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The world has changed in Control Resonant, which seems a given when it’s set seven years after the original. But with Manhattan in shambles and only Dylan Faden available to push back the paranormal catastrophes taking shape, it only makes sense that familiar foes have become more dangerous.

In a new developer diary, senior gameplay animator Annika Lehtinen said that The Hiss and The Mold, the two major antagonistic factions (that we currently know of), have “evolved.” “They’ve become way more complex from the previous game, where we all only had, like, humans, with different guns. So this time, we try to also emphasize, way more, the two factions from each other.”

“The Hiss and the Mold are these factions that we discover in the first game,” said creative director Mikael Kasurinen. “Different paranatural forces, equally dangerous. Of course, they have different identities, and in the way they affect the world, and a different kind of visual appearance and so on.”

After all, as art director Elmeri Raitanen says, the team didn’t just want Control Resonant to “feel like it’s in a post-apocalyptic setting where nature is taking over.” It also wanted The Mold to really come across as this “other dimensional threat.”

“In Resonant, I think, we’ve taken the next step,” added lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov. “Enemies have very distinct, combat roles. They’re all kinds of different shapes and sizes. Both the Hiss and the Mold have evolved a lot as threats. And they are really good at getting the player to use the right tools, at the right time.”

Interestingly, it seems the real world is having some kind of “influence” on them, per Kasurinen, turning them “more violent, more aggressive, more unpredictable as well, posing a lot of interesting challenges.”

Of course, they’re far from the top of the food chain. As seen in the previous gameplay reveal, there are also the Resonants that players must defeat. You can then return to the Gap, a metaphysical space within Dylan’s mind, to transform them into new abilities.

With how many more tools are available, it makes sense that Remedy would up the challenge that its enemies have to offer. Regardless, we’re going to have a lot of fun figuring out ways to dismantle them when Control Resonant launches later this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC.