Control Resonant Is An Action Masterpiece For Total Sickos, Like Me

When I saw a little bit of Control Resonant last year at The Game Awards, I was surprised to see how much of a departure Remedy Entertainment was making with this game compared to the first one. And yet, it still feels so intimately familiar to that house style.

One of the biggest questions I had after seeing that initial teaser was focused on exactly how the combat would work. How could Remedy, a studio that has always excelled at third-person ranged combat, switch up the genre to character action hack-and-slash? A genre that it had never done before.

In my second preview for the game, I am able to see a lot more of Control Resonant’s combat in action, including its different weapons and abilities, as well as some other gameplay elements that were not touched upon in the initial reveal. As far as I’m now concerned, I feel that the game is going to be one of 2026’s best releases.

While the first Control game featured Jesse Faden on her journey through the Oldest House to find her brother, Dylan, its sequel deals with Dylan’s side of the story, teasing an entirely different approach to world exploration, combat, and storytelling.

Remedy Entertainment

Control Resonant Is A Switch In Genre, But Things Stay Familiar

There’s going to be a bit of debate within gaming circles as to whether Control Resonant will qualify as a character action game. The elements are there, such as the focus on fast-paced melee combat with a wealth of different attacks. Which is why Remedy is still calling this one an “action RPG” like the first one.

“A big goal of ours for the sequel is giving players a lot more choice in what kind of combat their version of Dylan can do,” says lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov.

I’m shown a few clips of Control Resonant’s combat. In one, Dylan slams down into the middle of a New York City street and starts slicing up one enemy, before leaping into a group of other enemies to deal serious damage against them. He uses a mix of targeted one-on-one attacks and other moves which deals damage to a large area.

In another, we see Dylan parry an attack, then immediately counters with an attack which throws the enemy up into the air, at which point he also jumps in the air to deliver a deadly flurry of attacks while the enemy is stunned.

Comparing Control Resonant’s melee combat to the first Control’s third-person shooter playstyle, creative director Mikael Kasurinen says “These two games stand on their own feet. They are expressions of the two different siblings.”

He adds: “If you say this is a switch in genre, I’d say we’re still doing an action RPG. We had those elements in play in the first game, and the feel of the combat is not that far from what we have here. But obviously, you have to have a different type of approach.”

Remedy Entertainment

Control Resonant Will Appeal To The Devil May Cry Or Sekiro Crowd

Mohov says Remedy “spent a lot of time figuring out what it meant to make a Control game” and that “to us, it meant being aggressive, on the move, interplay between weapon attacks and combat abilities.”

He clarifies that there isn’t much difference between the two games when you put it like that. “You have all those elements in both games, except that your weapon is ranged in the first one, and melee in the second one.”

I’m really loving the enemy variety that Control Resonant features, with designs that feel a whole step above what was present in the first game. Some are small, humanoid creatures, clearly grunts who are there to bother you in extraordinary numbers, bolstering up the larger, stronger enemies with specific strengths and weaknesses.

One massive enemy slowly waddles towards Dylan, before slamming its large head into the ground to create a huge area of damage. Another one is able to attack you from afar using a highly-precise laser beam, while also hovering in mid-air to avoid your ground attacks. My personal favourite is this one slender fella with two large blades in place of its arms. Remedy is going all-out with its creature designs this time around, and I’m all for it.

The preview concludes with a quick look at a fight against one of the game’s Resonants, powerful story-driven bosses tied directly to player growth and progression. This boss, apparently named Dancer, was briefly shown in February’s State of Play demo, but I was able to get a more in-depth look at the enemy here.

Dancer is quick and nimble, employing a lot of spins and swings to deliver its attacks. Dylan is shown parrying these attacks, or using a shield to deflect them, before using openings to attack the boss with his own weapon. Fans of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice or Devil May Cry may enjoy the game’s block, parry, deflect system that Control Resonant’s combat uses during some of the tougher boss fights, as was evident from this short gameplay snippet I saw. It's fluid and rapid, telegraphing perfectly what kind of moves Dylan needs to use to address the threat he's up against.

Remedy Entertainment

Control Resonant's World Design Is Similar To The First, But Comes With Big Improvements

Remedy has designed a Manhattan which has “shifting architecture, unstable gravity, and perception-bending environments. For anyone who played Control, you’ll know exactly what to expect here. There are shades of M.C. Escher, Rob Gonsalves, and Parth Kothekar in this expression of New York, and I’m keen to see how Remedy is going to tackle traversal this time around. In the first Control, Jesse’s movement was still limited to interior rooms, so seeing that kind of principle translated to outdoor environments is going to be interesting.

Remedy says that Control Resonant is “not a traditional open world”, likening it to a more expanded version of Control’s world, featuring “zones”, rather than an open world. Each area of the game features missions, optional questlines, hidden encounters, and environmental activities. Given the developer’s proclivity for hiding its levels with interesting collectibles, expect there to also be a lot of this kind of stuff to collect as well.

Kasurinen says the developer learned from the first game’s confusing map design, which had to be improved with further patches after launch.

“One of the key things we want to achieve in the sequel is to have more visual variety across the world,” Kasurinen says. “We tried hard to improve the map over the first game. We know it was a source of frustration for many.”

Control Resonant’s map has a 3D isometric design, with points of interest and routes more clearly signposted dynamically. Rather than peppering the map with dozens of icons, making your way around New York City is going to be a lot easier thanks to the “less is more” approach Remedy has taken.

As a huge Remedy fanboy, it’s safe to say that Control Resonant is shapeshifting up to be one of my most anticipated games of the year. I’m confident in Remedy’s slight alteration in genre, using more character action elements to deliver an experience that feels wholly different from its predecessor, while still retaining familiar elements which make it a Control game.

Control Resonant launches in 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and GeForce Now.