Remedy redesigned Control Resonant's time travel level to stop players getting lost

Remedy Entertainment restructured the level design for the 'Recursions and Iterations' mission in Control Resonant to resolve navigation issues during playtesting. The mission takes place in the Underpass, a zone consisting of floating concrete islands where the protagonist, Dylan Faden, investigates timeline anomalies. Early builds of the level failed to communicate the number of locations or their distinct states to players.

Lead level designer Anne-Marie Grönroos noted that testers frequently could not determine how many research stations existed in the area. Some players believed there was only one station, while others guessed six. This confusion stemmed from the stations looking too similar and the environment being difficult to parse. The team needed a clear way to signal the player's position and the passage of time.

Senior level designer Admir Burnic explained that the developers moved away from using identical station layouts. Instead, they differentiated the three stations based on their state of disrepair. One station shows signs of use over two weeks, another over three months, and the final station reflects a decay of ten years. This visual language replaced earlier reliance on narrative content inside the stations to convey the timeline's progression.

The mission also features a combat sequence where multiple versions of Dylan Faden join the fight. Burnic attributed this mechanic to inspiration from the 'Effect and Cause' mission in Titanfall 2. He described the addition as a late-stage development that carried some risk. The team reused existing animations to make the feature feasible without overhauling the production schedule.

Mechanical changes also played a role in the final design. The team made the Reach ability, which allows long-distance grappling, a requirement for accessing the Underpass. Grönroos stated that navigation difficulties were the primary factor keeping the mission from reaching its final form. Requiring this ability helped players traverse the floating islands more effectively.

The developers balanced the high power level of Dylan Faden against the need for guided storytelling. Burnic acknowledged that the character's abilities make it easy to break the intended flow of narrative beats. The team decided to treat these beats as puzzle pieces that players could encounter in any order. This approach trusts the player to assemble the story without holding their hand.

Grönroos described the final design as a fragile balance between providing enough guidance for understanding and allowing free movement. The goal was to maintain the unsettling atmosphere of the mission while ensuring players could comprehend the core narrative. The visual distinction of the stations and the mechanical requirements for movement addressed the specific feedback from the playtesting phase.