Despite every Remedy Entertainment game being remarkably different, and often wildly different in genre, there’s a specific undercurrent that links everything together. And I don’t just mean the narrative concepts of the Remedy Universe — I mean a feeling, vibe, and style of crunchy gameplay that’s integral to the Remedy experience. And after just over an hour with Control Resonant, it’s abundantly clear that the studio’s first action-RPG has that special sauce. But even further, it might be one of Remedy’s most mechanically fascinating experiences yet.
I’ve been on the Remedy train for a long time, ever since the days of Max Payne and Max Payne 2 in the early 2000s. It’s one of the few studios that I will, no questions, play whatever it puts out — and I’ve often delighted in trying to pick apart the dense web of connections that is the Remedy Universe. I guess that’s a preamble to say that I feel like I’m exceptionally qualified to talk about what makes a “Remedy game.”
At Summer Game Fest, I had the chance to play the first hour of the game, which packs in a decent amount of story and gets you up to speed with the new combat system. Control Resonant follows Dylan Faden, brother of the protagonist of the original Control, Jesse Faden, who becomes the director of the Federal Bureau of Control in that game. He’s also what’s known as a Parautilitarian, an individual who displays exceptional supernatural or paranatural abilities (Alan Wake is also a Parautilitarian).
Things start out pretty dire from the get-go in Resonant, with Dylan waking up from some sort of living nightmare to find his cell in The Oldest House broken open, and a trail of death and gore leading through the facility. That same sort of bizarre dreamlike tone present in the original Control is on full display here, as Dylan makes his way onto the streets of New York only to find the city warped and twisted into a nightmarish version of itself — buildings jut at awkward angles, birds are frozen in time, and the twisted creatures of The Hiss roam the streets. From an aesthetic standpoint, Resonant has all the bizarre charm the first game was known for, using the same live-action footage-spliced-over-gameplay approach and dreamlike environmental design.
But by far the most fascinating part of my time with Resonant was the combat, which integrates elements from DmC: Devil May Cry and even Kingdom Hearts. And even though you can literally pick out elements from all those games, it’s astounding how in line the combat feels with the original Control, deliberately building on the foundations laid there. I’d describe Control Resonant as an aerial, positioning-based action-RPG with a heavy emphasis on the RPG part. I know that’s a lot of words.
Essentially, Dylan has access to a shape-shifting weapon called the Aberrant, which can instantly transform into different weapon types, such as a hammer, scythe, or dual blades. In my demo, I chose to use the scythe form and could then add a secondary sub-weapon type on top of that, choosing a drill that could quickly deal a series of blows to enemies.
I mentioned DmC, and I mean specifically DmC, not Devil May Cry at large. And that’s because the “flow” of combat is most easily compared to that, in how you’re supposed to string together stylish combos and dodge enemy attacks. The Kingdom Hearts comparison then comes in with how the game layers in RPG elements and places a strong emphasis on flowing into aerial combos. In Kingdom Hearts 2 specifically, Sora has many options for huge combo strings that stagger enemies and flow through the air, and Resonant feels extremely similar in that regard — largely because of how it integrates Dylan’s aerial traversal.
On top of all this, you can equip up to five special abilities at any given time. The ones I was able to see were a telekinetic rock throw and a kind of ground pound that executes a massive shockwave near where you land.
Through early tutorials, you learn a variety of moves that mould Dylan’s movement abilities; you can execute two quick forward dashes, double-jump, switch to a fast-running dash, and use float to cross gaps. All of these abilities are used to quickly traverse the metropolitan environment, but also directly tie into how you approach combat. This means it’s quite easy to zip across the environment, bouncing between enemies as you string together combos and deal with various enemy types. And it’s that fusion of traversal elements and combat that makes Resonant feel so in line with the original Control. That game was largely about environmental management and positioning, ensuring Jesse could harness the elements around her to her advantage. That positioning element is still there, but Dylan’s much more direct set of powers translates into a heavier action system — one that feels completely natural.
And that’s my biggest surprise about Resonant, how quickly I slipped into feeling like I’d played this game before. There aren’t even egregious tutorials to go through; it’s just that the various systems click together so well, and that core understanding of the original Control carries through. But I also got the sense of more depth beneath what I just played, with various weapon types and an expansive progression system that lets you upgrade Dylan’s supernatural abilities, Abberrant weapons, and “talents” that link your abilities and attacks. Each weapon has its own dedicated skill tree, and while I didn’t get to see a ton of progression elements, what’s there seems to focus on allowing you to lean into different builds.
Control Resonant was the single game that made the strongest impression on me at Summer Game Fest. A single hour was all I needed to get the game’s vibe, the combat style it’s going for, and that trademark Remedy weirdness. To me, that speaks to an incredibly strong vision for the game at large, a confidence that, I hope, Control Resonant can build on in incredible ways throughout the full game.
