Control Resonant: Remedy goes bigger and stranger with its paranatural horror sequel, out September 24

From sequel announcement to a September launch

Remedy Entertainment's 2019 hit Control introduced players to a paranatural world hidden inside the FBC's shifting headquarters, the Oldest House. Its follow-up, Control Resonant, takes that premise outside: the sci-fi action adventure thriller launches September 24 on PlayStation 5, set in a warped and broken Manhattan crawling with terrifying entities.

Ahead of that date, I played the full game to see just how strange Remedy's new New York really gets. Spoiler: weird doesn't even cover it — in the best possible way.

A story that picks up where Control left off

New to Control? Resonant opens with a recap trailer narrated by the first game's protagonist, Jesse. Better still, the new lead — Jesse's younger brother Dylan — is only just discovering this unfamiliar world himself, which makes him a natural vehicle for exposition.

The game keeps Control's surreal, horror-tinged sci-fi tone but sharpens it into a story about people who fall through society's cracks: Dylan, locked away for years, and other characters discarded as unworthy. That theme plays out through Dylan's relationships with Jesse and his handler Zoe. You also shape Dylan's shy personality through dialogue choices in specific conversations.

My favorite optional mini-quests let Dylan recreate scenes from his memories using objects in the environment. In one, rescuing a couple of inanimate cats let me build a feline picnic area Dylan had drawn — a small, sad window into a lost childhood.

A reluctant hero with serious mobility

Unlike the confident Jesse, Dylan is hesitant, partly from years spent in a coma and incarcerated by the FBC. The counterbalance: his powers give him far more mobility than his sister ever had, well suited to Manhattan's wide streets, high rooftops, and gravity-distorted, Inception-like districts where the city folds in on itself.

Holding X elevates Dylan to rooftop level after a double jump; tapping Circle dashes in mid-air, and double-tapping Circle leaves an afterimage trail. "Jesse Quests" unlock further traversal abilities, including the very handy Reach grappling hook.

What keeps Dylan relatable is his childlike awkwardness. Despite immense power, he staggers, wobbles, and clumsily topples over after long falls — a welcome break from the usual three-point superhero landing.

Combat built around your loadout

Control Resonant punishes carelessness much like its predecessor: blundering into fights earns a quick blood-red game over. Dylan's abilities lean melee rather than Jesse's ranged style, so Hiss encounters are face-to-face — when the Hiss actually have faces — and demand dodging plus quick, precise strikes.

His shapeshifting Aberrant weapon's first and secondary forms can be enhanced with status effects like burn and infect, plus perks improving cooldowns and combo-finisher damage. A bonus Combat Ability changes tactics further — a shield, a projectile barrage, or an ally built from ambient junk — each with satisfying resistance on the Adaptive Triggers. Combat Abilities consume Power, regained through melee attacks, so fights are about strategy and balance, using L3 for chainable executions on stunned foes.

With a default of six first and secondary Aberrant forms, dozens of loadout combinations exist. You can unlock, change, and test them at the Gap, a limbo-like hub accessed by holding down on the D-pad — and multiple skill trees expand options well beyond the first game.

Focused sandboxes, not a full open world

Manhattan is substantial, but Resonant isn't open world. Instead it offers digestible, focused sandboxes tied to varied objectives: combat-driven tasks like clearing Hiss or investigating a missing person, or repairing and assembling machinery, with Zoe's radio chatter playing through the DualSense speaker. You can prioritize missions — progress the main story, search for Jesse, or pursue side stories — and each zone hides arcade cabinets with timed challenges.

The horror survives the bigger scope, too: hallucinatory jump scares, booming announcements from The Board, reality-warping taxis, and ground-shaking enemy arrivals that shudder the controller hard enough to make me reconsider my choices.

Spoiler reminder for bosses: the Resonants are the game's colossal boss encounters, and the first — a giant porcelain doll's face wielding taxis and girders — sets an unpredictable tone. Another encounter surprised me by not being a traditional boss fight at all; I won't spoil it, but you'll know it when you see it.

Where things stand

With launch set for September 24 on PS5, Control Resonant is positioned as one of 2026's most surreal adventures — a sequel that expands Control's combat, traversal, and world while keeping the unsettling identity that made the original memorable.