,” says Mohov. “A fight you handled one way before may require a completely different approach the next time you face it.” Given that the Hiss and Mold are already much more complex and aggressive than the first game, you have to wonder how Remedy will up the ante further.
While World Quests, bounties, collectibles and side stories will become available once more, it seems that the latter can have “different outcomes.” If nothing else, New Game Plus lets you see where they may lead.
Control Resonant is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Head here for more details on how it connects to the original while standing apart.
