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

《Control Resonant》是一款出色的游戏——如果你阅读其中的所有内容，体验会更棒

There’s a lot to read in Remedy’s Control sequel, even just in the menus. It’s worth taking the time to pore over it all. 在 Remedy 开发的《Control》续作中，有大量的内容值得阅读，即便仅仅是在菜单里。花点时间仔细研读这些内容是非常值得的。

In Control Resonant, the entire world is at stake. But that didn’t stop the diligent employees of the Federal Bureau of Control from filing reams of paperwork, and it didn’t stop me from reading everything I could find, either. Reading is often optional in Resonant, but it’s where some of the game’s best details — and even love stories! — can be found. 在《Control Resonant》中，整个世界都岌岌可危。但这并没有阻止联邦控制局（FBC）勤奋的员工们归档堆积如山的文书，也没有阻止我阅读所能找到的一切。在《Resonant》中，阅读往往是可选的，但游戏中最精彩的一些细节——甚至包括爱情故事！——都隐藏在这些文字之中。

In the world of Control Resonant and its predecessor, 2019’s Control, the FBC deals with mysterious, otherworldly objects and entities that defy explanation. But the FBC itself is still an old-school bureaucratic agency, and that means tons of (often heavily redacted) reports and memos and miscellaneous bits of paper to sort through. I like reading, and I especially like reading Remedy’s clever and often funny writing, but I was overwhelmed at first by the sheer amount of text. 在《Control Resonant》及其前作（2019 年的《Control》）的世界里，FBC 负责处理那些神秘、超自然且无法解释的物体和实体。但 FBC 本身依然是一个老派的官僚机构，这意味着有海量的（通常经过大量涂改的）报告、备忘录和各种零碎文件需要整理。我喜欢阅读，尤其喜欢 Remedy 那种聪明且常带幽默感的文笔，但起初我还是被那庞大的文本量给淹没了。

Initially I skipped documents that seemed optional: the enemy logs, which are compiled in a separate tab and unlocked automatically after fighting each enemy type for the first time. I was kind of busy just learning how to get around — I’m not the best at spatial reasoning in general, and gravity doesn’t always matter in Resonant’s M.C. Escher-ified version of Manhattan. I was also too busy beating down the game’s many Hiss and mold enemies to read about them. 起初，我跳过了那些看似可选的文档：敌人日志。这些日志被汇编在一个单独的标签页中，在首次击败每种类型的敌人后会自动解锁。我当时忙于摸索如何移动——我本身的空间推理能力就不太好，而在《Resonant》中那如同埃舍尔画作般的曼哈顿里，重力并不总是起作用。我也忙于击败游戏中众多的希斯（Hiss）和霉菌敌人，根本无暇阅读关于它们的资料。

But I was having enough trouble with combat early on that I eventually decided to read through the enemy logs I’d unlocked to see if they’d be any help. (There’s an assist mode so you can tweak the combat difficulty, but I was feeling too stubborn to use it. Remedy has since deployed a hotfix to address criticisms of the combat balance.) The logs, compiled by the FBC’s “Threat Assessment Team,” did actually help; they detail each enemy’s attack patterns and weaknesses, which aren’t always easy to figure out when they come at you in large groups. But I was delighted to find that the enemy logs also hide a workplace romantic comedy. 但由于我在游戏初期战斗中遇到了不少麻烦，最终我决定阅读一下已解锁的敌人日志，看看是否有帮助。（游戏提供了辅助模式来调整战斗难度，但我当时太固执，不想使用。Remedy 后来发布了热修复补丁，以解决关于战斗平衡性的批评。）由 FBC“威胁评估小组”编写的这些日志确实很有用；它们详细说明了每个敌人的攻击模式和弱点，当大批敌人涌来时，这些信息并不容易自行摸索出来。但我惊喜地发现，这些敌人日志里还隐藏着一段职场浪漫喜剧。

The Threat Assessment Team consists of Rick Patel, who documents the Hiss, and Lydia M.B. McPierce, who documents the mold and some later-game enemies. Rick is pretty serious and straightforward, whereas Lydia finds lots of time to talk shit about the mold in between her regular notes. Opposites attract, though. Across dozens of logs, I saw their individual personalities unfold — as well as the beginning of their love story. 威胁评估小组由负责记录希斯的 Rick Patel 和负责记录霉菌及后期敌人的 Lydia M.B. McPierce 组成。Rick 非常严肃且直率，而 Lydia 则总能在常规记录之余，花大把时间吐槽霉菌。然而，异性相吸。通过几十份日志，我见证了他们各自个性的展现，以及他们爱情故事的萌芽。

One of the enemies, the Hiss Transporter, is a city bus that’s been corrupted by the Hiss and sends out drones to attack on its behalf. In his log about it, Rick describes the dynamic between the bus and its drones — which are seemingly once-human Hiss entities entities fused to bus seats — as “motherly.” Lydia calls him out on this in a separate document about a mold enemy called the Spore Mother. “(For the record, I was not the one who named this one ‘mother,’ that was Rick. I went to therapy and did the work precisely so I wouldn’t feel the urge to do that),” she writes in an aside at the bottom. In another document, Lydia teases Rick, who she’s calling “Ricky” at this point, about beating him at chess and challenges him to a rematch. 其中一种敌人“希斯运输者”（Hiss Transporter）是一辆被希斯腐蚀的城市公交车，它会派出无人机代其攻击。在关于它的日志中，Rick 将公交车与其无人机（看起来像是曾为人类的希斯实体与公交座椅融合而成）之间的关系描述为“母性”。Lydia 在另一份关于名为“孢子之母”（Spore Mother）的霉菌敌人的文档中指出了这一点。“（郑重声明，给这个家伙起名‘母亲’的不是我，是 Rick。我专门去做了心理咨询并努力克服，就是为了不让自己有那种冲动，）”她在底部的旁注中写道。在另一份文档中，Lydia 调侃 Rick（此时她已经叫他“Ricky”了），说自己在国际象棋中赢了他，并向他发起了复赛挑战。

Lydia is one of the best examples in Resonant of how funny Remedy’s writing can be, while Rick is much drier. But he’s also sweet and references Lydia often; in one log, he says that had he realized Lydia had emetophobia, he would’ve offered to trade some responsibilities with her so she could avoid the vomit-like attacks of the mold. (I have emetophobia myself, so I found this especially charming. Good on Ricky.) Then, in a document about a particularly dangerous Hiss variant that he came too close to during his observations, Rick finally lays it all bare: Lydia 是《Resonant》中展现 Remedy 文笔幽默感的最佳例子之一，而 Rick 则要枯燥得多。但他也很贴心，经常提到 Lydia；在其中一份日志中，他说如果早知道 Lydia 有呕吐恐惧症，他就会主动提出与她交换部分职责，这样她就能避开霉菌那种类似呕吐物的攻击。（我自己也有呕吐恐惧症，所以我发现这一点特别迷人。干得好，Ricky。）随后，在一份关于他在观察过程中险些遭遇的一种特别危险的希斯变体的文档中，Rick 终于袒露了心声：

I could have died. Another close call like that and it might just be the end for me. I don’t want to go without taking a chance on us, Lydia. Remember how we laughed at our ideal dates being the exact opposites of each other, how chaotic a pair we’d make? It doesn’t have to be just a joke. I think we could have something real together, you and I. What do you think? (Don’t worry, you can tell me over coffee what a coward I am for not doing this in person.) 我差点就死了。再来一次这样的险境，我可能就完了。我不想在没尝试过我们之间可能性的情况下就离开，Lydia。还记得我们曾笑着说彼此理想的约会方式完全相反，我们在一起会是多么混乱的一对吗？这不必只是个玩笑。我觉得我们之间可以有真正的感情，你和我。你觉得呢？（别担心，你可以喝咖啡的时候告诉我，当面不敢说这些话的我有多胆小。）

I’m not sure if Lydia has actually seen this note, because I’m still missing one singular enemy log. But I know she likes him back. In a late-game document, as the world is really looking doomed, Lydia adds an aside at the bottom: “(Hey Ricky, this is out of left field, but if we actually survive this, wanna grab a coffee sometime?)” 我不确定 Lydia 是否真的看到了这条留言，因为我目前还差一份敌人日志。但我知道她也喜欢他。在游戏后期的一份文档中，当世界看起来真的要毁灭时，Lydia 在底部加了一句旁注：“（嘿 Ricky，这有点突兀，但如果我们真的能活下来，什么时候一起去喝杯咖啡吗？）”

Remedy seeds little stories and fun details like these throughout the world of Resonant, not just in written documents. But reading, it turns out, was integral to my experience. I learned how to fight the game’s enemies a little better, and in the process, I was endeared to two characters I never actually met. There’s also a lot more to discover than just office romance — everything from an influencer’s view of Manhattan’s “inception ahh streets” to the FBC’s serious ethics violations — and so much of it enriches Remedy’s fantastically weird world. Remedy 在《Resonant》的世界中埋下了许多像这样的小故事和有趣的细节，不仅仅是在书面文档中。但事实证明，阅读对我个人的游戏体验至关重要。我学会了如何更好地应对游戏中的敌人，在这个过程中，我还对两个从未谋面的角色产生了深厚的感情。除了办公室恋情，还有更多内容等待发掘——从网红视角下的曼哈顿“盗梦空间般的街道”，到 FBC 严重的道德违规行为——这些内容极大地丰富了 Remedy 那奇妙而怪诞的世界。