Resonance Archives/Story location impressions

[Trex_Crazy]

Alright so first things first: Ahead lie spoilers for the resonance archives (the first story location) Should you not want it spoiled turn back now.

 

So I've just finished(?) exploring the resonance archives and while it was a mostly positive and entertaining experience I also have some complaints/things that I was very neutral about. We'll start with the positives.

The atmosphere was amazing, the device(?) in the middle with the constant humming. the lighting, how everything looked. The sound of the engineering room machinery etc. I was particularly impressed with the machinery having animations and lighting up/moving when you started the boiler (mostly because it shows care and attention to detail but also in part because the other block game, or it's clones, would throw in a few pistons/redstone and call it a day) The attention to details in the eviroment, the slow pace (mainly because you didn't want to fall off the edge) etc. was masterfully done.

I especially liked that they didn't just have monster spawners endlessly spitting out monsters as a form of "dificulty"* The introduction to the bell was amazing, it makes a truly horrific sound (in a good way), the crawl to it was especially memorable. I enjoyed the fact that you had to keep the boiler fueled because it made it feel like it wasn't just an area made for you but was a lived in area of the world. (though with the rate that it chews through fuel I've no idea how they have so much coal lying around) 

Now for some negative thoughts on it.

Not being able to place or break anything. For the most part I'm fine with this because it lets them tailor the story locations and keeps you from just bypassing all of the fun. (finding the parts and replacing them etc.) or cheesing through encounters. But it becomes a problem in three situations.

First is lighting, while most of the lighting is very good and moody there are a few situations where you're forced to fight in a pitch black environment and it's difficult to fight back if you can at all and you're not allowed to place a light source, more on that later.

Second is for inventory space there is a moderate amount of things I want to take from the place but I simply don't have enough room to do so. (further compounded because I want to collect all the books and scrolls (yes I know I can just use the journal but a lore library is cool to me) But I'm not allowed to place a storage container or anything just on the ground. (being able to place objects in the world is one of my favorite mechanics of the game) I ended up having to leave items or just throw low priority items away that will despawn. 

The third is exploring, I find it interesting to explore but sometimes the rubble on the ground makes it so you have to wiggle around for 2mins just trying to let collision let you pass. It'd be nice if I could break the little rocks on the ground. (as a side not the reservoir ladder entrance on the second floor is very difficult to get into/out of for some reason) 

Combat issues: Firstly fighting in pitch black. You can throw a torch (lantern/candle/temporal gear/etc.) to give some light or backlight to a fight since you can't place anything but if you pick it up mid fight accidentally you are once again cast into darkness. The two places I had issues with was the bell, but thankfully the few locusts and nearby broken pipe helped on that front. And the mine teleporter, the second I got outof the teleporter I was beset by a tier 2 and 3 drifter who killed me because I literally couldn't see anything and didn't even have time to react to try and find a light source or throw a torch.

It would be nice if you could have a portable lightsource you don't have to hold, as of yet I havent found one but there could be one idk. Technically the temporal gear necklace gives you a miniscule light level of 1 but honestly I never realized it provided light until I read the tooltip (I usually wear one just to save inventory space) So maybe make it give the same light as the item or make a gear necklace and you can add gears to it in crafting to make it provide more light relative to theamount of gears. Kind of expensive but it is a light source I don't need to carry.

Which relates a little to my next point.

Not necessarily specific to the story areas but an issue I encountered there. The shields being used by crouching is, in my opinion, already terrible (though it allows you to use a bow while having a shield so it makes up for it a little bit) but is compounded by the fact that ctrl makes me select my backpacks instead of my items. Meaning I can't put my shield up to block the buzzsaw locust/nightmare drifter actively attacking me while I switch to my weapon. (And since I was wearing bronze plate armor it meant I was forced to just eat the attacks and have my health chunked/die) Changed my controls after but it still sucked. 

The boss fight was, not great honestly. The first half was interesting but when it started spawning an endless supply of locusts (at least I think it was endless, by the time I had thinned it down to one or two more would spawn) that bump you around and chip at you it got very annoying very fast. (also my chimpanzee brain didn't think to jump during the ground pound attack until halfway through the fight, that ones on me though) Plus I was a little sad how obvious it was that he was going to be a boss, knew it the second I saw it from engineering. Would've been interesting if you passed him several times exploring and then he woke up only when you unlocked the library (though I don't know how you'd do that considering the way the map is laid out) But it was interesting that there was a boss.

And now two neutral things.

One do they ever explain/let you see what the ominous machine in the middle is? (and if I try to glide to it will I just get stuck in the bottom of the pit?) I just want to know if they do, I dont want it spoiled what it is.

And two, why does the gear you replace have to be a temporal gear? why not just a large regular gear? The part of the machine you attach it to seems to be just regular machinery rather than the special cyan machinery that is further down the machines process.

All in all I loved it, just had a few things I wasn't the biggest fan of.

[coolAlias]

100% agree it would be way better if we could clear some of the bits of rubble so it's not such a chore to get around.

Also, a big issue for me was I didn't have a lit torch and I couldn't figure out how to light one without placing it on the ground, which I couldn't do in the archives, so the first puzzle took me far longer to solve than it ought to have. That was annoying.

There were a couple usable chests at the entrance to my archives and quite a few of the clay storage containers around the various rooms, so I stashed all my stuff in those, but yes, it is very tedious deciding what to take and what to leave because the archives are often a 10,000+ block hike from home. I ended up just using commands to teleport back and forth a few times once I finished exploring everything.

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

Not being able to place or break anything. For the most part I'm fine with this because it lets them tailor the story locations and keeps you from just bypassing all of the fun. (finding the parts and replacing them etc.) or cheesing through encounters. But it becomes a problem in three situations.

On this point, the new procedural dungeons allow players to break/take/place blocks and items at will.

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

First is lighting, while most of the lighting is very good and moody there are a few situations where you're forced to fight in a pitch black environment and it's difficult to fight back if you can at all and you're not allowed to place a light source, more on that later.

I wouldn't be surprised if they add some sort of miner's lamp or belt-fastened lantern later on. In the meantime though, there are often torch holders scattered around that can hold torches, and if the player is sufficiently advanced they can craft the night vision helmet for a hands-free way to see in the dark.

I will also note though that fighting with a lantern in the off-hand is quite viable, especially with good armor and careful footwork.

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

Second is for inventory space there is a moderate amount of things I want to take from the place but I simply don't have enough room to do so. (further compounded because I want to collect all the books and scrolls (yes I know I can just use the journal but a lore library is cool to me) But I'm not allowed to place a storage container or anything just on the ground. (being able to place objects in the world is one of my favorite mechanics of the game) I ended up having to leave items or just throw low priority items away that will despawn. 

This holds true for most of the game, really; inventory space is a premium resource, and one the player will need to manage carefully. Sometimes that means only taking what's necessary and making return trips as needed, and sometimes there's not much there to interest the player in question so one trip is all that's needed. Adding more inventory space would make things more convenient for the player, but would probably make the game as a whole feel a little too easy since the player no longer needs to actually manage their inventory(Minecraft has this issue, to an extent). Decreasing the amount of loot is also an option, but that would likely leave the locations feeling rather bare and underwhelming.

For the Resonance Archive specifically, many players will bring a trunk or two with them to place at the entrance, and then store their loot in those. It still takes a couple trips to cart everything back to base, even with an elk, but storing loot at the surface does make it less hassle to retrieve later.

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

The third is exploring, I find it interesting to explore but sometimes the rubble on the ground makes it so you have to wiggle around for 2mins just trying to let collision let you pass. It'd be nice if I could break the little rocks on the ground. (as a side not the reservoir ladder entrance on the second floor is very difficult to get into/out of for some reason) 

Sometimes it's intentional design--crouching often helps in these cases. In these cases, the tight spaces are usually meant to create suspense(such as the narrow tunnel before the bell workshop), act as a simple puzzle by making the correct direction less obvious, or act as a sneaky way to hide secrets.

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

And the mine teleporter, the second I got outof the teleporter I was beset by a tier 2 and 3 drifter who killed me because I literally couldn't see anything and didn't even have time to react to try and find a light source or throw a torch.

The mines should have some empty torch holders that you can place torches in, to tie this into my earlier comments.

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

The shields being used by crouching is, in my opinion, already terrible (though it allows you to use a bow while having a shield so it makes up for it a little bit) but is compounded by the fact that ctrl makes me select my backpacks instead of my items. Meaning I can't put my shield up to block the buzzsaw locust/nightmare drifter actively attacking me while I switch to my weapon.

Backpedaling can help--if you time your movements just right, you can often avoid attacks entirely. Also worth noting that while shields are more effective when actively blocking(that is, crouching while equipped), they do have a passive block rating so you don't necessarily need to be crouching for the shield to soak up some of the incoming damage.

As for switching tools/weapons quickly, it's often better to use the hotkeys for the appropriate hotbar slot. I like to put my knife on 1, sword on 2, bow on 3, etc. 

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

The boss fight was, not great honestly. The first half was interesting but when it started spawning an endless supply of locusts (at least I think it was endless, by the time I had thinned it down to one or two more would spawn) that bump you around and chip at you it got very annoying very fast. (also my chimpanzee brain didn't think to jump during the ground pound attack until halfway through the fight, that ones on me though)

This boss fight is pretty rough. My general strategy is to stay just within his reach in order to keep baiting out the melee attacks while making my own attacks, and stepping back out of range as needed before I actually get hit. Jumping prior to the ground-pound is also ideal. Heal as needed. Having a shield equipped helps deal with the ranged attack and soak up other damage; keeping a light source equipped isn't the worst thing, but there should be sufficient lighting to see in this area already and the shield is generally more valuable here.

The first phase of the fight is playing it somewhat careful and learning the eidolon's different attacks. Once the locusts come out though, you'll need to focus on killing the boss, since the incoming damage will start to pile up very fast and you won't be able to keep up with the healing. The locusts are generally better ignored and kited around, but their numbers can be thinned as needed. They shouldn't be focused, since they spawn almost as fast as the player can kill them, and damage put into killing them is damage that isn't going toward the boss that's summoning them.

For healing, honey-sulfur poultices are the best item for this fight. They heal for eight HP per bandage, don't dry out, and don't need any special preparation in order to use.

As a side note, you did mention using bronze plate armor. That should be sufficient for clearing the Archive, however, plate isn't necessarily the best pick for this particular fight since while it's quite protective, it also makes healing very difficult.

1 hour ago, Trex_Crazy said:

One do they ever explain/let you see what the ominous machine in the middle is? (and if I try to glide to it will I just get stuck in the bottom of the pit?) I just want to know if they do, I dont want it spoiled what it is.

There is an explanation of what it is, but you have to connect the dots yourself, pretty much. As for getting to see the entire thing, you'd need to use creative mode to do so.

If you happen to fall in the pit, there is also a way out, so you don't need to worry about getting stuck and dying a slow death or needing to use creative to fly yourself out.

What the thing is, if you decide you want spoilers:

Spoiler

The machine in the middle is known as the Echo Chamber. It's basically a giant resonator receptacle that takes in recordings of various things. The resonator in the library has a recording that explains the general purpose of the Archive and how it works.

 

2 hours ago, Trex_Crazy said:

And two, why does the gear you replace have to be a temporal gear? why not just a large regular gear? The part of the machine you attach it to seems to be just regular machinery rather than the special cyan machinery that is further down the machines process.

Jonas tech uses a lot of temporal energy, whether it's in the form of gears or that glowing teal fluid that fills all the various pipes and vats. If you read the flavor text on the temporal gears: Shivering, yet somehow sturdy. Seems to endlessly turn a constant level of inertia, even when resisted. This would imply that perhaps temporal gears are more durable and efficient than their more common counterparts, in addition to whatever other properties they might have.

That being said, not every part of the machines are esoteric; there's quite a few parts that are still rather ordinary...or at least, as ordinary as is fitting for medieval steampunk tech.

[Trex_Crazy]

53 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

The mines should have some empty torch holders that you can place torches in, to tie this into my earlier comments

But as I said I was immediately attacked and didn't have time to find it (they were closeish though) but I got backed into a corner.

 

54 minutes ago, LadyWYT said:

As a side note, you did mention using bronze plate armor. That should be sufficient for clearing the Archive, however, plate isn't necessarily the best pick for this particular fight since while it's quite protective, it also makes healing very difficult.

So what could I use? I feel like anytime I use chain or scale a tier 3+ creature shows up and chunks both my health and my armors durability

[LadyWYT]

29 minutes ago, Trex_Crazy said:

So what could I use? I feel like anytime I use chain or scale a tier 3+ creature shows up and chunks both my health and my armors durability

For bronze armor, lamellar is cheaper and offers more healing and movement, but it's not as protective. For tier 2 armor sets in general, gambeson will be the best, since it offer good protection with minimal downsides. Tier 2 is the minimum equipment requirement for the Resonance Archive, but when completing it in singleplayer it's not a bad idea to opt for iron equipment(tier 3) or better, since better equipment will mitigate incoming damage more easily. My preference is typically iron brigandine, since it's both protective and relatively cheap, though chain is also a good choice since it's very protective with fewer restrictions on movement.

I will also note that it's okay for your health to get chunked, as long as you can survive the hit and heal afterwards, though it is more ideal to dodge the attack if you can. Higher tier enemies hit hard, even if you have the appropriate equipment, so it's not unusual to need a bandage or two after dealing with one.

[HalfAxd]

18 hours ago, Trex_Crazy said:

The boss fight was, not great honestly.

Yep, extremely frustrating. 

I don't have the keyboard dexterity to deal with this mind numbing lock-the-player-in-a-room type of fight.

I've resorted to cheating to resolve this and save my sanity.

[Stralgaez]

23 hours ago, HalfAxd said:

Yep, extremely frustrating. 

I don't have the keyboard dexterity to deal with this mind numbing lock-the-player-in-a-room type of fight.

I've resorted to cheating to resolve this and save my sanity.

Same. My group (of three) couldn't manage to beat the boss, despite being in tin bronze/iron chain and iron weapons.

It drained the fun out of them and eventually they agreed I beat it up via gamemode switch and wailing on it until it dropped, then turned back to survival and let them gather their equipment.

[DrakIris]

On 5/15/2026 at 8:18 PM, Trex_Crazy said:

But as I said I was immediately attacked and didn't have time to find it (they were closeish though) but I got backed into a corner.[...]

just to be sure, you know you can hold a lantern or torch in your offhand, right?

[Trex_Crazy]

1 minute ago, DrakIris said:

just to be sure, you know you can hold a lantern or torch in your offhand, right?

And so forsake my shield when I am outnumbered with higher damage tier enemies around. (while also fighting the controls because for some reason ctrl makes me select my backpacks)

[Trex_Crazy]

On 5/16/2026 at 12:24 PM, HalfAxd said:

Yep, extremely frustrating. 

I don't have the keyboard dexterity to deal with this mind numbing lock-the-player-in-a-room type of fight.

I've resorted to cheating to resolve this and save my sanity.

I have to disagree with the "mind numbing" lock a player in the room fight. While I wouldn't say that the boss had mechanical design and dynamics like a bloodborne boss. I don't think it was particularly difficult even alone. The locusts were annoying sure but you can, for the most part, hide behind a pillar, draw your bow, peek out, shoot, repeat. I only had like 20 arrows and a longbow (I didnt make many since they don't break often) and got tge boss to 55-60% hp.

The melee combat with it is a little awkward. And without a shield and decent armor will liquify your health very quickly if you cant dodge its, in my opinion, slightly inconsistent hitbox. But all in all I don't think the boss was difficult, or too easy, to be qualified as "mind numbing". (Though I also had the foresight to use a temporal gear to set my spawn at the entrance to the story location.)

The boss is not bad, I just think it could do with some tweaks. Maybe instead make it spawn like 8-12 locusts but they don't respawn after killed. As well as add a different attack or two (to account for the change in locust spawning) or breap the pillars during the 2nd phase.

[DrakIris]

8 hours ago, Trex_Crazy said:

And so forsake my shield when I am outnumbered with higher damage tier enemies around. (while also fighting the controls because for some reason ctrl makes me select my backpacks)

When I ran through it I found being able to see a lot more useful than being able to block, so yes that is my suggestion. My shield just sat in my bag the whole time. 

[Banch]

I forgot shields were a thing, I don't go anywhere underground without a lantern in my off hand. Thanks for reminding me, maybe now I can die less while trying to mine.  As for the Eidolon, I brought meteoric iron chain armor and face-tanked him. I died twice, and it barely made a dent in the armor. I'm also playing Clockmaker, I'm not sure if the damage buff against mechanicals also applies to the Eidolon or just locusts, but the latter can be one-shot with a good enough weapon.

[hstone32]

On the topic of combat, it's worth noting that realism is a meaningful (but not top priority) design goal for this game. You mention how it's hard to see what you're doing while using a shield. That part is true to reality; your head, being a vital part of your body, is something you're going to want to hide behind a shield. Considering how effective active shield blocking is for even high-tier enemies, I think it's rather well balanced. I've survived many scrapes by simply cowering behind my shield whilst blindly flailing my falx blade all over. Of course, a more skilled player would wait for the moment enemies begin their attack animation, and only block right as the hit lands. Makes me wonder if this game's combat system might benefit from a perfect parry mechanic?

As for your issue with selecting backpacks, I personally have my controls bound such that shift is sneak, and ctrl is sprint. I've never had an issue accidentally selecting backpack slots that way.

I don't recall ever having a problem with lighting throughout that dungeon, personally. I had a temporal gear necklace equiped all throughout, and I found that was more than sufficient illumination for close quarters combat. Maybe try adjusting your gamma?

Oh man, though. I really love the resonance archive. The idea of it, that in middle of my sandbox survival block game, I find myself going through a zelda-style dungeon with a boss, seems like it shouldn't feel right. For some reason, it just works. Maybe the sudden change in gameplay helps to compliment the feeling of uncovering a lost world you get when attaining the library. Really hoping the chapter 2 stuff and beyond is like that too. Been so busy that I hadn't ever gotten past finding the Lazaret. 

[Zane Mordien]

On 5/15/2026 at 8:22 PM, LadyWYT said:

Once the locusts come out though, you'll need to focus on killing the boss, since the incoming damage will start to pile up very fast and you won't be able to keep up with the healing. The locusts are generally better ignored and kited around, but their numbers can be thinned as needed. They shouldn't be focused, since they spawn almost as fast as the player can kill them, and damage put into killing them is damage that isn't going toward the boss that's summoning them.

Always interesting to hear this, since I kill off the locusts for the most part and go back to the boss. I don't feel they spawn that fast and since I'm a blackguard I can kill them in one hit. 

 

4 hours ago, hstone32 said:

Really hoping the chapter 2 stuff and beyond is like that too. Been so busy that I hadn't ever gotten past finding the Lazaret. 

You're going to love it or hate the chapter 2 part. I fall into the hate it camp myself, but that all depends on your playstyle. Although I haven't done chapter 2 since it was reworked. I guess I'm due to suffer through it again.

[williams_482]

6 hours ago, hstone32 said:

As for your issue with selecting backpacks, I personally have my controls bound such that shift is sneak, and ctrl is sprint. I've never had an issue accidentally selecting backpack slots that way.

That is the default setting. I'm guessing you've never tried to select something from slots 1-4 in your hotbar while sprinting? I find myself doing that constantly, and holding my backpack instead of my falx, food bowl, etc. Most of the time that's a minor nuisance, in a combat situation it can be much more awkward. 

[LadyWYT]

3 hours ago, Zane Mordien said:

Always interesting to hear this, since I kill off the locusts for the most part and go back to the boss. I don't feel they spawn that fast and since I'm a blackguard I can kill them in one hit.

It might be due to playing Blackguard, since the class can oneshot locusts. Typically I prefer to let the eidolon launch them and then clean up whatever is leftover once it dies.

 

7 hours ago, hstone32 said:

Maybe the sudden change in gameplay helps to compliment the feeling of uncovering a lost world you get when attaining the library. Really hoping the chapter 2 stuff and beyond is like that too. Been so busy that I hadn't ever gotten past finding the Lazaret. 

I agree with Zane--chapter 2's challenges are definitely a "love it or hate it" situation. I enjoy it, and it's come a long way since its introduction, but I can also understand why some players don't enjoy it.