Compare CONTROL Resonant vs Retrospace

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

Console controls can take effort to get comfortable with, while one PC-focused account describes missed pistol inputs and a sluggish feel. These problems add friction to combat and interface use.

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.

The main cast gives the station personality and makes its strange inhabitants memorable. Several are pleasantly surprised by the quality, although one finds the audio-log performances more variable.

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.

Giving humanity’s rescue to a janitor makes the premise refreshing and playful. Maintenance knowledge fits naturally with discovering routes and using everyday tools.

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

Inventory, map, camera, and message navigation often feel cumbersome, particularly with a controller. The demo’s title screen makes a pleasant first impression, but deeper interactions need more convenient shortcuts.

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.

Careful world detail and changing dark spaces make Aurora 5 easy to get absorbed in. Its mood can create a strong desire to inhabit and understand the station.

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.

Ladders, stairs, and tight geometry cause repeated traversal complaints, sometimes leading to lethal falls. One early demo impression feels smooth, but the broader journey exposes more awkward movement.

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

One completed playthrough finds the adventure free of filler. Its length feels appropriate without unnecessary padding.

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.

Reported journeys commonly fall around 10–20 hours, with longer estimates for thorough exploration. The adventure generally feels substantial and worthwhile rather than padded.

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.

Steam Deck reports repeatedly describe erratic frames, and one PS5 account finds uneven performance particularly noticeable in combat. Another playthrough reports a frustrating low frame cap, so smoothness should not be assumed across setups.

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.

The creative core is stronger than its technical finish. Minor oddities are tolerable to some, but progression-blocking defects, rough interfaces, and inconsistent performance lead others to want substantial fixes.

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.

The disco-punk setting gives familiar immersive-sim ideas an unusual personality. Some welcome that recognizable framework, while others find the dependence on older classics stifling.

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.

Insect hybrids, pigmen, plant creatures, and robots provide memorable designs and different weaknesses. Learning those differences can make weapon switching satisfying, although some encounters still feel limited or routine.

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

Detection can seem inconsistent, and some enemies get stuck or simply stand and shoot. A few encounters show inventive behaviors, but weak reactions often make straightforward gunfire the easiest approach.

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 Janitor’s Haven provides a welcome way to return quickly to familiar areas. Its role as a travel hub also fits naturally into the story.

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.

Finding routes, understanding systems, and making discoveries create a rewarding rhythm. Research-camera interruptions and increasingly repetitive encounters can break that flow.

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.

Experiences range from no notable bugs to missing items that block story progress. Clipping enemies, disappearing corridors, and traversal defects remain recurring complaints, with some improvements noted after patches.

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

Late-game conversations do too little to acknowledge major developments. The cast’s silence near the ending can leave a sense of missing closure.

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.

Time-shifted environments, repurposed janitorial tools, and imperfect cloning offer intriguing twists on familiar systems. Enthusiasm is strongest when those ideas produce new discoveries, while some still want bolder tools or more transformed areas.

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.

Posters, abandoned equipment, carefully placed bodies, and distinct gardens or laboratories make the station feel inhabited before its collapse. Visual cues often reward close attention with practical information as well as backstory.

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.

Enemy weaknesses can make switching weapons useful rather than relying on one dominant gun. Starter weapons and the shotgun earn praise, while the absence of dedicated stealth weapons limits some approaches.

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

Water, oil, electricity, hacking, and mutation powers invite creative solutions with ordinary tools. Many admire the systemic depth, while others find familiar ideas or a reliance on shooting limits the payoff.

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.

Opinions split on whether this is a good introduction to immersive sims. Its complete set of genre systems appeals to one newcomer-focused recommendation, while limited early guidance makes others consider it a rough starting point.

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

Lights, puddles, crates, turrets, and hazards can become tools for clever plans. Successful combinations are satisfying, but unresponsive objects and rejected experiments sometimes expose limits in the simulation.

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.

Some appreciate the placement of audio logs and a story that stays engaging without filler. Others find upgrade unlocks too closely clustered or later resource abundance weakens momentum and tension.

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.

Mutations, suit improvements, and weapon effects offer appealing ways to grow more capable. Several accounts wish important upgrades arrived earlier, before players were already comfortable handling encounters.

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

Creature audio, darkness, and strange discoveries can create sustained unease without relying entirely on cheap scares. Growing resources and information-rich upgrades can weaken that tension later.

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.

Resource pressure can fade as ammunition and equipment accumulate, weakening horror and tactical incentives. Harsh environmental health loss creates the opposite problem when a player is already injured.

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 has distinct personalities, motives, and histories that help sustain the mystery. Opinions differ on whether their arcs feel fully realized or need more time and resolution.

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.

Colorful light, glowing consoles, and contrasting shadows help ordinary corridors become striking scenes. Lighting is one of the most consistently admired parts of the visual presentation.

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 cute, blocky presentation limits detailed facial expressions. That restricts one avenue for giving dramatic scenes greater force.

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.

The spray bottle’s reload animation adds a funny infomercial-like touch to an everyday maintenance tool.

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.

Many enjoy the absurdism, thematic questions, and central twist. Others find forced jokes and an overly unserious tone reduce the story’s courage and dramatic impact.

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.

Emails, audio logs, and clues build a layered history of the station and its inhabitants. Optional discoveries make learning what happened feel personal rather than delivered through a single exposition dump.

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.

Chunky terminals, pixelated textures, and colorful 1970s styling give Aurora 5 a memorable identity. Most love the disco-punk look, though one finds its historical aesthetic more decorative than meaningful.

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.

An expanding arsenal and environmental kills provide satisfying moments, especially with the wrench or shotgun. Many find ordinary shooting clunky, low in impact, or too repetitive to carry the experience on its own.

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.

Hidden routes and return visits often pay off with useful ammunition, equipment, or new weapons. One demo player is disappointed that defeated enemies’ guns cannot simply be picked up.

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.

Pixelated surfaces and low-detail models can still produce beautiful spaces through color and lighting. The look is widely enjoyed, even by players who acknowledge it is less technically elaborate than larger productions.

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.

Scientists and other survivors add distinct motives, charm, and suspicious histories to the mystery. Some find them fully fleshed out, while another wishes their individual stories had more development and closure.

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.

Most enjoy poking through the station, experimenting with tools, and encountering its strange inhabitants despite rough edges. One sharply less satisfied account finds interface friction and sluggish shooting overwhelm the appealing ideas.

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.

Distinct station sectors, optional discoveries, and new weapons keep much of the journey varied. Later fights can grow repetitive, and the time-shifted areas are an especially welcome addition that some want expanded.

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.

New weapons, gadgets, and animal mutations give exploration a satisfying sense of growth. Useful powers carry interesting drawbacks, though some want more active abilities or dislike unexpected side effects.

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.

The station’s mystery, alternate timelines, and morally questionable cast keep many players invested. Ending satisfaction varies, and the campy tone sometimes undermines the dramatic weight that others admire.

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.

Aurora 5 moves convincingly between absurd retro charm and unsettling abandoned corridors. Lighting, creature sounds, and hints of catastrophe make the station memorable even when individual mechanics disappoint.

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.

Hidden vents, passwords, ledges, and shortcuts make searching Aurora 5 the most consistently praised activity. Minimal guidance rewards patient discovery but can turn later backtracking or time-shifted revisits into frustrating navigation.

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

Ladders are a repeated source of missed connections, unintended falls, and deaths. Ledges and quickloading can also behave awkwardly, making traversal less dependable than the level design deserves.

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.

Normal difficulty feels fair to some, but others find abundant resources and passive enemies erase the need for clever tactics. Severe fall damage and environmental hazards create a different kind of frustration, while optional harder modes appeal to challenge seekers.

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.

Patient observation, remembering codes, and figuring out routes are central to progress. Experienced immersive-sim players may enjoy that demand, while newcomers or fans of clearly marked objectives can feel unnecessarily lost.

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.

Performance varies substantially across the supplied accounts. Steam Deck and some console or PC experiences suffer, while other PS5 and unspecified setups report smooth play or no performance trouble.

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.

Funk, synths, and smooth jazz give the station a strong musical identity. The soundtrack is repeatedly praised for supporting both playful scenes and tension, with especially enthusiastic favorites-level approval in one account.

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.

Side quests can feel enjoyable and fit naturally into exploration. Vague directions and objectives that reject plausible experiments create more mixed reactions to the broader quest structure.

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.

Objectives often trust you to find your own route and solution, which can be rewarding for patient players. Vague instructions, tightly clustered progression, and occasional single-solution tasks can frustrate that freedom.

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.

Layered machinery and disturbing creature sounds are highlights for several players. Repetitive robot chatter or weak incoming-fire audio can become annoying and make encounters harder to read.

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.

The station feels like a connected place rather than a sequence of isolated rooms. Opening routes and revisiting transformed sectors gives exploration continuity, although mentally mapping that structure can be difficult.

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.

Codes, hidden paths, and environmental problems are integrated into exploration rather than isolated puzzle rooms. Cleaning blood to uncover information is an appealing example of turning janitorial work into a useful solution.

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.

Environmental clues, audio logs, and survivors’ conflicting accounts make Aurora 5 feel like a place with a history. Discovering those layers is a major draw, supported by coherent spaces and an unusual janitorial culture.

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.

The main map is frequently criticized for poor labeling, awkward controls, and limited usefulness. Some enjoy learning routes without markers, but others find later backtracking and altered timelines difficult to navigate.

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.

The interface often adds friction through manual map controls, awkward item management, and unclear interaction feedback. Better shortcuts and clearer responses would help the tools support exploration more smoothly.

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.

Aurora 5’s vents, maintenance passages, vertical spaces, and looping shortcuts are a major strength. Thoughtful interconnection rewards searching even when ladders and mapping tools fail to match the quality of the layout.

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.

Alternative endings and postcredit scenes provide a reason to return for another playthrough. Unlocking them can require starting again, so the incentive depends on wanting to revisit the station.

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.

Around $20 is widely considered a strong price for a dense station and substantial exploration. The demo impression would prefer a lower price but still finds the full game’s asking price reasonable.

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.

Optional trophies reward extreme restrictions such as completing the game without a HUD or avoiding detection. These challenges look appealing to genre enthusiasts who enjoy testing their mastery.

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.

Different approaches and mutation choices can matter to how you tackle the station. Alternative endings add appeal, while potentially undesirable build consequences make commitment a tradeoff.

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

Some players struggle to anticipate attacks, hear incoming shots, or judge whether darkness truly conceals them. The stylized visuals can still be readable, so feedback problems vary by encounter and playthrough.

The station generally feels substantial in content despite complaints about technical finish. The future version of Aurora 5 is particularly appealing, but its limited number of transformed areas leaves one player wanting more.

Cloning leaves your old body behind and can add defects that encourage a return trip. Several enjoy the extra decisions and tension, while another dislikes the stacking punishment and potential loss of progress.

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

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.

One player says hypothetical AI assistance would not affect their enjoyment. This expresses tolerance for the possibility rather than confirming that generative AI was used.

Steam Deck performance is a recurring reservation, with reports of erratic frames and difficulty holding a steady rate. Handheld buyers have more reason to be cautious about the experience than the appealing retro visuals suggest.

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

The restrained helmet HUD avoids excessive markers and stays comfortable to use. It supports a deliberately less guided adventure.

Dark jokes, absurd mutations, and slapstick accidents are delightful for many players. Others find the scripted satire cloying or unfunny, making tolerance for camp a significant part of the appeal.

Managing food, notes, and stored equipment can involve too many steps. Missing quick transfers and awkward controller interactions interrupt exploration and make healing during combat cumbersome.

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

Most see a worthwhile, distinctive immersive sim whose station and creative tools outweigh its flaws. Technical problems, weak feedback, and frustrating navigation make the recommendation more conditional for players seeking a refined experience.

Bringing more characters into the Janitor’s Haven makes the hub grow in an interesting way. The expanding gathering place helps give exploration a visible payoff.

Multiple routes, hacked security, traps, and direct combat let you choose how to tackle many situations. The freedom is widely admired, although some objectives accept fewer improvised solutions than their surroundings imply.

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.

Successful sneaking and trap use can be rewarding, but detection often feels imprecise. Some playthroughs find it mostly functional, while easy combat or unreliable concealment makes others prefer shooting.

Maintenance tools, mutation tradeoffs, and learning the station make survival rewarding for resourceful players. Imperfect cloning adds interesting consequences, although easy normal-mode encounters can reduce their importance.

Initial teaching is described as unclear, leaving players somewhat lost. Learning by experimentation suits the genre’s audience better than players expecting explicit instruction.

The visible deaths are judged proportionate to the station’s catastrophe rather than making it feel wholly depopulated. This approval concerns how the horror serves the setting, not how much violence is present.

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.

Animal-derived mutations let you tailor abilities toward stealth, combat, movement, or healing. Their side effects make choices interesting, although some players want more active powers or dislike unexpected consequences.

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.

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.

One account describes falling from a ledge after quickloading a crouched save. Another dislikes the described death-related rollback rules, which is a concern about punishment rather than proof of corrupted saves.