Let me say proper off the bat: I’m stoked for Management Resonant as a Treatment-verse fan, however I nonetheless haven’t performed the sport. Sadly, that hasn’t modified at Gamescom 2026, as a result of my preview of a brand new part of Management Resonant was hands-off. This did not encourage confidence in me, particularly as Management Resonant marks an enormous departure for the studio with its melee motion fight and RPG components. Nevertheless, what I watched the Treatment Leisure worker play was one other thrilling take a look at the sport.
My colleague and senior affiliate editor Marcus Stewart did go hands-on with it at SGF and got here away with constructive ideas about truly taking part in the sport, so I do nonetheless have hope, however alas. Okay, that is sufficient about that – here is what I truly noticed.
Dylan Faden, the brother of Management protagonist Jesse, is out of the FBC’s containment alongside all the Hiss the Oldest Home tried to maintain at bay. There’s been loads of seems to be on the Hiss’ function in Management Resonant, however for this hands-off preview, Treatment confirmed off a Manhattan park space coated in a blue mould, full with varied mould enemies, too. Dylan is tasked with discovering a Resonant right here – the massive bosses of the sport.
Curiously, Treatment says you’ll combat the identical first and final boss irrespective of the way you play the sport, however that every one the Resonants you combat in between will be tackled in any order you select. On this preview, we’re after a moldy Resonant boss, however first, now we have to eat some mould to be taught extra about it.
Should you did not already know, the mould in Management Resonant is “scrumptious,” in accordance with Treatment, and laborious to withstand. As such, Dylan passes all types of our bodies who look useless however are literally paralyzed in a euphoric state (as a result of they’ve willingly eaten the mould). En path to the mould Dylan must eat, we cross an FBC Area Content material Analysis facility earlier than shifting gravity so we will climb up a vertical wall.
Up forward, there is a group of mould enemies. The usual mob enemies are straightforward to take out, however they’re nice for farming Dominance, an impact activated by Dylan’s fight package that will increase injury after killing an enemy. After garnering some Dominance, we deal with the large garlic bulb-looking enemy skulking about, putting mould mines within the space. This enemy is concerning the dimension of an elephant and shoots mould mines and different projectiles out of its “trunk,” for lack of a greater time period.
Right here, Treatment explains that the geared up Twin Blades have a crucial likelihood buff, and that the drill transformation for his remodeling Aberrant weapon does some critical Falter injury. Each enemy has a yellow Falter bar under their pink well being bar – Falter is actually a Stagger meter. Whenever you fill it up, you’ll be able to carry out an execution by urgent L3 (on PlayStation 5).
After taking this enemy out and clearing out the opposite enemies, we make our method towards the mould Dylan must eat. On the way in which, we see a site visitors barrier behaving weirdly, rotating in a glitchy vogue; Treatment says this means a close-by world occasion, however we do not have time to finish it.
At this level, I ask Treatment if there are real-world places from Manhattan in Management Resonant. They are saying no, and that as an alternative of precise named places, the locations inside Management Resonant are supposed to really feel impressed by the true Manhattan, however with a “twisted” Treatment spin on it. We proceed ahead, combat some extra enemies, and I see Dylan’s shoulder button talents on show; R2 offers hearth injury by the use of Ignite, whereas L2 makes use of the Barrage skill, which pummels enemies with rocks to tremendously improve Falter injury. R1 is Push, and it is mainly a Jedi pressure push.
I additionally be taught right here that there is no such thing as a parry and no block – there’s only a dodge (and you may good dodge to decelerate time and deal additional injury). Treatment needs Management Resonant gamers to be aggressive; that is why you’ll be able to solely heal by defeating enemies, as they drop blue orbs that add well being to your HP bar.
A couple of minutes later and we lastly attain the mould for Dylan to eat. He eats it, and we get some unusual dialogue selections to pick. Treatment says dialogue selections will not change the sport’s ending – there’s just one ending – however that some aspect quests can have completely different endings relying in your selections. Plus, your dialogue selections will change how NPCs understand you. It isn’t a Mass Impact-like system or something like that, however Treatment says you’ll discover NPC notion of their angle towards you.
After consuming this mould, Dylan has an thought of the place the Resonant he is after is hiding. We discover it underground; it is known as the Collective, and it is a large pile of mould formed into varied frowning faces. Throughout this boss combat, Dylan cannot do any injury to the Collective. As a substitute, you need to assault the Collective’s tentacles connected to the partitions within the enviornment. To try this, it is advisable gravity shift to be able to stroll on the partitions and hit the tentacles. All of the whereas, the Collective is firing moldy projectiles at you and summoning enemies to gradual you down. After damaging all the tentacles, weak spots open up, and also you lastly do some precise injury to the Collective.
I do not get to see the combat’s conclusion, however I am excited to take action myself within the ultimate sport. It isn’t the wildest boss, however seeing Treatment’s spin on the “assault weak factors to defeat the boss” formulation is neat. I count on a number of bizarre and unusual after I play a Treatment sport and to date, Management Resonant looks like it is going to ship all that and extra.
Management Resonant launches digitally on PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC on September 24. The bodily model is deliberate for October, and a Mac model will launch later.