Compare Tales of Xillia Remastered vs CONTROL Resonant

One reviewer wanted the game's interesting ideas and lore explored more deeply, finding too much of the world-building left at a surface level.

Documents, recordings, side stories, and environmental details keep the FBC mythology rich, with the best optional material adding texture to Manhattan and the broader paranatural world.

Crisp effects and environmental audio help one reviewer feel more immersed in the world and battles.

One critic found repeated combat and progression interruptions strong enough to pull attention away from the world and story, reducing immersion despite the striking setting.

The shop-leveling economy is distinctive and can make gathering materials feel purposeful, but some reviewers think universal shop inventories and donation requirements overstreamline shopping or encourage unnecessary grind.

Upgrade materials are criticized for being overcomplicated and awkwardly distributed, making some desired upgrades harder to complete than the rest of the progression system suggests they should be.

The remaster loses some original crossover or licensed content, which contributes to the feeling that the package is less complete than it could have been.

Side stories, altered objects, puzzles, bosses, and strange one-off scenarios keep the world varied, though a layer of repeated activities and combat encounters can feel like busywork.

Combat has a learning curve, but reviewers repeatedly say it becomes intuitive with practice and rewards players who keep experimenting.

The opening can be daunting because movement, builds, enemy pressure, and RPG systems arrive before the combat fully blossoms. Once more tools unlock, the learning curve becomes far more rewarding.

Environmental detail is a recurring weakness: fields, caves, ports, and connecting areas are often described as bare, repetitive, or low-detail. Strong color and occasional attractive locations soften the criticism but do not erase it.

Manhattan is packed with strange signage, abandoned interiors, warped streets, and small physical details that reinforce the setting, though some sewers, warehouses, and city blocks repeat too visibly.

Camera behavior remains somewhat dated, with occasional clunky movement or obstructed views in combat, though not every reviewer finds it troublesome.

The camera and targeting can struggle when arenas get crowded or fights move vertically. Mis-targeted attacks and awkward framing around large or airborne enemies are recurring frustrations.

Technical issues vary by platform and reviewer. Most are minor or non-game-breaking, but reported problems include subtitle behavior, audio drops, visual glitches, high-frame-rate bugs, and severe pop-in in older-source impressions.

Technical bugs are not portrayed as constant, but the glitches that do appear can be disruptive, including enemies getting stuck, traversal oddities, and occasional postgame or loading issues.

Fast travel is a useful convenience that cuts down on manual backtracking once locations have been discovered.

Requiring physical fast-travel points can be inconvenient, but it also nudges players to stay in the world and stumble into side content rather than teleporting past it.

The world's mood is split between cozy, colorful charm and criticism that repetitive spaces fail to captivate. Atmosphere depends heavily on how much the art style and cast carry the environment for the player.

The sequel keeps Control's uncanny blend of cosmic dread, bureaucratic absurdity, and offbeat humor alive across Manhattan. A minority feel the broader city setting dilutes some of the Oldest House's concentrated unease.

Animation quality is mixed. Combat can look fluid and energetic, but stiff cutscenes, older facial movement, and dated character animation repeatedly reveal the game's age.

Movement and combat animation generally look polished and energetic, with finishers and traversal selling Dylan's speed and force. A few rough character-animation moments keep it from being uniformly pristine.

A first run generally lands around the mid-30-hour range, which some find comfortable and others find daunting when considering a second protagonist playthrough.

The roughly 25-to-40-plus-hour scale gives the world room to breathe, but the campaign can outlast the combat system's depth. Late repetition makes the length feel excessive for some players.

Combat is the clearest strength across the reviews. Linked Artes, character swapping, fast real-time attacks, and build experimentation are repeatedly described as fluid, deep, and fun, though a few reviewers find regular encounters repetitive or simpler than other Tales entries.

Combat is responsive, aggressive, and capable of spectacular build-driven highs, but opinion splits sharply on its staying power. The strongest criticism targets repetitive strings, damage-spongy enemies, and a system that can feel shallower over a long campaign.

Exploration benefits from faster movement, marked objectives, treasure indicators, and optional detours, but repetitive fields and backtracking keep it from being a universal strength.

Exploration is a major draw thanks to vertical movement, hidden routes, bespoke side stories, and dense environmental storytelling. Confusing entrances and map limitations occasionally turn discovery into circling the same blocks.

The remaster is praised for faithfully preserving what worked in the original while smoothing rough edges rather than rewriting the game.

Despite changing protagonist, setting, and combat style, the sequel usually retains Control's strange humor, paranormal logic, lore, and visual identity. A smaller group feels the open-world structure leaves too much of the original's magic behind.

Grinding is highly context-dependent. Grade Shop modifiers can dramatically reduce repetitive leveling, while achievements, trophies, shop leveling, and some midgame progression can still demand busywork.

One critical take finds progression too dependent on repeating activities and combat to keep pace with enemy scaling, turning advancement into unwanted grind.

Enemy variety receives mixed feedback: some reviewers enjoy the range of encounters and memorable foes, while others feel the regular enemy pool becomes repetitive.

The roster has memorable supernatural designs and multiple factions, but ordinary encounters can still feel repetitive. Reused archetypes and endless smaller enemies weaken the sense of variety over time.

The main loop can be engaging when combat and progression are clicking, but repetition becomes noticeable over longer sessions.

The combat-exploration loop can be exciting once a build comes together, but repetition is a persistent concern. Several critics felt the same encounter rhythm and combo patterns wore thin well before the campaign ended.

Skits and party banter are repeatedly praised for humor, chemistry, and characterization. Repeated lines and occasional slow or awkward exchanges are the main drawbacks.

Dialogue is uneven: the best exchanges give Dylan and Zoe warmth and personality, while snarky banter and some overt thematic writing can feel forced.

PS5 and PC are repeatedly praised for smooth, stable frame rates, often at 60 FPS or better. Switch impressions are substantially weaker, with a 30 FPS cap and dips in busier areas.

Performance is generally smooth on stronger hardware and PS5 Pro, while base-console stress scenes and Steam Deck play can show dips or compromises. The overall picture is solid rather than flawless.

Sharper resolution, stronger color, and cleaner presentation make the remaster look noticeably better, especially on PS5 and PC. Reviewers still see dated models, sparse assets, and notably softer image quality on Switch.

The game is widely praised as a visual showcase, especially for lighting, surreal geometry, and dense effects. Lower-end modes can introduce softness, artifacting, or weaker lighting that undercuts that presentation.

The remaster adds welcome polish and refinement, but reviewers still see visible PS3-era rough edges. The overall presentation is cleaner without feeling rebuilt from the ground up.

The game generally feels polished for its scale, but scattered technical hiccups, stuck enemies, audio cuts, and other small scuffs prevent it from feeling immaculate.

One reviewer finds enemy AI too passive, reducing the pressure and tactical demand of some fights.

Enemy behavior draws a sharp complaint for leaning on hectic pressure rather than convincing intelligence, making some fights feel artificially chaotic.

Battle effects are praised for looking dramatic and lively, helping combat pop visually.

Reality warping, particles, reflections, shadows, and large combat effects create spectacular scenes, though the sheer visual noise can occasionally hurt clarity or expose platform-specific image issues.

The skill-tree-style Lilium Orb offers meaningful build freedom and depth for most reviewers, although one critique finds parts of the progression less satisfying than they first appear.

The skill tree supports multiple builds and can be satisfying to optimize, yet several critics find its apparent depth overstated or its upgrades less transformative than the sprawling layout suggests.

Upgrade systems are mixed: character and replay modifiers can be useful and flexible, but immediate Grade Shop access can undermine the intended progression and sense of earning upgrades.

Upgrades provide plenty of specialization on paper, but restrictive respecs, material requirements, and number-focused improvements can make the system feel cumbersome or less transformative than expected.

Pacing is a recurring concern, especially through the middle of the game where cutscenes, formulaic progression, or repeated structure can slow momentum. A few reviewers still find the overall story flow strong.

Pacing is a recurring weakness: the opening can be slow, progression sometimes stalls the story, and several late sections drag. Other sources find the game accelerates impressively once it opens up.

Character growth is one of the strongest narrative qualities. Reviewers repeatedly praise the way Jude, Milla, Alvin, and the wider party evolve through personal struggles and relationships.

Dylan's growth from damaged FBC test subject to a more self-directed person lands strongly, and his evolving relationships give the story a clear emotional spine.

The cast and story land emotionally for many reviewers, with heartfelt character moments, sacrifice, and relationship arcs giving the adventure lasting warmth despite structural weaknesses.

Dylan's guilt, childhood trauma, bond with Jesse, and search for redemption produce some of the game's most affecting scenes. Several critics describe moments that hit harder emotionally than they expected from a Control sequel.

The colorful anime-inspired art direction has aged well and helps the game retain charm even when individual models, textures, and environments reveal their PS3 origins.

The warped Manhattan, Patterning effects, impossible architecture, and surreal set pieces are among the game's clearest triumphs. Its visual identity is repeatedly described as bold, gorgeous, and unlike almost anything else in the genre.

Several reviewers call out difficulty spikes around the middle of the game. The challenge can be managed, but the curve is not always as smooth as the otherwise approachable systems suggest.

The default difficulty is one of the most disputed elements, especially in the opening hours and against tanky late bosses. Better builds and extensive Assist Mode settings help, but progression walls can still feel abrupt.

The added dash and faster traversal noticeably improve movement, making the older world quicker and more pleasant to navigate.

Traversal is one of the game's most consistently celebrated strengths. Double jumps, air dashes, hovering, grappling, and gravity shifting make moving through Manhattan fast, expressive, and frequently exhilarating.

The Lilium Orb progression system is widely praised for being flexible, rewarding, and constantly engaging. Reviewers like choosing stat, skill, and Arte growth instead of following a rigid path.

Zone leveling, skill points, powers, and build choices often make exploration feel purposeful and Dylan's growth tangible. Criticism focuses on opaque power-level tracking, restrictive respecs, and progression that can become busywork.

The dual-protagonist structure and combat ideas are credited as meaningful innovations for the series, even though later reviewers debate how fully those ideas were realized.

The sequel earns broad credit for refusing to repeat the original: its melee focus, warped open zones, gravity traversal, and structural experimentation feel unusually bold for a major sequel.

Character-focused writing is a major strength, with reviewers praising expressive interactions, themes, and emotional arcs. Even more critical takes usually reserve their complaints for familiar tropes or underdeveloped larger ideas rather than the cast writing.

The writing is strongest when it balances human vulnerability, bureaucratic absurdity, and strange lore. Some dialogue and thematic beats are less elegant, but the overall character and world writing earns substantial praise.

The story is generally liked for its emotional themes, political conflict, and character focus, but opinion is not unanimous. Some reviewers find it layered and gripping, while others call parts predictable, underdeveloped, or weaker than the cast.

The story is broadly praised for Dylan's redemption arc, surreal set pieces, and powerful character moments, but the central plot is less consistently loved. Some critics find the overarching tale, finale, or emotional transitions weaker than its best individual scenes.

Modern convenience and accessibility additions are broadly praised, including difficulty settings, remapping, encounter toggles, subtitles, autosave, and clearer navigation. The suite is helpful rather than exhaustive, with at least one reviewer wishing for options such as colorblind modes.

Assist Mode is a major strength, with granular sliders and presets that can soften damage, dodge timing, resource pressure, and other difficulty spikes. It gives story-focused players unusually fine control over the experience.

The game is widely described as enjoyable, charming, and easy to keep playing, with combat and party chemistry doing most of the work. Even more critical reviews usually still regard the core game as fun.

Most sources found the game highly enjoyable once its systems open up, especially when traversal, powers, and side quests click together. A few harsher takes found the repetitive combat too intrusive to sustain that fun.

Facial animation still looks stiff and dated in the remaster, limiting how modern the presentation feels.

Facial work is one of the visual weak spots, with some expressions looking stiff or strange compared with the quality of the environments and effects.

The underlying gameplay hooked the reviewer quickly, with its systems feeling immediately engaging rather than merely functional.

The strongest mechanical moments come from combining traversal, gravity shifts, powers, combat, and environmental ideas in ways that feel purpose-built for this world.

Newcomers generally get a friendly entry point through clearer systems and quality-of-life changes, though the Grade Shop appearing immediately can be confusing or overly front-loaded.

Newcomers get helpful recap material and can follow the core story without exhaustive Remedyverse knowledge, though the early combat and build systems are not always explained as clearly as they could be.

One retrospective view treats Xillia as an unusually distinctive step for the series, crediting it with an identity that stood out in its era.

Even skeptical critics repeatedly call the game singular. Its collision of character-action combat, non-Euclidean Manhattan, paranormal comedy, and art-house spectacle gives it an identity few other open-world games resemble.

One reviewer specifically praises the character menu as organized and easy to return to between fights.

One source specifically criticizes loadout management for making important changes more cumbersome than they need to be during an action-heavy game.

Controls are generally responsive and flexible once learned, especially in combat, but a few reviewers still find the older control and camera conventions clunky.

Inputs are consistently praised for immediacy: attacks, dodges, air movement, and cancels respond quickly enough to support the game's fast, aggressive action.

Jude and Milla are both regarded as compelling leads, with reviewers especially responding to Milla's unusual perspective and the contrast between the two protagonists.

Dylan is deliberately awkward and damaged, and most sources warm to his vulnerability, guilt, and dry personality. A vocal minority strongly dislike his writing, voice, or demeanor and would rather have stayed with Jesse.

Voice performances are mostly well received, especially the ensemble cast, but audio quality creates a persistent caveat. Milla's English delivery and compressed or muffled voice recordings are singled out more than once.

The cast is usually praised for grounding the strange material, especially the supporting performances, but Dylan's delivery is unusually divisive and receives a few pointed complaints.

Side quests are commonly described as basic, repetitive, or fetch-heavy. A few have worthwhile narrative context, but their structure rarely matches the quality of the main cast and combat.

Side quests are a major strength, often delivering the funniest, strangest, and most memorable stories in the game. A smaller layer of repeated tasks and weaker rewards keeps the optional content from being uniformly excellent.

Sound design is uneven. Effects and music can be crisp and immersive, but English voice compression, muffled clips, and occasional mixing problems are repeated complaints.

Hits, metal transformations, spatial ambience, and supernatural effects are repeatedly praised for giving combat and exploration weight. The audio mix helps sell both spectacle and unease.

Level design is one of the most consistent weak points. Reviewers repeatedly call dungeons and field areas linear, samey, or visually repetitive, even when individual locations or gimmicks work well.

Level design is a standout, from folding streets and gravity-shifted city blocks to stranger interior spaces that turn perspective itself into a traversal and puzzle mechanic.

The interface is cleaner and more usable for some reviewers, while others still find portions dated or awkward, particularly settings buried too deeply in menus.

Progress and power-level information can be buried too deeply in menus, making it harder than necessary to understand whether upgrades are meaningfully changing Dylan's strength.

Bosses are often a combat highlight and can be memorable, but their quality is uneven; some rely on inflated health, stun-heavy behavior, or disruptive armor mechanics.

Bosses are visually memorable but mechanically divisive. Some fights are inventive spectacles, while many others are criticized for huge health pools, limited move sets, and late-game battles that turn into endurance tests.

One reviewer specifically enjoyed the open map structure, side quests, and tucked-away areas, finding that they add to the sense of adventure.

The zoned Manhattan is admired for feeling hand-crafted, vertical, and distinctly Remedy rather than like a generic checklist map. Still, some critics see bloat, repeated activities, or a loss of the first game's tighter spatial focus.

New objective, event, and treasure markers are broadly useful, but the map itself can become confusing in multi-level areas where icons overlap or elevation is awkward to read.

Navigation is one of the most consistent pain points. The flat map, unclear entrances, multi-level spaces, and gravity-bent geometry can leave players lost even when the world itself is visually compelling.

Puzzle and dungeon interactions draw mixed reactions: some reviewers appreciate the occasional environmental tasks, while others criticize the game for lacking substantial traditional puzzles.

Puzzles can be clever and visually inventive, especially when gravity and perspective are involved, but they also produce some of the game's most confusing or progress-stalling moments.

One reviewer strongly praises the way political context and skits make Rieze Maxia feel lived-in rather than merely decorative.

The FBC's bureaucracy, Manhattan's altered neighborhoods, scattered documents, and small survivor stories deepen the setting at nearly every turn. World-building remains one of the sequel's most dependable strengths.

Platform parity is a weak point. Switch and Switch 2 users do not receive the same frame-rate and visual experience available on PS5 and PC, and reviewers wanted a more capable native Switch 2 version.

PS5 Pro receives especially strong praise for ray-traced reflections, shadows, reconstruction quality, and a cleaner presentation, while Steam Deck support is notably less convincing.

Value is positive for many reviewers who see a strong JRPG and useful upgrades at a mid-range price. Others think the package asks too much for such a conservative remaster, and premium-edition value draws additional criticism.

Positive value comments point to the substantial campaign, side content, replay potential, and localized pricing, making the package feel generous to players already invested in its style.

Two protagonists, New Game+, and Grade Shop modifiers give the game real replay potential. The tradeoff is that several reviewers feel Jude and Milla's routes overlap too heavily to justify another full-length run.

Build experimentation, postgame exploration, missed side content, Resonant cycles, and New Game Plus-style interest give enthusiastic players clear reasons to return after the credits.

The soundtrack is one of the most dependable audiovisual strengths, with energetic battle themes, melodic town music, and orchestral pieces repeatedly singled out for praise.

Music and licensed tracks remain strong and often memorable, but some critics miss a single transcendent set piece on the level of Remedy's most iconic musical moments.

Performance is strong on PS5 and PC in most reviews, with smooth play and responsive combat. Switch is the clear exception, where lower image quality, frame-rate limits, and sluggishness receive criticism.

Technical performance is usually strong, particularly on high-end PC hardware and PS5 Pro, with ambitious effects running smoothly in many accounts. Some platforms and heavy scenes still show frame pacing, image-quality, or optimization compromises.

Build customization is a standout strength. The Lilium Orb, Artes, skills, equipment, and party-link choices let players shape characters into distinct roles without making the system inaccessible.

The party is one of the most consistently praised parts of the game. Reviewers love the colorful personalities, chemistry, distinct combat roles, and character arcs, with very few complaints about the core cast.

The dual-protagonist choice sounds more consequential than it often feels. Some reviewers enjoy the different viewpoints and replay motivation, but many say Jude and Milla share too much of the same story for the choice to transform the campaign.

One reviewer highlights the game's co-op capability as a meaningful way to share battles with other players.

Documents, recordings, hidden reports, and other collectibles make exploration feel worthwhile by feeding the world's mysteries rather than functioning as empty checklist filler.

Linked companions are usually helpful and automate partner abilities smoothly, but one reviewer reports allies wasting resources or positioning poorly against tougher enemies.

The postgame gives completion-minded players room to keep exploring, finish side stories, refine builds, and chase remaining discoveries after the main campaign.

Portable play is possible, but one detailed comparison recommends Steam Deck or ROG Ally over the Switch versions because of image quality and performance compromises.

DualSense feedback is used effectively to reinforce powers and supernatural moments, adding tactile texture without being treated as a defining feature.

The strangest spaces still generate strong cosmic-horror unease, using impossible geometry, isolation, and paranormal imagery to make exploration feel unsettling.

Clearer directional and objective information makes navigation easier to understand at a glance.

Loading is dramatically improved on faster platforms and often described as nearly instant. The base Switch version is the main outlier, where longer loads contribute to a slower overall feel.

Loot and world rewards can make exploration satisfying, especially when discoveries feed upgrades, but some reward placement and generic material boxes feel less thoughtfully integrated.

The best missions keep escalating into strange, memorable scenarios, giving the campaign a strong sense of surprise beyond standard combat objectives.

Pausing cutscenes has a specific technical flaw in one review: resuming can cause the voice audio to drop out.

Precision platforming becomes frustrating when gravity changes, tight trajectories, or awkward geometry demand more exact movement than the traversal system comfortably provides.

Most reviewers consider this the definitive or easiest modern way to play Xillia thanks to autosave, markers, faster movement, smoother performance, and bundled extras. The central criticism is ambition: several call it barebones, conservative, or essentially an upscaled port, and the absence of Xillia 2 is repeatedly lamented.

Zoe is the standout supporting character, with her radio banter and evolving bond with Dylan giving the journey warmth. Some sources find that relationship rushed or uneven, but the supporting cast is usually viewed positively.

Tutorials are consistently regarded as helpful, making layered combat mechanics understandable as they are introduced.

Weapon forms offer different rhythms and build possibilities, but critics disagree on how meaningfully those choices change combat. Some forms feel expressive, while others seem like variations on the same basic loop.

Physics, destructible scenery, telekinesis, and gravity manipulation make the environment feel like part of the action rather than a static backdrop.

Bundled costumes and legacy DLC are viewed as a welcome bonus, especially when included without extra cost, although some licensed items could not return.

The Portuguese localization is received positively overall, including the dub, but the reviewed build had enough missing or inconsistent localized lines to keep it from being fully seamless.

Autosave is one of the most consistently appreciated additions, reducing the risk of lost progress and making long stretches between manual saves far less stressful.

Routine world events and chore-like objectives can clash with urgent story beats, making some mission structure feel like open-world padding rather than purposeful adventure.