PlayStation fans are quite a discerning bunch, and not all of them wait with bated breath for the next shooter, Soulslikes, or cinematic action-adventure title. Sometimes, all it takes is a well-realized power fantasy to come along and shake things up to get players excited about the platform’s ability to give gamers what they want. They want a specific feeling from their games, and inFAMOUS is a title that immediately comes to mind as one whose vibe manages to stand out even after all these years.
It’s easy to see why that’s the case, with Delsin being able to harness some impossible powers in a game that lets you soar across Seattle and lay waste to anyone who opposes you by hijacking their powers or turning the very world around you into potent weapons, while shaping the course of the city through your choices. Well, Control Resonant may not bring all of that to the table, and it certainly isn’t trying to replace inFAMOUS, but it might be the next best thing you can play on the PS5 if you’re looking for a power trip.
We’ve got a few reasons as to why we think that’s the case, and, as always, are happy to share them with you. Let’s get right to it!
The Fantasy of Night On Unlimited Power
Let’s begin by taking a closer look at what inFAMOUS was all about before we pit it against Resonant and bring out the similarities. Sucker Punch’s take on unlimited power is best looked at through the lens of Second Son, which gave us superhuman powers, some very cool traversal abilities, player choice, and some brilliant combat, letting us loose in a version of Seattle that was taken over by the D.U.P.
Delsin had the unique ability of absorbing the powers of other Conduits, giving him literal superpowers that let him take on enemies with style and substance, while traversing Seattle in ways that gave an interesting layer of verticality to the game’s world. It was all designed around creative player expression, and the presentation made his powers look and feel spectacular.
All of this is going to sound familiar if you’ve been keeping up with Resonant’s promotional material, except that it’s Manhattan that serves as the stage for the action. The Hush has turned it into a warped version of itself, while Dylan has a transforming Aberrant weapon and powers that let him harness the elements to devastate his foes in a combat system that’s quite a radical departure from what was on offer in the first game. It isn’t a direct copy, but the similarities are there.
The biggest difference we can point out is tonal. While inFAMOUS had a vibe that screamed comic-book rebellion, Resonant brings hints of the supernatural, with cosmic horror, bureaucracy, and psychological weirdness that stems from the collapse of reality in Manhattan, thanks to the FBC being unable to keep up with the threat currently plaguing the city. Its predecessor was about being confined in a lonely house, while this one is about letting loose in a city that seems built for it.
Between inFAMOUS and Resonant, there are two very different takes on superpowers, with the former making them feel almost fashionable, while the latter aims to make them feel frightening and unstable, and we wonder if the world is going to be able to contain them as the story unfolds and reality continues to collapse in on itself.
Well, that’s the similarities dealt with. It’s time to dive deeper into how Resonant could set itself apart, whilst still being a respectful nod to inFAMOUS.
An Ever-Shifting Stage For Some Spectacular Fights
Manhattan has often been presented as a major draw in Resonant, with Remedy pointing to its perception-bending locations, gravity anomalies, and shifting landscapes, and the entire city being transformed by an almost god-like force. When combined with the rest of what’s on offer, it becomes more than just Control being taken outside of the bounds of the FBC’s HQ, but a whole new experience that takes the gameplay loop in a new direction. On its own, that change could make Resonant feel sort of like a homage to the superhero city sandbox that inFAMOUS was, albeit packaged with an exciting new premise.
Of course, the combat system is where that direction becomes an exciting journey. Dylan’s Aberrant weapon takes many shapes, and the entire system is driven by controlled aggression that feeds into unbridled power. Your combat resources constantly recharge the more scraps you get into; your abilities can stun enemies to keep them out of the fight while you deal with their buddies, and you even get a damage buff when executing one or more of them.
Pit that against Control, which was more about telekinetic chaos, and Resonant seems geared towards sustaining your forward momentum with a more visceral approach to taking on enemies. You’re always on the move, flitting between enemies and keeping them on the back foot to retain control of the battlefield at all times. It looks and feels like a power fantasy, a facet of the experience that Second Son understood very well.
However, the action-RPG layer that Resonant is bringing to the table could be seen as a difference from Second Son, where new powers came to you as part of the story and from exploring Seattle. You were simply unlocking them before learning how to use them, whereas Resonant brings weapon forms, supernatural abilities, and talents, all of which can’t be obtained in a single playthrough.
It’s a more build-focused approach, and is one in which you’re not just unlocking new powers, but transforming Dylan into a para-natural weapon that you then get to wield as you see fit. But despite that difference in progression philosophies, Resonant does feel like it pays homage to Second Son by making its protagonist the center of the game’s power, feeding all of it into him, and allowing players to mix and match between abilities to put their own stamp on how they take down the threats they face.
The Illusion of Power
With all that’s been said, you might think that we’re saying Resonant is the new inFAMOUS, but that’s hardly the case. It isn’t integrating a morality system into its gameplay loop, for starters, which was one of the things that made Second Son stand out, and a great reason to dive right into a new playthrough on that one.
Its premise doesn’t dive into rebellion as a core theme, which was a major part of Delsin’s character arc as he tried to save his tribe, and the Conduits, from an antagonist who was hellbent on destroying them. Dylan’s on a different, more personal journey in Resonant, though, and although his story might seem like a similar kind of superhero urban sandbox like the one on offer in Second Son, that’s far from it.
Remedy’s take on this unique niche isn’t about sticking it to the man in the way that Delsin found himself forced to do, thanks to the circumstances that were set up by the first two inFAMOUS games. Things are different in Remedy’s upcoming title, and in a way that makes sense for the kind of experience it’s trying to sell.
Resonant is a tad weirder than that, and brings handcrafted zones with shifting factional alliances, secrets to uncover, environmental challenges that lean into the paranormal elements that the Control franchise is known for, World Quests, and a combat system that might use the same superhero concept, but expresses it in an entirely different way. The goal isn’t just to blaze a path through the main story, or to just “clear” the map, but to let all of that happen organically as you explore its take on Seattle.
It’s a kind of game design that had begun to take root around the time Second Son came along, but has since evolved with the advent of current-gen hardware that makes presenting such an experience as seamlessly as a studio can possibly manage in ways that the PS4 couldn’t manage. It’s about facing a warped version of Manhattan on your own terms, without the game dictating the kind of abilities you were given, which is a marked departure from Second Son, where a lot of Delsin’s core abilities came via the story.
However, the two titles do coincide by filling a very specific gap: giving players a game where they get to be stylish superheroes in a modern city. Control Resonant might not fill that gap in the same way as any of the inFAMOUS games, but it does take its own approach to those specific needs for players.
It’s a more violent, bizarre, Remedy-flavored take on a beloved formula that’s been seriously underutilized in the years since Second Son graced our screens. It’s not the superpowered fantasy that we may have wanted from another addition to the inFAMOUS lineup, but perhaps it’s the one we need right now after a very long gap from Sucker Punch’s famous (pun intended) franchise.
And for that, we’re just delighted.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
