Control Resonant

About this game

The original Control was one of those rare games that felt genuinely unlike anything else on the market. Brutalist architecture, talking rubber ducks, office furniture that wanted to kill you - it had this wonderfully oppressive, slow-burn atmosphere that I found completely captivating. I finished it twice and still felt like I'd only half understood what was going on. Which, honestly, felt intentional. So when Remedy announced a full sequel, the immediate question wasn't whether I was interested - of course I was - but rather what direction they'd push it in. The answer, it turns out, is: out of the building and into a crumbling Manhattan, and significantly more punchy. CONTROL Resonant launches September 24, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and macOS. It's a direct sequel set seven years after the original, developed and published by Remedy Entertainment with co-funding from Annapurna Pictures. The story shifts protagonist entirely, putting you in control of Dylan Faden - Jesse's brother, who spent the original game locked up as a Federal Bureau of Control test subject. He's released at the peak of a full-blown paranatural crisis: the Hiss have broken containment from the Oldest House and are now reshaping reality across downtown Manhattan. Jesse herself has gone missing, leaving Dylan as the Bureau's best remaining option. Cheerful stuff. What immediately sets Resonant apart from its predecessor is how dramatically the gameplay has shifted. Where Control was a third-person shooter built around telekinesis and the shape-shifting Service Weapon, Resonant is an action RPG built almost entirely around melee combat. Dylan wields the Aberrant - a crude-looking Object of Power that shapeshifts between forms including a two-handed hammer, dual blades, gauntlets, and a scythe. Reviewers who've had early hands-on time are drawing comparisons to Nier: Automata and Devil May Cry in terms of pace and feel, which is a genuinely surprising direction for this franchise. His supernatural abilities complement the melee kit - Shift lets him redirect momentum through gravity anomalies, walls become floors, buildings tilt into platforms, and the whole environment stops obeying the rules entirely. The world itself is structured as large, distinct open-ended zones rather than a traditional open world - Remedy have been deliberately careful with that distinction, emphasising that the design is curated rather than padded. Roads fold over themselves, skyscrapers tilt horizontally, and the West Incursion Zone, one of the earlier areas, has been described as feeling like an alien landscape that only vaguely remembers it used to be New York. Returning characters Emily Pope and Simon Arish are back, with new FBC field agent Zoe de Vera serving as Dylan's handler throughout the story. The game also features New Game Plus with most upgrades carrying over - a smart addition for a build-heavy action RPG like this. I'll admit the shift to melee-focused combat caught me slightly off guard - the gunplay in the original was genuinely satisfying - but Remedy have earned enough trust at this point that I'm fully on board with wherever they're taking this. September 24th can't come soon enough.

Trailer

Screenshots