Control Resonant is a great game — it’s even better when you read everything

Control Resonant dresses high-stakes supernatural conflict in the trappings of old-fashioned bureaucracy: players can find stacks of redacted reports, memos and enemy logs filed by employees of the Federal Bureau of Control. The Verge's Kallie Plagge reports that reading these optional texts paid off in two ways — they offered practical combat information and they unveiled small, rewarding narrative threads.

Early in the game Plagge skipped many documents while learning Resonant’s navigation and combat, but later returned to the enemy logs after struggling with fights. The logs, attributed to the Threat Assessment Team, summarize enemy attack patterns and weaknesses; those write-ups helped her better anticipate opponent behavior. Remedy has also issued a hotfix addressing player criticisms of the game’s combat balance, Plagge notes.

Beyond tactical details, the logs contain character-driven writing. Two team members, Rick Patel and Lydia M.B. McPierce, document different enemy types and develop distinct voices: Rick is dry and technical, while Lydia interjects sarcastic asides. Across multiple logs they exchange teasing notes — Lydia chiding Rick for naming an enemy “mother,” Rick offering small acts of consideration after learning Lydia has emetophobia — and their correspondence culminates in Rick confessing romantic interest and Lydia suggesting coffee if they survive the crisis.

Plagge says these discoveries made Resonant’s world feel richer: reading clarified gameplay elements, introduced unexpected humor, and allowed her to care about characters she never meets in person. She reports one enemy log remains unread in her playthrough, and she’s determined to find that final entry to complete the pair’s story — a reminder that Remedy scatters narrative payoffs across optional text throughout the game.