Remedy Entertainment’s 2019 Control was good. Bracingly so. Third-person shooting meets government paranoia with a side of the unexplained. But everyone knew the real question wasn’t how well Jesse Faden shot bad guys. It was where the hell the story went next.
I played the sequel, Control Resonant. The plot spills out of the secret underground building and straight onto the streets of Manhattan. This time the star isn’t Jesse. It’s her brother Dylan. The final villain from the last game. Now seeking redemption.
“The Hiss have broken containment.”
For those who need a refresher. Control ended with Jesse taking the helm of the Federal Bureau of Control. Her job was to clean up an infestation of extradimensional parasites known as the Hiss. They possessed agents. They possessed Dylan. Jesse had to beat the tar out of him to save his soul. Or whatever happened there. When Remedy confirmed the sequel back in 2022 no one really knew what to expect. The trailer at last December’s Game Awards changed that. Dylan was the focus. The game drops on September 24.
Seven years pass. Jesse and the FBC tried everything. They really tried. It didn’t matter. The Hiss escaped. New York City is now a haunted house with skyscrapers. Dylan wakes up from stasis. He walks out of the agency looking for Jesse. And maybe a few enemies to punish along the way.
From Guns to Axes
I went to Hollywood to see Annapurna’s office. The space is cozy. And dark. Like, fully lighted-off dark. Remedy didn’t give us more Jesse inside the Oldest House. They went the other way. A story about a brother remembering who he is while smashing things with metal sticks.
Forget the gun. Dylan gets the Aberrant.
It’s a melee weapon that changes shape on command. It builds itself from scrap. You can toggle it between twin daggers for fast stabbing, a scythe for sweeping hits, or a massive hammer for pure damage. It’s satisfying. Brutally so. There are secondary modes too, like nunchuks for distance strikes, and finishers that pop up when you chain combos right.
You can pause all this violence in “The Gap.” A hub world for upgrades. Stats. Abilities. Weapon forms. Standard RPG fare wrapped in surrealism.
Outside? It’s chaos. Dylan hears a distress radio call. He teams up with Zoe. She’s an FBC supervisor who was left out of the lockdown. She doesn’t trust Dylan. He knows it. She needs him anyway. Together they try to put a band-aid on a gunshot wound that is the entire city.
I used to love Jesse’s gunplay. Don’t get me wrong. But this? Slicing? Slamming? I got hooked fast. Soon Dylan can jump. Float. Dash. You need that movement for the boss fight.
Speaking of bosses. If I wasn’t sure it was Remedy the boss fight fixed that doubt. You walk through an art gallery. Face to face with a giant sculpture of a woman’s head. Then the arena opens up. Dodge rocks. Dodge flying taxis. It’s endurance heavy. Difficult. Exactly the kind of spike you expect.
Then there’s the weird stuff. The stuff that makes Remedy, Remedy. If you loved the Ashtray Maze from the first game. Pay attention.
Down in the Sinkhole
The demo’s climax was a mission called The Sinkhole. Zoe sends Dylan into a deep pit to calm a chaotic anomaly. You climb onto a crane-held platform. Jump into a makeshift diving bell. Go down.
Deep into what used to be an apartment complex. The Hiss warps reality. Floors become walls. Stairs lead nowhere. It’s like stepping into an M.C. Escher sketch that wants to kill you. Some of the tenants turned invisible and violent. Dylan has to hunt them while orienting himself in a broken dollhouse.
Gravity shifts. “Up” becomes a suggestion. You have to reset the perspective while shooting enemies you can’t quite see. It’s frustrating. It’s fun. I loved it.
At the bottom waits a colossal flying boss. After you beat it, you run through even more multioriented madness. Dylan gets lost. Zoe guides him back using music and static-filled TVs. It’s beautiful. It’s disorienting. It worked.
Control Resonant is a new take on the familiar. Remedy could have played it safe. More lore. More Jesse. They chose to explode the weirdness onto NYC.
Is it too chaotic? Maybe.
But as I surfaced from the sinkhole one thing was clear.
I just wanted more.
