Control Resonant's Launch Hotfix Fixes My Biggest Complaint

Remedy deployed a launch day hotfix for Control Resonant that boosts combat, addressing the damage sponginess I complained about in my review.

Ever had a game patch drop right after you reviewed it, making your main criticism obsolete? That's exactly what happened to me with Control Resonant. It launched today, and Remedy dropped a hotfix that fixes the one thing I couldn't stop complaining about.

In my review, I called it peak Remedy—a gorgeously surreal atmosphere you can sink into. But the combat system, which revolves around building up ways to turn your weak attacks into heavy hitters, made most monster fights a slog. Enemies had inflated health pools, so you'd spend hours chipping away at health bars. It was my biggest gripe.

Then, ahead of launch, Remedy released hotfix 1.3.3. In a Steam news post, they said they'd been "keeping a close eye" on player feedback and decided to juice protagonist Dylan Faden's combat performance. They specifically addressed enemy health pools feeling too high, requiring too many hits to Falter (stun) enemies for executions, and Dylan's overall combat strength early on not feeling powerful enough—even if the man just woke up from a coma.

In other words, Remedy took the advice I gave in my review—that players should use Assist Mode settings to boost Dylan's outgoing damage and Falter buildup—and made it the default experience. So now everyone gets to enjoy a smoother, more powerful Dylan from the start. And that's fine! It's fine. It'll be a better time for everyone else. It's just that I fought a lot of things during those 30 hours of my life. That's all. But I'm fine!

If you still want to tweak things further, Remedy notes there's a suite of granular Assist Mode options. You can adjust enemy aggression, ability recovery rates, and even turn Dylan invulnerable, essentially setting combat to "no." If that sounds appealing, go with God. I won't judge. It's not like it's your job to know. And if it was someone's job, I'm sure they'd be acting very normal about it.

Control Resonant is available now on Steam. Whether you're a newcomer or a returning fan, the launch hotfix should make your experience much smoother. So, will you be picking it up? What do you think of Remedy's quick response to feedback? Let us know in the comments!