Revision 11

Gravity Anomalies are paranatural distortions that warp the physical geometry of Manhattan in Control Resonant. Where a Gravity Anomaly is active, the rules that govern up, down, walls, and floors stop applying. Streets twist upside-down, roofs tilt sideways into vertical bridges, and stretches of streetscape rotate so that what was a wall becomes a walkable surface. For wider context, see the Overview and the Manhattan world page.

Quick Profile

How an Anomaly Reshapes a Space

An Anomaly is a localised event rather than a global rule. Inside the affected area, the player can find:

• Inverted streets where the road sits above the player and ordinary buildings hang downward.

• Tilted skylines where rooftops become vertical bridges to traverse.

• Rotated stretches of urban geometry where walls behave as floors.

• Localised zones where orientation shifts as the player moves, rather than staying constant for the duration of the encounter.

The Anomalies are a visual departure from the first game's brutalist interior corridors. The Northlight engine has been retuned for the outdoor scope they require, with broader draw distance and a lighting palette built around vertical sightlines.

Traversal Through an Anomaly

Dylan crosses Gravity Anomalies mainly with two of his traversal abilities, Reach and Shift.

Both arrive early in the campaign, from the Faults in the West Incursion Zone and the Evacuation Zone, so neither is gated behind a late-game unlock.

Reach and Shift sit on top of a base movement set that hands-on coverage of the finished game describes consistently: a double jump, a hover that holds Dylan in the air for several seconds, two air dashes per jump that can be strung together with the hover, and a double-tap dash fast enough to leave an afterimage. Reach itself is described in that coverage as a grappling pull that moves Dylan straight to a point, and hands-on reports add that he stumbles and topples after long falls rather than landing cleanly. At least some traversal abilities, Reach among them, are gained through the Jesse Quests, main-quest areas called Faults that hold remnants of Jesse and award a new way to move at their end. In the released game these are the Jesse Sightings quests: guides credit Shift to The Incursion Fault, in a West Incursion Zone parking garage, and Reach to The Subway Fault in the Evacuation Zone, the same subway mission that August 2026 footage showed as the Metro Fault. Reach grapples to the floating distortion spheres placed at ledges and gaps. The traversal index is on the Abilities page.

Combat Inside an Anomaly

Fights do not pause for the geometry. Encounters spill across vertical surfaces, rotating platforms, and broken sightlines, and the player is expected to keep moving with the Aberrant in hand. Reach and Shift double as repositioning tools, letting Dylan close distance on enemies who would otherwise be on a different orientation entirely.

The combat loop is unchanged inside an Anomaly. Melee strings still build resources, abilities still stun and open enemies up for executions, and executions still grant the temporary damage buff that carries momentum into the next exchange. The added cost is awareness: keeping track of where the floor is and where enemies are coming from when those answers shift.

One consequence of that is worth stating plainly, because it changes what an arena is. Shifting gravity does not only redirect a jump; it lets Dylan settle onto a vertical surface and move along it on foot. Two separate public showings, one hands-on in June 2026 and one on the show floor in August, both had him walk a wall for long enough to fight from it. An Anomaly therefore does not just decorate an encounter space, it enlarges it: surfaces that would otherwise be backdrop become standing room, and targets placed out of reach of the floor are the reason to go up there. The Melee Combat loop runs unchanged while he is up there.

For players sensitive to motion, the options list Remedy published on September 15, 2026 includes Shift Tunnelling, which adds a vignette to the screen while shifting to reduce the effects of the rapid reorientation; the official options screenshots show separate sliders for its intensity and its grid intensity.

Story Trigger

Anomalies are a direct consequence of the lockdown failure at the Oldest House. Paranatural forces previously contained inside the building have spilled into Manhattan, and the Anomalies are one of the most visible signs of that leak. The Federal Bureau of Control has deployed Dylan into the affected zones because regular agents cannot operate where geometry no longer obeys ordinary rules.

Where Shift Comes In

Gravity Anomalies are the in-world hook for one of Dylan's specific paranatural abilities. Shift, as Remedy describes it, redirects momentum through a Gravity Anomaly rather than fighting against the field's pull. The practical effect is that an anomaly that initially reads as an obstacle becomes a traversal tool once Dylan can use Shift to ride its physics. The interaction is part of why Resonant's traversal layer (covered on the Abilities page alongside Reach and the Double Jump) is built on more than just running, jumping, and dashing. The Dancer's theater in the West Incursion Zone can only be reached once Dylan has Shift, according to guides.

Unconfirmed Details

The following were not covered by first-party material before release and have not yet been checked against the released game:

• The full catalog of zones that include a Gravity Anomaly.

• Whether Anomalies have on/off states tied to story beats or stay active throughout the campaign. Remedy has not published this; this page will add it from the released game.

• Mechanical interactions between Anomalies and specific enemy types beyond the publicly shown West Incursion Zone footage.

• Whether the player can disable, redirect, or close an Anomaly during the campaign. Remedy has not published this; this page will add it from the released game.

This page will be updated as the released game is documented.