Remedy Entertainment’s Control Resonant is out today, Sept. 24, 2026, returning players to the strange, reality-bending world established by 2019’s Control. But this isn’t a sequel that simply expands on the original game’s formula.
Control Resonant changes its protagonist, setting, structure and combat system while retaining the surreal storytelling and paranormal horror that defined its predecessor. Early reviews have been broadly positive, although the new melee-focused combat is proving more divisive.
The game is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Control Resonant Takes the Series to Manhattan
Control introduced players to Jesse Faden and the Federal Bureau of Control, with much of the game taking place inside the constantly shifting Oldest House. Resonant instead puts Jesse’s brother Dylan at the center of a paranormal crisis spreading through a distorted version of Manhattan.
Dylan awakens from a seven-year coma after Jesse reaches him, only for her to disappear. He must navigate a Manhattan being reshaped by supernatural forces while searching for his sister and confronting threats including the Hiss and the Mold.
The sequel also gives Dylan a more personal role in the story. Players can make dialogue choices during certain conversations, while optional quests explore his memories and childhood. That makes Resonant more character-driven in places than its predecessor, with Dylan’s history becoming part of the mystery surrounding his powers.
A Larger, More Open-Ended World
One of the biggest structural changes is the move away from the Oldest House’s interconnected corridors to larger areas of Manhattan. Resonant isn’t technically an open-world game, though. Instead, Remedy has divided its version of Manhattan into expansive zones containing main missions, side activities, hidden encounters and optional discoveries. Players can choose whether to follow the main story, search for Jesse, or investigate the city’s stranger corners.
Traversal is also more important. Dylan can double-jump, air-dash, and eventually manipulate gravity, allowing him to move through sections of Manhattan where buildings and roads no longer follow conventional physics.
It’s a significant change from Control’s more contained environment. Rather than having the Oldest House itself provide most of the game’s locational weirdness, Resonant uses an entire distorted city as its playground.
Melee Combat Replaces Control’s Gunplay
The biggest gameplay departure comes from combat. Control was built around Jesse’s Service Weapon and supernatural abilities, with telekinesis allowing her to throw objects at enemies. Resonant instead gives Dylan the shape-shifting Aberrant weapon, which can transform into several melee forms including a hatchet, scythe, hammer, drill and paired blades. His abilities can also provide shields, projectiles and other powers, while RPG skill trees allow players to develop different builds.
Executions and stagger mechanics are central to combat, with melee attacks helping Dylan recover Power for some abilities. These make for an ambitious change, but they’re also the aspects receiving the most criticism.
What Are Critics and Players Saying?
The early critical response has been broadly positive. Control Resonant currently sits at 84 on Metacritic for PS5, with PC also at 84, according to the site’s review roundup at launch.
That’s comparable with the original Control, which scored 82 on PS4 and 85 on PC. Resonant therefore isn’t arriving to universal acclaim, but the reception suggests Remedy’s decision to significantly alter the formula hasn’t alienated critics.
The strongest consensus centers on Remedy’s environmental design, atmosphere, traversal, and storytelling. The warped version of Manhattan gives the studio considerably more room to play with impossible architecture and its trademark surrealism.
Combat is where opinions diverge. Some reviewers have found the melee system creative and flexible, while others feel repeated encounters and enemy scaling make it less satisfying than Control’s combination of shooting and telekinesis.
Player reaction is still developing now that the game has officially launched. Early community discussion has generally reflected the positive critical reception, but it will take more time for a meaningful consensus to emerge from players who have completed the game. Control Resonant is also competing against Silent Hill: Townfall, in terms of this also being released today, although its supernatural horror falls more onto the psychological side than Resonant’s.
The Last Word
Control Resonant is a sequel in more than name, but Remedy has clearly resisted simply reproducing the first game’s formula. Jesse gives way to Dylan, the Oldest House gives way to a warped Manhattan, contained exploration becomes larger zone-based environments, and telekinetic gunplay is replaced by a combat system centred on melee weapons and supernatural abilities.
Early reviews suggest those changes have largely worked, particularly in terms of world design, traversal and storytelling, although combat remains divisive. With an 84 Metacritic score at launch, Resonant has arrived as a well-received follow-up that takes substantial risks rather than simply replaying Control’s greatest hits.
Featured Image Credit
Image via Steam
