Two genres and seven years on, Remedy attempt to define what a Control game even is in the lead-up to Resonant

If a Control game gets made in a forest, is it still a Control game at all?

What is a Control game? It's a fairly reasonable question to ask, as the only follow-up there's been to the original 2019 game in the intervening years (apart from some DLC) was FBC: Firebreak, a live service FPS spin-off that… well, you know. And then last year Remedy revealed what was long dubbed to be Control 2 is actually Control Resonant, and that we won't be playing as Jesse this time around, oh and also, it's a Devil May Cry-esque action game. So with all these shifts, in a new interview some of the leads behind the sequel have shared their perspective on what a Control game actually is.

"One of the major challenges for the design team of Control Resonant was to first figure out what is Control to begin with, right?" lead gameplay designer Sergey Moho said speaking to Kotaku. And there were a lot of conversations early on…trying to define what it means to make a Control game. And this is very much a sequel to Control, but with very notable differences, as you can see. So first we needed to figure out what it meant philosophically and gameplay-wise to make a Control game, and then define mechanics and dynamics that we wanted to happen within that framework."

For Moho, the conclusion he landed on is that a Control game is an action game where there's an "interplay between weapon attacks and combat abilities, and an aggressive playstyle." Creative director Mikael Kasurinen added on to that notion of aggression, discussing how the original Control was a shooter, but not a cover shooter. "We wanted people to leap into the middle of enemies, keep doing things, using abilities, shooting, of course, as well, and so on."

Kasurinen says that he thinks navigating those "complicated fluid situations" is what they have in Resonant too, but the proof will be in the pudding mechanically. Personally, I'm more curious if that mysterious thing called The Vibe will feel right or not. Control has such an impressive, oppressive atmosphere, and with Resonant shifting to a semi-open world format I fear that some of this will be lost.

Practically every section of The Old House is as memorable as the other, but can the same be said of Definitely Not Inception New York City? Well, to reuse a metaphor in quick succession, proof, pudding, etc.

Control Resonant doesn't have a release date just yet, but it is slated for release sometime in 2026.