GameWatcher heads to Manhattan in search of the Control Resonant release date, launch platforms, gameplay details, trailers, and more.
Remedy hit a new level when Control released in 2018. A confidently weird stride through an impossible building full of strange artefacts and corrupted beings proved a hit, and the developer has gone from strength to strength since then.
Now we’re finally getting a sequel in the form of Control Resonant. A new protagonist, a new setting, but unmistakably Control.
So, what do we know of Control Resonant’s release date? What will it launch on? How will it play this time? Let’s take a deeper look.
Control Resonant Release Date
It may have been eight years since Control, but the announcement of the Control Resonant release date being September 24, 2026, was still surprisingly soon considering Alan Wake 2 came out in late 2023.
Control Resonant Story
FBC Director Jesse Faden’s lockdown is no longer holding. A paranatural catastrophe has spilled beyond the Oldest House and onto the streets of Manhattan, and the Bureau’s grip on containment is failing.
After years in confinement at the hands of the Federal Bureau of Control, Dylan Faden emerges into a warped Manhattan at the peak of the paranatural crisis.
Charged with combating a mysterious cosmic entity as it alters fundamental aspects of our reality, Dylan must harness his newfound powers to take the fight to the myriad threats overwhelming Manhattan.
Why switch to Dylan Faden in this game over the previous protagonist and sibling, Jesse? Remedy’s Mikael Kasurinen told us that he thinks, ’’ The siblings’ stories, both of them, their trajectories revolve around each other. In the first game, Jesse comes to the oldest house to try to find out what happened to her brother. They got separated when they were kids, and they’ve had two very different lives. When you kind of zoom out, you see a larger pattern or the idea that we’re doing.’’
He goes on to add, ’’ His (Dylan’s) journey is very much from this very inhuman world, a paranatural world, without any kind of connection, stepping into the real world, the human world. So, there’s a poetic kind of balance between the two different things we do.’’
Control Resonant Gameplay
In Control Resonant, we’ll explore a deep progression system to define how Dylan adapts to emerging dangers. Forge connections crucial to Dylan’s fight to retain his humanity as he journeys from former test subject to paranatural superweapon.
Meet constantly evolving threats head-on, utilising the environment, deploying elemental abilities and using the raw force of Dylan’s shapeshifting melee weapon, the Aberrant.
With the Aberrant, you can deliver bone-crunching blows with a two-handed hammer and flow seamlessly into the swift precision of dual-wielded blades as this supernatural weapon morphs on demand to meet each new challenge.
Asked about the shift to a melee-focused combat model in our interview, Remedy’s Mikael Kasurinen explained what brought it about.
'’Well, there are two sides to it. One is that Control, as a franchise, is all about shifting protagonists of the ongoing story of our world. We wanted to establish that right away with the second game (Resonant), so that people kind of get what the franchise is about. Part of why we want to do it is that it gives us these opportunities to tell new, interesting stories. At the same time, we can mix up the gameplay as well, because different characters have different approaches to how to deal with things.
Then, when we look at the siblings (Jesse and Dylan Faden), we want them to kind of feel like two sides of the same coin. So, if Jesse uses a gun, then Dylan obviously uses a melee weapon and so on. There’s this interesting kind of a yin-yang thing that they’re kind of doing together.
Also, melee is cool. It’s visceral, it’s fun, and I think it was also something that the studio was excited about overall. We’ve been doing third-person shooting for, like, what, 25 years, 30 years? It’s nice to do something else, so I think that’s exciting as well.’‘’’
Lead Level Designer Anne-Marie Grönroos added, '’The movement is such a big part of the game. Naturally, when you have melee combat, you need to go right where the enemies are, you need to zip around very fast, you can’t stay put at all.’’
The world of Control Resonant brings the action outdoors, and that proved to be an exciting challenge for the developers.
'’In the first game, most of the time, when you came into some room, we blocked the entrances, enemies attacked, and now you’re just trapped there until you kill all the enemies,’’ explains Grönroos. ’’ And, for Resonant, we can’t really do this here as much. Actually, once you get the flying ability, we can barely do that at all. So, we had to figure out other ways to incentivise combat that, maybe, these enemies are guarding something.’’
Control Resonant Platforms, Pre-Orders, and Prices
Control Resonant will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC (Steam and Epic Games) for £49.99, with a Digital Deluxe version available for £59.99. You can pre-order the game on all the storefronts now.
Control Resonant Trailers
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