More details have emerged about Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming sequel, Control Resonant, by way of a developer diary that focuses on the action RPG’s world.
In it, several members of the team discuss the differences between this new game and the original, especially the move from a harsh, oppressive interior environment to a much wider exterior space.
The video also touches on things like enemy variety, which is greatly expanded in Resonant, as well as performance capture and other elements like audio logs that help sell the world-building.
One interesting comment comes from art director Elmeri Raitanen, who says the team purposely refrained from looking at references from other AAA video games.
This was in order to avoid what he calls an “aesthetic singularity” that games at this level of production tend to be heading towards.
“It’s very important for us, specifically when doing concepting and visual exploration, to not look at reference from other video games. There’s easily this tendency where AAA games start to all gravitate towards this aesthetic singularity, and nobody is taking risks, and everything starts to resemble each other.
So looking at reference from art exhibitions, or film and TV, or scientific visualisations, or nature — if it helps us to bring some new, fresh takes into the singularity, I feel like it’s gonna be worth it, and the player will appreciate it as well.”
It seems that the idea behind this approach is to ensure Resonant avoids looking like other games on the market, and stays true to the unusual identity of its world.
“In Control Resonant, we really had to make sure that, from a world building point of view, we have this mundane, grounded, believable, and lived-in baseline in the world in order for the paranatural to really shine,” Raitanen says.
Elsewhere, a recent PS Blog post has revealed New Game Plus mode for Resonant, which sounds more or less like what you’d expect.
New Game Plus mode allows you to restart the game but with much of your progress intact. While traversal abilities do not carry over as they’re tied to the story progression, you’ll have all your upgrades and unlocks at your disposal.
This will enable you to dive even deeper into skill trees and experiment with more complex builds, while also facing greater challenges when fighting regular enemies and bosses.
