During the Game Awards 2025, Remedy Entertainment announced its next big game: Control Resonant, a direct sequel to 2019’s excellent Control. The upcoming open-ended character action RPG is set to launch in 2026 on consoles and PC, and Kotaku talked to Remedy about it before its official reveal.
Here’s the trippy trailer for Control Resonant, which was previously referred to as Control 2, that debuted at the Game Awards:
In Control Resonant, players will take on the role of Dylan Faden, the brother of Control’s main character, Jesse. Resonant is set seven years after the events of the first Control. The Oldest House, a secretive facility that acts as the Federal Bureau of Control’s HQ, is no longer under lockdown, and something horrible has spilled out of it and into the streets of New York City. And Dylan, who was in a coma, is up and about, exploring and fighting in this twisted version of NYC that is locked away from the world via an unknown and powerful supernatural force.
Earlier this month, I was invited to check out Control Resonant‘s trailer ahead of its Game Awards reveal, and I was shocked by how different this sequel is. The first game was a third-person shooter with some horror elements sprinkled in for good measure. Control Resonant isn’t that at all. Instead, it seems to play more like Jedi: Fallen Order, Ninja Gaiden, or even Bayonetta. During the digital event, Remedy devs admitted that Resonant is “not a safe sequel” and also called it the “deepest, most expansive game” the studio has made. Remedy promised that this is a real RPG with many build options and hard choices. And yes, this is part of the Remedy Connected Universe, just like Alan Wake.
Unlike Jesse’s transforming magic handgun in Control, Dylan wields a powerful melee weapon known as the “Aberrant.” Remedy says this thing can transform into different shapes and calls it a “paranormal weapon for a supernatural street fight.” You’ll be getting up close to enemies in the sequel, and the Aberrant will be the key to cutting them down while exploring an open Manhattan that includes side quests and other experiences to discover. Remedy was careful not to label Resonant as an open-world game, comparing it to the original Control’s open-ended map that offered players some choice and freedom, but without being a massive playspace covered in towers and icons.
“Control Resonant pushes our paranatural action RPG series into an expansive, reality-warping playground of choice, power, and consequence,” said Mikael Kasurinen, Creative Director of Control Resonant, in a press release. “You don’t have to know the first game to jump into the sequel. We’ve made this one easy to pick up and hard to put down. We’re pushing the scale beyond anything we’ve done before, elevating combat, exploration, and storytelling into a bigger, more memorable experience. It’s ambitious, a little wild, and we can’t wait for players to get lost in it.”
As someone who loved Control when it came out and finished it multiple times on different platforms, I’m very excited about Control Resonant. While I wasn’t expecting the sequel to be an action RPG, I’m not upset about the shift. Remedy is a studio that loves to shake things up and offer players new experiences and stories. And more often than not, they succeed. I hope next year, Resonant is another Remedy success story. Control Resonant is set to launch sometime in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Mac.
