AI Summary
5 min readControl Resonant: A Game That Rewards Your Patience
The Nintendo employee caught Griffin mid-squeeze. He was in the Zelda blind box section, feeling each bag to avoid getting the stack of bombs keychain, when a store worker walked over and said, "Hey man, squeezing those bags, huh?" Then came the permission that made it worse: "Yeah, man, feel for what you got." Griffin ended up buying blind anyway and got a Ganon keychain. "Was it worth it? No," he said. "As far as psychic damage." That story captures something about the game the Besties spent most of the episode discussing: Control Resonant, Remedy's latest, is a game that asks you to endure an awkward, underpowered opening before it lets you feel like a superhero.
The Slow Burn to Something Genuinely Novel
Control Resonant is a sequel to Control, but it barely feels like one. You play as Dylan Faden, the brother of the first game's protagonist, waking from a coma in a Manhattan that has been "patterned"—folded in on itself like something out of Inception. The Federal Bureau of Control's containment has broken, and the city is now an open world where buildings tilt sideways and Central Park has become a mold-infested wasteland.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Blind Box Bag Saga** - Griffin recounts a stressful trip to the Nintendo Store, culminating in a shameful attempt to feel up a Zelda blind box bag to avoid getting the bombs.
- 2 (04:19) **Introducing Control: Resonant** - The hosts frame the episode around Remedy's latest game, a sequel to *Control* starring the brother from the previous game.
- 3 (06:00) **Initial Impressions: Gameplay vs. Vibes** - The hosts debate Remedy's historical weakness in making games that are "traditionally fun to play."
- 4 (07:51) **The World and Its Mechanics** - A deep dive into the setting, the "oldest house," and the core gameplay loop of using a shapeshifting pipe weapon.
- 5 (10:54) **The Crucial First Hour Problem** - The hosts warn listeners that the game starts slow and underpowered, requiring patience before it opens up.
- 6 (12:36) **Difficulty Settings: The "Assist Mode" Savior** - A practical recommendation to adjust the game's difficulty to maximize enjoyment, a key theme of the episode.
- 7 (14:50) **Builds and Power Interactions** - The hosts discuss their favorite weapon and power combinations that make the combat system shine.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Control Resonant is technically a sequel to 2019’s Control. But developer Remedy has (as they often do) opted to stretch the definition of sequel as far as possible, converting the third-person shooter series into an open-world action game. Shockingly, it works… once you get your sea-legs. Plus, we talk about how the release of Gears of War: E-DAY falls in the shadow of the brutal layoffs and changes at Xbox.
Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!
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