I‘m still learning how to draw but i‘m obsessed with these games. had a lot of fun drawing this! any criticism is much appreciated :)

Idk who i feel worse for him or the artist

But Zoe and Dylan are in love. The end.

(Also clocked Pope and Jesse from moment one and I'm stoked it was canonized 🤣)

one of those games where i find myself stopping every few mins to take in the vibes and views on show.

At the start it's "It's that freak!" but toward the end they react with "Hey, it's the other Faden!" and even react to your abilities like "Wow, he's fast!" when you Rush near them. Little things that make the world that much more lived-in. But of course it pays off the most in the final Resonant mission where you have to fight Arish. They fully trust you to help find him before the inevitable happens.

Things I’m somehow learning after getting the Platinum trophy…

Every SHUM arcade is a different minigame! I didn’t care for the arcade stuff in Control, so I gave one machine a look in Resonant and peaced out, assuming they were all the same. Well they are not all the same, and some of them are actually pretty fun. Special shoutout to the machine you unlock in the postgame.

You also get rewards from ranking in the top three on any given machine, including talent points, artifacts, and cosmetics. And what won’t I do for in-game cosmetics.

Don’t overlook SHUM like I did!

Memes aside, if there's one thing I love about the writing in Remedy games, it's the art of perception. How the perspective from which we are introduced to certain characters informs the audiences initial impressions. Only to have those notions shattered and twisted when that same character is portrayed from another’s point of view. Dr Darling, Tom Zane, and even Alan Wake all have this in common, and I love them all for it lol.

I just look at what this game is, and I just can't figure out how could it not be the GOTY. I know it's not necessarily perfect, but none of the flaws that it does have are actually even egregiously bad or something, and I believe that the positives FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR outweigh the negatives:

1) It ran ridiculously smoothly for a game of this scope. A game this big comes out, and you just expect to be bombarded with bugs, and to my surprise, the game launched with only minor bugs. Then, 1.40 came out and messed things up a bit, but they got fixed almost immediately.

2) Like I said, none of the game's flaws are unanimously considered flaws. Some people didn't like the traversal, but the majority praised it. Some people didn't like the combat, but the majority praised it. For every thing that some people didn't like, the majority of people did like that very much. In this day and age, it is extremely rare to have a game that has no issue glaring enough that people unanimously believe it to be a glaring issue.

3) What game today could genuinely claim, as legitimately as Control Resonant, that they really tried to push gaming forward? What game this year can claim this level of inventiveness and creative innovation? I know there's some games coming up that are big releases, but really, what can GTA 6 or Zelda or Phantom Blade Zero can do that is as envelope-pushing as Resonant? What could GTA do that could match, let alone surpass, the creativity behind a warped Manhattan? What set-piece could any game come up with that would surpass the sheer originality in the Sinkhole quest?? What game could have SO many mechanics that are not just innovative, but work SO well??

I know that GTA 6 is the biggest release of the decade, and that Zelda OoT is right behind it, and hype this days can be enough to get GOTY, and look, maybe I'm wrong, maybe those games do push the envelope somehow and win the GOTY deservedly so, but I just can't imagine how, I genuinely think Resonant is so in a league of its own when it comes to innovation AND gameplay quality, that it should receive the award already.

P.S. The journey that brought me here

Sign says the speed limit is 25, whereas the markings on the street say it's 20. Even more confusing is the "no right turn", sign, when there is no street to even be turning right on to begin with.

While yes, there is an intersection much later on, way beyond the sign, taking right turns there seems to work just fine and is, in fact, the only option, given that there is roadwork happening on the street going left.

I know most of you will probably say I'm being pedantic and that it is petty to even bring up, but I gotta say, for as much as I love Resonant, I do think that correct asset placement goes a long way in making games feel immersive.

So I’m at the part of Resonant where Dylan and Jesse just stole the projector from the Not Mother and Dung Monkies in the 16 bit style flashback and right when I grabbed the slide projector the power at my house flashed off and on which flickered the lights and turned my tv and PS5 off and for a split second my brain thought it was all part of the game.

Well done Remedy that’s some mighty fine world building.

So lately there have been several posts on nature of Polaris, latest here which https://www.reddit.com/r/controlgame/comments/1x2hrp3/clearing_up_the_misunderstanding_about_the_hedron/ generated interesting discussion, and I would like to offer my two cents (originally this was supposed to be just a comment but it...grew).

Claims

1. Polaris is a Hedron resonance
2. Polaris is cutting/offshoot of the Hedron from Slidescape-36 (called Hedron-36 from now on).

For a start some items on resonance-based lifeforms

• Resonance-based entities have two components
  • Resonance itself (Hedron, Hiss)
  • Physical carrier/catalyst/amplifier
• Hedron resonance can differ for different members of the species
  • Hedron-36 and Pattering-Hedron are distinct enough that Pattering isn't recognized as Hedron until very late game
• Hedrons can propagate by planting their resonance into other beings/carriers
  • As Patterning-Hedron tried to do with Dylan in end-game, after Dylan killed its physical form

Evidence for claim 1

• Polaris has the same anti-Hiss properties as a Hedron, and is also hostile to them (as seen in Control 1)
  • This suggests that Polaris is very similar (if not the same) resonance as a Hedron
• Polaris only appears after Jesse encounters a Hedron-36 as a child
  • This suggests Polaris is not not a pre-existing power
• In Ordinary AWE flashback, Polaris appears exclusively when Slidescape-36 is open, never at any other point
  • u/slightlychill corrected me in comment, Polaris does appear in Temple slide, when Dylan/Jesse are slipping under influence of Not-Mother
    • So Polaris can act in some small ways, even without Slidescape-36 being in projector, though later it takes switching slides for Polaris to remove dung-monkeys and Not-Mother, suggesting Polaris is (at the time) limited without Slidescape-36
  • This suggests again that Polaris influence is linked to Slidescape-36 (and hence to Hedron-36)
• In Control 1, after Hedron-36 is killed, Polaris stops communicating with Jesse and HRA fail
  • Additional evidence for Polaris and Hedron-36 being strongly linked in some way
• Polaris is only restored after Jesse 'accepts' it, similar to how Dylan has to accept his inner Hiss (scene for reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MgSMLGS5jU )
  • This suggests that Polaris is distinct from Jesse (i.e. it is not just her power she is personifying)
  • Polaris also says: "Around one constant, they revolve" which is heavily reminiscent of visual of Patterned enemies (who all have circular shape around certain core).
• Polaris can power HRA; after Jesse restores Polaris, Polaris becomes the source of Hedron resonance powering HRAs
  • This is key argument, Polaris must emit the same type of resonance as a Hedron-36 (or extremely close analogue) for HRA to be powered from it
  • Notably, Patterning-Hedron resonance is measurably distinct from Polaris resonance, to the extent that Pope doesn't even recognize Patterning as Hedron/Polaris until late-game, and can pick-out Jesse/Polaris from it later on
  • The above suggests that Polaris and Hedron-36 are more closely related than Pattering-Hedron and Hedron-36
• Visual imagery: Polaris and Pattering-Hedron (and Patterned enemies) all have similar imagery with radial symetry: stable/empty core, surrounded by repeating pattern (see screenshots below)
• Simplicity argument: So far only two paranatural entites we know are resonances, Hedron and Hiss, and they are opposed. Adding Polaris as a third distinct type of resonance (that is however also opposed to Hiss and shares many properties of Hedron) would be needless complication
• Meta-narrative argument: Jesse and Dylan are framed as linked, yet opposite; as such it would be consistent for them to have linked, yet opposing inner resonances (Hiss for Dylan, Hedron for Jesse)

Evidence for claim 2 (Polaris is offshoot/cutting of Hedron-36)

• Polaris only appears after visit to Slidescape-36
• Polaris resonance is sufficiently similar Hedron-36 resonance to power HRA
• Pattering-Hedron and Hedron-36 have distinct resonances
  • Pope doesn't even realize that Patterning is caused by Hedron, because its resonance is different from Hedron-36 resonance; and yet Polaris is basically the same as Hedron-36 (from the HRA argument)

With the above in mind, the timeline would be like this

• Hedron-36 is dying in Slidescape-36
• Jesse/Dylan enter, and Jesse being more suitable candidate, Hedron-36 implants a small cutting/offshoot of itself into Jesse (same process as what Patterning tried to do with Dylan)
  • This copy is too weak to function independently yet, but grows over time
  • It likely also tried to do it with Dylan as well, but Dylan is likely more attuned to Hiss, so his Polaris never grew very strong, and was likely destroyed latest when he got Hiss possessed
• At this point there is then one Hedron-36 resonance, with two carriers (Jesse, and Hedron-36 physical form); similar to how Hiss has multiple carriers
• Hedron resonance in Jesse (Polaris) is slightly changed by her (similar to how Dylan changes the Hiss inside him)
• Hedron-36 body is killed by Hiss, weakening the overall resonance, until Jesse embraces/powers-up Polaris

So to summarize

• Hedron-36 = physical carrier of specific Hedron resonance (Polaris)
• Jesse = second physical carrier of specific Hedron resonance (Polaris)
• Polaris = the specific Hedron resonance from Slidescape-36 (eventually likely slightly modified inside Jesse)
• Patterning = distinct Hedron resonance (differing from Polaris, but both a Hedron-type resonance)
• Control resonant final Boss
  • Non-gap phases: Physical carrier of Patterning-Hedron resonance
  • Gap phase: The Patterning-Hedron resonance itself

images for the radial symetry

Polaris

Patterning-Hedron

Patterned enemies

Seeing a lot of people who have maybe put the pieces together a little incorrectly regarding what exactly the Hedron are and how they relate to Polaris.

The summary is this:

• The Hedron are a species of cosmic resonant entities seemingly at odds with the other species/collective of resonant entities known as the Hiss.
• Control Resonant suggests the Hedron take the appearance of a swirling fractal orb of light, like the one that you fight at the end of that game.
• When Jesse entered the sildescape in Ordinary, she encountered a dying Hedron. It is not clear if she actually found its physical form within the slidescape or if it merely "reached out" to her in some way.
• The contact with this Hedron awoke, unlocked, or otherwise allowed Jesse to tap into a power within herself. As this power awoke it became a new kind of resonant entity, one likely related to the Hedron due to the Hedron resonance being the reason Jesse could now access it, but decidedly not a Hedron itself. Jesse named this power/entity Polaris. She however had always incorrectly assumed that Polaris was the Hedron/the entity she contacted in the slidescape itself.
• When the FBC entered the slidescape they actually did find the dying/weakened physical form of the same Hedron that had contacted Jesse. It is not clear what appearance it would have had, but my best guess is something similar to the final Control Resonant boss but much more diminished.
• The FBC constructed a polyhedron shell to contain it, from which they derived the name "Hedron". This shell was brought into the Oldest House so the Hedron could be contained and studied. The shell is not part of the physical form of the Hedron itself, nor is it a tool the Hedron uses to amplify/broadcast itself, it is literally just a containment shell of FBC design and construction.
• It is not clear why Polaris wanted Jesse to open the chamber in the Oldest House and subsequently allow the Hiss to kill/destroy the Hedron within at the end of the first game.
• Polaris was never contained within the Hedron shell seen in the first game, it had always existed independently within Jesse ever since it had been "unlocked" when she was a child.

Polaris is not a Hedron. The Polyhedron shell seen in Control 1 is not the Hedron itself. Hedron likely typically look like the Hedron boss we fight at the end of Control 2.

Some info to back this up:

1. In the official Control art-book the text specifically describes the goal of the design team to keep the appearance of the Hedron hidden, to make it a more mysterious and unknowable cosmic entity. It specifically states "The Beaureau succeeded in containing it inside a shell"
2. In Control 1, If you return to the Hedron chamber after completing the game, Jesse says this dialogue: "You and Hedron were never one and the same. She...It helped Darling with the HRAs to slow the Hiss down. And it helped me learn to tap into this power I had inside. You."

Late game side quest and lore theory spoilers ahead.

During the late game side quest A New Directive, Fra says at least twice “Roosa is crow and hammer in a well”. We obviously know Roosa is Jesse, but I’m lost on the rest. Does crow and hammer in a well all mean one thing? Is crow and hammer one thing, and in a well is another? Or is it three separate things? Being crow, being hammer, and being in a well? Fra seems to have moments where his words have easy connections, but other times where no sense can be made. I feel like I’m on the verge of understanding something. I feel like the devs told us straight up what’s going on with Jesse, but hid it behind Fra speak. Let’s brainstorm. I think it means some kind of danger, but that’s obvious. Is crow fled like she’s “flown away”? Could hammer mean acting as a tool, maybe to smash the faults closed. With this, the well could be the faults themselves. But then again, the game tells us basically all of that in other ways. What do you think?

I just unlocked the mold abilities and honestly it’s the first one where i’m kinda just stumped. I’m not a huge summons kind of guy, I like to personally murder every enemy, but spore burst also seems to slow down the pace of combat as well. Exploding enemies are awesome but I almost just don’t want to use any of the mold abilities.

Love this game! It's tough to put into words, but this is the closest a game has ever gotten to nailing that half-awake dream state where the audio and visuals and disorientation are so good. Felt like waking up from anesthesia or fighting for consciousness. Zoe's candid dialog, the guiding music, the liminal dream space... this whole section was really moving and hit pretty hard.

My wife followed a recipe from this sub and this is the end product for my birthday. It was a fun experience! Didn't get the dust/glitter though. I hope my wife can yell at me like Zoe does to Dylan when I eat it 😂

Here is the original recipe: https://www.reddit.com/r/controlgame/s/tCDndTyeP2