A Bold New Take On The World Of Control
Remedy is not playing it safe with its newly announced sequel to Control. Revealed at The Game Awards, the follow up is not called Control 2 but Control Resonant, and that name hints at how different this game will be from the original.
Instead of returning to the familiar corridors of the Oldest House and the tense third person gunplay, Control Resonant shifts almost everything. The setting, the combat style, and even the protagonist are all dramatically changed, while still building on the strange universe established in the first game.
For fans of the original, this is both exciting and a little nerve wracking. Remedy is clearly aiming to surprise people again, not just with story twists but with the entire shape of the game.
New Hero, New City, New Combat
The first and most striking change is the main character. You no longer play as Jesse Faden. Instead, Control Resonant puts you in the shoes of her brother Dylan, who served as a major antagonist in the first game. This time he appears to be free of the Hiss influence and working with the Federal Bureau of Control.
The threat has also evolved. The weirdness of the Oldest House has spilled into the real world. Reality warping forces have twisted a whole section of New York City, turning it into a surreal, shifting environment. Rather than a single haunted office building, you now get to explore an open world city that has been bent into bizarre shapes by supernatural events.
Combat has undergone the biggest redesign. The original Control was all about the Service Weapon, a transforming gun that made shooting feel stylish and powerful. In Control Resonant, Dylan wields a completely different artifact called the Aberrant. It looks like a cursed crowbar at first glance, but it can morph into various melee weapons, including an enormous hammer and twin swords.
This is not just a small adjustment. The whole combat system is built around up close action instead of ranged gunplay. The feel of the game is far more like a character action title than a traditional third person shooter.
Visually and mechanically, the new approach draws clear inspiration from games like Devil May Cry. The Aberrant’s exaggerated forms, especially that oversized hammer, look more like Dante’s wild arsenal than Jesse’s restrained sidearm. The action shown so far is fast, explosive and stylish, with enemies that are even more twisted and surreal than before.
The city itself has hints of Inception style architecture, with folded streets and impossible structures, but there is also a strong vibe of strange dreamscapes similar to what you see in Ninja Theory’s DmC reboot. It still fits the reality bending tone of the series, just with the dial turned further toward spectacle.
Tone, Risks, And What To Expect
All these changes raise some big questions for fans of the original. Control was loved not only for its combat but for its claustrophobic atmosphere, its dry bureaucratic humour, and the sense of exploring a haunted government building filled with cursed objects and bizarre paperwork. Moving to an open world New York risks losing some of that tightly focused charm.
There is also the matter of scale. An entire open world city is a large step up from the carefully designed spaces of the Oldest House. Remedy plans to carve it into metroidvania style regions, suggesting that progression and exploration will still be gated and structured rather than completely free form. Even so, it is an ambitious leap for the studio.
Visually, the more outlandish designs could clash with the grounded weirdness that gave the first game its unique tone. Instead of a brutalist office that slowly reveals how haunted it is, Control Resonant presents a city that is obviously broken and reshaped from the start. Whether that will enhance or dilute the series atmosphere is something only hands on play will answer.
On the other hand, this level of risk taking is exactly what many people love about Remedy. The studio has built its reputation on trying new things, even when they push the limits of its resources. From Max Payne’s bullet time to Alan Wake’s episodic horror and Control’s strange blend of office drama and cosmic horror, Remedy rarely repeats itself.
Control Resonant continues that tradition. It is not content to simply expand the Oldest House and give Jesse more gun forms. Instead it takes the universe into the outside world, gives players a former villain to control, and leans into a combat style that feels more like a high energy action game than a shooter.
For players who wanted to see what happens when the weirdness of the Bureau spills into the wider world, this is exactly the kind of sequel they were hoping for, even if the shift in tone is bigger than expected.
As for when we can actually play it, Remedy is currently targeting a 2026 release window for Control Resonant. No specific date has been confirmed yet, but it is safe to assume the studio will try to avoid going head to head with giants like Grand Theft Auto 6.
Until then, fans can look forward to more details on how the melee action works, how progression and exploration will be structured in the warped city, and how Dylan’s story connects back to the events of the original game. If Remedy can keep the sharp writing and unique humour of Control while making this bold shift in design, Control Resonant could end up being one of the most interesting action games on the horizon.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-new-control-game-isnt-a-shooter-its-not-set-in-the-oldest-house-and-it-doesnt-star-jesse-faden-but-yknow-otherwise-it-seems-like-a-faithful-follow-up/
