I came away from my two-hour hands-on with the upcoming Control Resonant frustrated. Not because I wasn’t suitably impressed with what I’d just played, but rather because the already torturous wait until its September 24 release date is now going to feel extra long.
With this sequel to 2019’s Control, Remedy Entertainment has done what all good sequels should and found a balance between the familiar and fresh. The story, tone, and atmosphere are unmistakably Control, but the Finnish developer has taken some big combat swings and also expanded the scope of the universe. And that’s before diving into the new face on the box; this time you’re playing as Dylan Faden, brother of Control’s Jesse.
Even after playing Control Resonant for a couple of hours, much of the game is still shrouded in secrecy (as you would expect), but this preview made me even more confident that in a September of new games that is absurdly crowded, Control Resonant is shaping up to be a title that you won’t want to miss. I’m very confident that Remedy has cooked here.
Resonant is Control, but not as we know it
My hands-on with Control Resonant was split into three sections. I got to play through the entirety of the game’s first act, then a segment in a portion of the game’s new Evacuation Zone, before finally completing a mid-game mission that sees Dylan descend into a mysterious sinkhole.
But to set the stage a little bit before diving into my impressions, if you didn’t know already, in Control Resonant you play Dylan Faden on a mission to help the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) after their headquarters, The Oldest House, is overrun by the game’s signature enemy, the Hiss, and the surrounding area of Manhattan has become a twisted nightmare world.
It’s not just the lead character (though Jesse is still involved) and central location that have changed; Dylan’s approach to dispatching the many Hiss he encounters is a little different from his sibling's. The shape-shifting gun of the first Control is out, and instead, Dylan prefers to get up close and personal to his foes, thanks to an evolving melee weapon.
I can’t say that I felt Control’s combat needed refreshing, but it turns out Remedy knows best, because this switch-up already feels like a masterstroke. To put it simply, I adored Resonant’s combat. It’s fast, fluid and all about playing aggressively. If I can be so bold, I got a Bloodborne vibe thanks to the game’s mechanic of healing by downing enemies who drop health orbs. If you take some hits, you shouldn’t sit back but instead get back into the fray.
Alongside your primary weapon — I chose dual batons so I could quickly slice up enemies before they’d even had the chance to attack me — you also have a more powerful secondary form, which includes an oversized hammer, a pair of even more oversized fists (turning Dylan into the Hulk), and my favorite of them all, a spear with a drill mounted on the end.
Like Jesse before him, Dylan also has access to a bunch of superhuman powers. Like his sister, he can launch himself into the air, floating around to dispatch flying enemies, and he can quick dash to make covering large distances a breeze.
In combat, Dylan’s supernatural abilities manifest as ground-pounds, shockwaves, spiky projectiles and a shield — which, to be honest, in a game where aggression counts, I found to be pretty unnecessary. I quickly switched the shield out for an ability that let me summon a floating rock orb that dished out damage of its own before letting me throw it at an enemy to deal a final burst of pain.
Speaking of swapping out abilities, during the second part of my demo, I got a sense of Resonant’s progression system, and it looks deep. Maybe even a little overwhelming. Not only do you select a loadout of weapons and abilities, but there are sizeable skill trees and accessories that can buff Dylan. It was a lot to get my head around. Hopefully, in the full game, these numerous options are introduced gradually rather than all at once.
As I’ve hopefully made clear, actually playing Control Resonant is a delight. My experience was definitely very easy. I didn’t die once (even to a gigantic boss in the form of a massive stone face that throws yellow taxis), but the Remedy staff on hand noted the difficulty balance wasn’t final, so hopefully the full release offers encounters that test your skills.
My one concern after playing Control Resonant
If there’s one area of Control Resonant that I’m still not fully sold on yet, it’s the story and characters.
I will caveat that the majority of my hands-on was combat-focused, running around an open area stuffed with enemies and completing a mission that saw me descending into a twisted sinkhole crammed with nasties.
As a quick aside, this mission ended in a phenomenal, cinematic sequence that was so good, I’m not sure Remedy should have revealed it ahead of release. I genuinely don’t want to spoil it. It’ll be best enjoyed without prior knowledge.
The first act does hit all the right notes in terms of atmosphere and tone, and the sound design is immaculate, as you’d expect from a Remedy title. But in my play session, I found myself struggling to connect with Dylan himself, who seemed a milquetoast protagonist. This wasn’t helped by curiously flat-line delivery. But there could be a narrative reason that Dylan is treating a New York overrun with wispy monsters as little more than a vague annoyance.
However, there were signs of a more engrossing character to be fully explored in the final game. I noticed that his FBC garb had the initial scribbled out, hinting at plenty of friction between our hero and the mysterious bureau at the core of Control’s universe. So, maybe this is a case of needing to see the full picture before I can judge Dylan as a character, and I naturally can’t give a verdict on Resonant’s narrative until I’ve experienced it to completion.
Nevertheless, after my preview, I did find myself missing Jesse, a character I found more engaging straight from the drop. Hopefully, Dylan’s tale is ultimately as strong in the end.
My final thoughts on Control Resonant (for now)
Based on what I played, Control Resonant takes an approach I tend to favor in a sequel. It doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel — it’s still very much a Control game — but it’s not afraid to mix things up with a fundamentally different combat system and new narrative elements.
On a technical level, I played on a PS5 console, and while I didn’t notice any frame-rate issues, even when the screen flooded with dozens of hiss enemies at once, the resolution wasn’t quite so crisp. Of course, there’s time for Redemy to polish, and when I spoke to Art Director Elmeri Raitanen afterwards, he noted that the build I’d just played was an older one.
Will Control Resonant come together to deliver a follow-up that lives up to the high bar set by its predecessor? I’m extremely optimistic after playing a portion for myself. But we’ll have to wait until September to find out. Look out for our full Control Resonant review around launch.
Control Resonant is set to launch on September 24, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC
