Everyone says the same thing about Control Resonant‘s New Game+ mode: “Play through once blind, then use New Game+ to grab everything you missed.” It sounds sensible. You make choices the first time, then mop up the rest in round two. But this advice skips a crucial detail: Control Resonant‘s New Game+ doesn’t work like most games. Starting a fresh run without understanding what actually carries over—and what doesn’t—can waste hours and lock you out of content you wanted.
The developers built New Game+ around a specific intent: letting you experiment with abilities you didn’t choose in your first playthrough. That’s fine if you finish the main story and already maxed out your zones. For most players, though, the smarter move is to finish your first file completely before even touching the “New Game” button again. Here’s why.
It really means 'New Game, Plus Your Level.'
What Everyone Gets Wrong About New Game+
The common claim: “New Game+ resets the world but keeps your upgrades, so you’ll crush everything and collect all abilities.” That’s half-true. Yes, you keep your aberrant weapon upgrades, talent points, artifacts, and most combat abilities. But the world doesn’t reset to its starting difficulty—it scales to your current build power from the moment you begin. Enemies you fought at level 5 now sit at level 15 or higher, even in the first zone. Your damage multiplier may be higher, but so is theirs. The “crush everything” fantasy evaporates the second a Hiss Grunt takes three full combos to stagger.
More importantly, New Game+ does not grant you new choices for abilities unless you start a brand-new file—not a carryover playthrough. The mode is designed so you can pick different combat power options when you defeat a Resonant the second time, but only if you begin from scratch. The “New Game+” label confuses people. It really means “New Game, Plus Your Level.” It does not mean “Continue with everything unlocked.”
The Real Purpose: Second Playthrough, New Choices
The only reason to start a New Game+ file in Control Resonant is to pick the two or three combat abilities you skipped the first time. Because each Resonant boss forces you to choose one ability out of two or three, no single playthrough can unlock everything. If you want, say, the Shield from the first Resonant instead of Barrage, you must start over. New Game+ speeds that up by carrying your stats, so you don’t have to grind zone levels again.
But here’s the catch: if you didn’t complete every zone’s world feats, find every crate, and hunt every health/power upgrade in your first playthrough, starting a New Game+ will make those zones harder because the enemy levels jumped. The window for exploration shrinks. You’ll spend more time fighting and less time looting.
When to Play a Second File (And When Not To)
Do start a New Game+ file if: you already explored every zone to at least level 5, found all six secret storefront basements, and killed every Resonant. That means your first run was thorough. You only missed a few combat abilities you want to test. A New Game+ run will take roughly half the time because you already know the map and have the damage to push through.
Don’t start New Game+ if: you rushed the main story, didn’t level up zones past the first few, or ignored side quests. The enemies in New Game+ will outpace your build power, and you’ll lose the advantage of carrying over upgrades. Worse, the world feats that give zone XP are tied to specific world states—if you already completed them in your first file, they don’t reappear in New Game+ unless you start a genuinely new, non-carryover game. That’s a second layer of confusion.
The Hidden Mechanic Nobody Explains
Practitioner-level nuance: Control Resonant tracks your “resonant cycle” globally. Each time you defeat a Resonant boss, the world level increases and all encounter groups respawn with tougher enemies. In New Game+, that cycle does not reset. You start at whatever cycle number your first playthrough ended at. If you killed three Resonants before finishing the story, your New Game+ will begin at cycle 4. New enemy types and higher drop rates appear earlier, but so does the difficulty. You can’t “undo” cycles. So if you farmed multiple Resonants in your first run, New Game+ will be substantially harder from the opening cutscene.
What You Actually Lose
Several things do not carry over into New Game+:
- Zone progression rewards (the bonuses from levelling a zone, like marking resource crates on the map) reset to zero. You have to raise each zone again from scratch.
- Quest progress resets entirely. You must redo every side quest if you want its artifact or outfit.
- The ability to respec for free (the “exchange recents” trick in the Gap) is gone after you leave the Gap the first time. New Game+ gives you a fresh set of reset items, but they aren’t infinite.
So if you hadn’t unlocked the “mark large resource crates” perk for Central zone in your first game, you now have to earn it again in a harder world. That’s not efficient.
Better Advice: Finish One File Completely
The optimal path is to stick with one save file until you’ve done everything except picking the alternate abilities. That means:
- Level every zone to at least level 5 (or until you unlock all zone rewards you care about).
- Find all six storefront puzzles for health/power upgrades.
- Complete every side quest (they give artifacts you can’t craft elsewhere).
- Kill all Resonants once, picking the abilities you think you’ll use most.
Only then start a New Game+ file for the sole purpose of choosing a different ability set. You’ll face tougher enemies, but you’ll have the stats and knowledge to handle them. That’s the difference between smart efficiency and wasted effort.
- What is the real purpose of New Game+ in Control Resonant?The only reason is to pick the two or three combat abilities you skipped the first time by choosing different options from Resonant bosses.
- What should players do before starting New Game+?Complete every zone's world feats, find all upgrades, finish all side quests, and kill all Resonants once before starting a New Game+ file.
