Control Resonant appears to be an even bigger gamble for Remedy than FBC: Firebreak

Control's sequel was revealed at The Game Awards and it should be a safe bet for Remedy, except that the studio is making it notably different than the original.

With Remedy Entertainment having spent the last few years revisiting Alan Wake and reintroducing players to the Oldest House, the wait is finally over. It's time to go back to the world of Control with its official sequel. However, Control's second game may not be what anybody expected. In fact, Control Resonant looks to be an even riskier venture than Remedy's FBC: Firebreak.

First revealed at The Game Awards 2025, Control Resonant puts players in the role of an all-new protagonist. Dylan Faden had previously spent years confined by the Federal Bureau of Control, but desperate times call for desperate measures. With the fate of Manhattan at stake, the FBC has released Dylan and employed him as humanity's last hope. With supernatural powers at his disposal, Dylan will not only look to save the city, but he'll also seek to find his missing sister, original Control protagonist Jesse Faden.

All of this sounds like quite the setup to another thrilling third-person shooter... except this isn't one. Control Resonant is actually an action RPG, going in a wildly different direction, gameplay-wise, from the original game. While Dylan has the potential for great power, his abilities are unrefined and undeveloped. Over the course of the game, Dylan will master his elemental powers and gain new skills. A new progression system will refine Dylan's powers further and give him enough strength to face the mysterious cosmic force that's threatening Manhattan. It'll also allow him to upgrade his primary melee weapon, called the Aberrant.

As one might expect from Control, there are plenty of supernatural threats out there. However, the scope of it is bigger than anything seen in Control, going from The Oldest House and expanding to all of Manhattan. Furthermore, what's in plain sight is not always what it seems. The unrevealed villains are messing with the natural order, which means the environment can be reshaped and laws like gravity may no longer apply. While Dylan will have powerful enemies to face, he'll also have to navigate this radically warped version of Manhattan, which can often be changed to reflect Dylan's scarred mental state.

Creative Director Mikael Kasurinen is well aware of what it means to take Control from the successful third-person shooter that it was and radically transform it. In a briefing to the press prior to the game's official reveal, Kasurinen acknowledged the risk that Remedy is taking. He even went so far as to say that it's one of the riskiest endeavors that Remedy has ever undertaken, which is a tall statement given that the self-published FBC: Firebreak was also a big gamble for the studio... one that didn't quite pay off. With that said, Kasurinen does note that Resonant will have one big advantage going for it, which is that it will require no prior knowledge of Control to pick up.

"Control Resonant pushes our paranatural action RPG series into an expansive, reality-warping playground of choice, power, and consequence," Kasurinen said via 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."

Like FBC: Firebreak before it, Remedy will be the primary publisher of Control Resonant. The team is also being aided by funding from Annapurna Pictures as part of a collaboration announced in 2024. Expect to learn more about what awaits Manhattan, Dylan Faden, the Federal Bureau of Control, and everyone caught in its net when Control Resonant comes to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2026.

This preview is based on a developer briefing held via Discord.