Keep Combat Progression, Rebuild Traversal
CONTROL Resonant New Game Plus carries over Aberrant upgrades, unlocked supernatural Combat Abilities, Talents, Artifacts, and health and combat resource upgrades. Traversal abilities reset because they remain tied to story progression, so plan your return around a developed combat kit and movement abilities you regain through the story.
Carryover and Reset Checklist
- Carry over: your Aberrant upgrades, keeping the weapon progression you earned during the previous playthrough.
- Carry over: unlocked supernatural Combat Abilities and Talents, preserving the combat options you have already earned.
- Carry over: Artifacts, so your existing collection remains part of your options for shaping the next build.
- Carry over: health upgrades and combat resource improvements. Plan around those retained upgrades when reviewing your opening combat setup.
- Reset: traversal abilities. Their availability follows story progression again, even though your combat progression persists.
Rebuild Your Combat Approach
- What happens to health and combat resources?
- Your health and Combat Ability resource improvements persist into New Game Plus. The resource progression to plan around is those retained upgrades. When reviewing a replay build, consider how its ability use fits the combat resource improvements you already have.
- Why do traversal abilities reset?
- Traversal abilities stay tied to the story and the way Manhattan opens up as you progress. Carrying combat abilities into a new run does not give you every movement tool immediately. Plan exploration around the traversal abilities available at that point in the replay, rather than a route that depended on your completed run.
- What changes in the talent and ability systems?
- New Game Plus adds talent nodes as you progress and lets you equip multiple different Combat Abilities from the same Resonant boss. That opens combinations beyond the choices available during your first playthrough, when you cannot unlock everything. Revisit the relationship between your abilities and Aberrant attacks as these options appear, rather than assuming your previous loadout is already finished.
- How many Artifacts can I equip on a replay?
- Your first playthrough allows up to three equipped Artifacts, and New Game Plus unlocks a fourth slot. Artifacts provide passive modifiers affecting areas such as survivability, combat performance, exploration and resource economy, sometimes with conditions or tradeoffs. Use the extra slot to support a specific purpose in your build, and read how the effects fit together before treating the combination as an improvement.
- Can I keep expanding my Artifact options?
- You discover untapped Artifacts in the world and craft them into usable Artifacts in the Gap. Your carried collection gives you options to revisit while further discoveries can broaden your setup. The Gap also lets you unlock upgrades and test builds, making it a useful place to try how your Artifact choices fit the forms and abilities you want to use.
Prepare for Changed Fights and Missed Activities
- Are New Game Plus fights more demanding?
- Yes. New Game Plus continues the escalation of a world where enemies become more dangerous and encounters change. Some bosses can show different behaviors, so a strategy that worked earlier may need revision. Read familiar fights again before committing to the same approach, and use your broader combat options to address the problem in front of you.
- Which activities are worth revisiting?
- A replay lets you return to World Quests, bounties and collectibles you missed, as well as pursue different outcomes in certain side stories and conversations. Use that opportunity to choose a purpose for your return beyond repeating the main campaign. Make a note of the stories or discoveries you want to revisit, then fit them around the traversal progression of the new run.
- Do I have to restart as soon as the story ends?
- No. You can keep playing after beating the main story, including pursuing unfinished or undiscovered side quests and finding World Feats. Choose continued play if your immediate goal is to finish activities in the current run. Choose New Game Plus when you want to replay the journey with retained combat progression and its additional build options.
Repeat Runs and Find the Right Save
- What did Game Update 1.4.0 add to repeat runs?
- Game Update 1.4.0 added New Game++, allowing an infinite number of repeat runs. At launch, New Game Plus allowed you to beat the game only once more; the update expands that replay limit. Keep that change separate from the extra Artifact slot, talent nodes and ability combinations already associated with New Game Plus when deciding what an older guide is describing.
- Where are the original and replay saves?
- Original-run and New Game Plus saves exist in separate Save Game folders, accessed when loading a game from the Main Menu. Game Update 1.4.0 increased the Main Menu Save Game slot count from five to seven. When returning to an earlier playthrough, select the relevant folder through the Main Menu and check which run you are loading before continuing.
- What should I check before starting the next run?
- Review the combat progression you want to keep, decide which new combinations you want to explore, and plan for traversal abilities to follow the story again. If the Artifact reward from Notes: Every Dog Has Her Day was missing, hotfix 1.4.2 added a retroactive reward method for players who completed it and had not yet entered New Game Plus. Check that reward before moving into a replay.