Today, Remedy has released a brand new development diary for CONTROL Resonant, this time exploring the weirder world beyond The Oldest House.
In the third instalment, we hear how the team approached creating a new, complementary identity for the sequel and learn more about some of the new enemy types (including *check notes* a bus) lurking in the shadows. With Control as the starting point, they drew inspiration from art exhibitions, film, TV, and nature to steer their unique look.
In this diary, we hear from a selection of talented devs, including Elmeri Raitanen (Art Director), Sergey Mohov (Lead Gameplay Designer), Mikael Kasurinen (Creative Director), Anne-Marie Grönroos (Lead Level Designer), and Annika Lehitnen (Lead Gameplay Animator).
You can check out the third development diary for CONTROL Resonant below or on the studio's YouTube channel, HERE!
CONTROL Resonant - A Paranaturally Warped Manhattan | Development Diary Transcript
Elmeri Raitanen: We had to start to think about the world-building a little bit differently.
Sergey Mohov: There are a lot of intricate environments for the player to explore.
Mikael Kasurinen: Where to go from here? We want to burst that bubble.
CONTROL Resonant - A Paranaturally Warped Manhattan Intro
Mikael Kasurinen: The setting in the first CONTROL game was unique. It all took place in a single building, which was part of the point. Right? Like that it feels like a secluded, separate space from the rest of the world. You feel like you're in this kind of a bubble, isolated from normal life and familiar things. And so on, you're within a lockdown. And having this sense of isolation in the first game was crucial. And we had this brutalist architectural style that was like a key part of the visual DNA of the building and so on. And you had this Bureau that was backwards leaning in its, kind of, a presence and so on. So it was this kind of a strange yet familiar kind of a bubble that you're in.And of course, as creators, when we think about like where to go from here, we want to burst that bubble, right? Like, you know, the lockdown falls apart and we get exposed with the normal world.
Sergey Mohov: Manhattan has been shaped and twisted into a labyrinth. So, there are a lot of intricate environments for the player to explore, similar to Control 1. So there's still quite a lot of interesting stuff for the player to find. We've also introduced a couple of new types of narrative collectibles for the players to find. One is audio logs where, as you're listening to the audio log, you can continue parkouring around the city, exploring and finding other stuff. We also have given Dylan a radio, which you can use to call up his handler Zoe, to report interesting things he sees around the city.
Elmeri Raitanen: So in Control, Brutalism was at the core of the experience because of the Oldest House, naturally. And in CONTROL Resonant we really had to make sure that from a world-building point of view, we have this mundane and grounded and believable and lived-in baseline in the world. In order for the paranatural to really shine. It's very important for us, specifically when doing concepting and visual exploration, not to 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's taking risks and everything starts to resemble each other. So looking at reference from art exhibitions or film and TV or scientific visualizations or nature; if it helps us to bring some new fresh takes into the singularity, I feel like it's going to be worth it and the player will appreciate it as well.
Anne-Marie Grönroos: Well, imagine that there's a place that was a Manhattan, but it has been taken over by a paranatural force that may or may not have been in the first game, it might be something, completely new, We actually have multiple factions in this game. So, there are some zones where you can find all of these factions from, I think, almost... actually I think all the zones in the game. But how much of these factions have presence in its zone that differs.
Elmeri Raitanen: Now that things are flooding from the Oldest House into Manhattan, we had to start to think about the world-building a little bit differently. So now it's not just FBC holding on and trying to gain control, but it's more of a world, a lived-in world, that has a history of its own already. And there are different factions that are basically trying to gain control in our world
Annika Lehitnen: For the enemies in Control Resonant we definitely heard the feedback, and have tried to address the feedback we got for Control. So this time around, we have way more creatures than we did before. One of the enemies that we, for example, have is a bus. So, that obviously creates a little bit of challenge for the animation team of, what can you actually do with this bus... when you have limited controls on it? A lot of the Hiss enemies, they are creatures, but we still have used a mo-cap actor to mock up some of the some of the enemies. And we have one mo-cap actor, so freaking amazing, nailing down the Hiss twitching and glitching. So Tomas Nielsen, he's our go-to guy when it comes to Hiss enemies that can be mo-capped.
Mikael Kasurinen: The Hiss and Mold are there, but of course, we’re introducing a lot of new things as well. And it's a fun layering of familiar things, but definitely facing new challenges.
