10 Control Resonant beginner's tips and tricks

Control Resonant, the sequel to Remedy's hit 2019 title, is finally here, only this time you'll be playing as Dylan Faden, Jesse's younger brother. You'll be revisiting Control's downright bizarre world, but this time, you'll head outside of the Oldest House and into New York City. The only problem is that so is The Hiss. As you try to contain the paranatural, you'll face off against powerful resonants and wacky altered items, but if you're prepared, you'll take them down with a breeze. Here's 10 beginner's tips and tricks to help you contain the paranatural forces in Control Resonant. Unlock the map first When you first enter an area, the map will be covered in fog, but there'll be an antenna icon showing you the location of a pylon. Make your way over to find a big pole with three satellite dishes on it. You need to find and activate three sensors, which look like big satellite dishes, and then return to the pylon to reveal the map. Image: Remedy Entertainment via Polygon Before you run off in a random direction to find the sensors, look at the satellite dishes on the pylon: Each satellite dish will point to one of the sensors. Look around each zone for goodies Some of the best parts of Control Resonant can only be found if you explore each area. There are side quests that provide you with some of the best story moments that are bizarre, funny, and sometimes a bit nerve-racking. You'll also get a few upgrade materials in the process. However, some of the best things you'll find as you explore are health and power upgrade points. These will, well, increase your maximum health and power, allowing you to survive against those pesky enemies and cast more combat abilities. Don't let a locked door stop you from exploring Doors unlocked from the other side, wooden doors, garage doors, doors covered in red goop, doors covered in mold, metal doors ... the list goes on and on, but there's always a way to open them. Below, we've listed how to open every door you'll encounter early on in Control Resonant: Doors unlocked from the other side: Look for another way into the building (usually from the roof) or head to the next zone, and then unlock the door from the other side. Wooden doors: Break the wood using the secondary form of your weapon. Garage doors: Look for an electrical box with a red light, and hit it with your weapon. Doors covered in red goop: Defeat the bigger enemies in the area, or follow the red trails to an enemy and defeat them. Doors covered in mold: Use fire to get rid of the mold. Metal doors: Hit the doors with the Crush secondary weapon or Ground Slam combat ability. Doors unlocked with a key: Keys are usually obtained through side quests, so look for side quests in the zone and progress through them. Security clearance doors: FBC Security Clearance keycards are primarily given through the "Contain the Crisis" main quest, but other keycards, like the Mobile Research Station or Oldest House Storage Room keycard, can be found in side quests. Read the collectibles There are a ton of collectibles scattered around the map, which in turn means there's a ton of notes and files to read. So much reading that your playtime will probably increase by a couple of hours if you thoroughly read them all, but it's very much worth it. The collectibles will make the world feel more immersive with lore, and even provide you with hints to an upcoming puzzle. Visit the Gap often The Gap is where you can upgrade your Aberrant weapon, craft artifacts, and unlock talents. As you progress in the story and explore each area, you'll quickly gather source, materials, reset points, and zone XP. If you ever think, "Wow, these enemies are doing a lot of damage to me now," make sure to head to the Gap by pressing G on keyboard or down on the D-pad on controller, and spend those resources. Find the vendor in each area While you do get resources fairly quickly, there will be moments where you need something specific to upgrade your weapons and combo finishers. Rather than hunting down a specific enemy, we recommend going to a vendor, which will have a huge selection of upgrade and crafting materials for you to purchase. Image: Remedy Entertainment via Polygon Be on the lookout for an ice cream truck, which will also always have an ice cream stand with a health point upgrade in it. As you level up a zone, the vendor will have more items available for purchase. Use the Assist Mode to make your life easier (or harder) Control Resonant's Assist Mode works a little differently than other games. You can make the game easier by reducing incoming damage, increasing the perfect dodge window, and even giving yourself powerful buffs like immortality and one-hit kills. However, you can also make the game harder by reducing your damage output, increasing incoming damage, and making enemies more aggressive. If you're worried about missing out on achievements or trophies, don't fret, as there is no penalty for using the assist mode. You'll still unlock achievements even if you one-hit your way through the entire game. Beat the lesser enemies to heal You'll often find yourself facing off against waves and waves of enemies, and your health will just whittle away. In these situations, don't focus too hard on the bigger enemies. Quickly clear out the lesser enemies, pick up the little blue health fragments to heal yourself, and then defeat the bigger enemies. It may seem counterintuitive at times, as there's more incentive to go for the bigger enemies, but if you're ever in a pinch, go for the little guys. Faults and resonants unlock more abilities Image: Remedy Entertainment via Polygon Faults and resonants are crucial to your playthrough, as they'll unlock more movement and combat abilities, respectively. As you're exploring Manhattan, you'll often see roads that go straight up or translucent light-bending orbs that rest at the edge of a building. Completing faults will grant you traversal abilities that let you walk on walls and propel yourself to the orbs, which will in turn give you more areas to explore. Be on the lookout for any visions of Jesse, because that means a fault is nearby. On the other hand, resonants are bosses. When you defeat them, you'll unlock additional combat abilities to use. At the end of the prologue, you'll face off against your first resonant, and you'll need to choose from the three combat abilities. You don't necessarily need to defeat every resonant to complete the game, but doing so will give you more powers and make combat a bit easier and exciting. Defeating a resonant will refresh your zones When you defeat a resonant, a new resonant cycle will occur — meaning enemies in every zone will respawn and they'll be a bit more difficult. Additionally, there'll be more world feats for you to take on. As everything is a little harder, you'll gain more high quality resources in the process. Before you take down a resonant, you should consider taking on a few side activities, like finding the mysterious dog's toy or completing world feats. If you've already defeated all the enemies in a zone, you can freely explore an area without having to deal with pesky enemies, making side quests and challenges a little less tedious.