Remedy Entertainment’s Control Resonant marks a sharp turn for the studio’s paranatural universe, trading the tight, SCP-inspired mystery of 2019’s Control for an open-world, stylish-action experience built around a new protagonist. The shift is deliberate: rather than lean further into ambiguity, Remedy chose to tell a more direct, character-driven story about the fallout of the first game’s events.
That protagonist is Dylan Faden, brother of original lead Jesse Faden, who spent years as a subject of abusive experiments inside the Federal Bureau of Control before volunteering to fight the very organization that once treated him as subhuman. His roughly 30-hour campaign centers on searching for Jesse, who has been missing for seven years, as the Hiss outbreak spills out of the Oldest House and into a version of New York City folded in on itself.
The result is a game that looks and plays almost nothing like its predecessor, yet still feels unmistakably part of the same universe. Remedy’s willingness to take that risk, rather than deliver a safer sequel, is what makes Control Resonant worth talking about even where it stumbles.
A New Protagonist Reshapes the Story
Dylan Faden’s Complicated Path
Dylan’s arc is the emotional spine of Control Resonant. He begins the game feared for powers he cannot fully control and fitted with a restraint device by the FBC, yet chooses to work with the organization anyway. Watching him move from a tortured, one-note figure in the original game to a fully realized character with his own convictions gives the sequel a more grounded entry point than Control’s fragmented documents and audio logs ever offered.
Zoe and the Supporting Cast
Dylan’s handler, Zoe, provides much of the game’s banter and emotional pushback, though their relationship shifts at a pace that sometimes feels dictated by the plot’s momentum rather than earned through the story itself. The main narrative also leans on a few convenient plot resolutions, which keeps it from landing with the same weight as the more oblique storytelling Remedy is known for.
Combat Trades Mystery for Melee Mayhem
The Aberrant and Build Variety
Where Jesse relied on a shapeshifting sidearm, Dylan fights with a transforming melee weapon called the Aberrant, which automatically shifts between forms such as a sword, scythe, hammer, or drill depending on the combo being performed. Layered on top of skill trees and upgrade paths, the system allows for genuine build variety, including crowd-control abilities and an Ignite power that sets weapons ablaze to shred through enemy defenses.
Where the Difficulty Curve Breaks Down
The early hours are unforgiving, with limited tools and aggressive enemies that punish mistakes quickly. Combat rewards aggression, since kills replenish health and feed the special-ability meter, but roughly half of the game’s boss encounters devolve into repetitive, spongy fights that test patience more than skill. Later bosses also push players into aerial combat that the game’s targeting and camera systems were not built to support cleanly.
| Category | Control (2019) | Control Resonant |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Metroidvania-style shooter | Open-world stylish action |
| Protagonist | Jesse Faden | Dylan Faden |
| Core weapon | Shapeshifting Service Weapon | Transforming melee weapon, the Aberrant |
| Approximate campaign length | 10 to 15 hours | Around 30 hours |
| Narrative style | Fragmented, mystery-driven | Direct, character-driven |
World Design Remains Remedy’s Strongest Suit
Gravity-Shifting Level Design
The strangeness of the Oldest House bleeding into city streets gives Control Resonant a distinct visual identity, and the ability to shift Dylan’s gravitational center in certain zones adds a genuinely disorienting, well-designed layer to exploration. Combat occasionally shifts between these gravitational planes mid-encounter, reinforcing how central the mechanic is to the late-game experience.
Side Content and Optional Lore
Optional activities lean into the psychological toll of the setting’s anomalies rather than generic checklist tasks, including a recurring sidequest series involving strange taxi cabs that lead to an alternate realm. Fast travel requires physically reaching designated points instead of opening a menu, which nudges players toward discovering these smaller narrative beats organically.
Where Control Resonant Fits in the Remedyverse
For longtime fans, one particular questline dealing with alternate timelines stands out as a highlight, functioning almost as a prequel that resolves lingering questions from the original game’s collectibles and implied lore.
Verdict
Control Resonant is not as mechanically deep as its RPG trappings initially suggest, and its back half grows repetitive in places, but the core combat is foundationally strong and its open world is among the more inventive in recent memory. It represents one of Remedy’s most conventional stories to date, yet still finds room for the bold narrative swings the studio built its reputation on.
