The Remedy universe is something special. So special that it feels like it has its own laws of physics; its own weirdness and strangeness; its own outrageous enemies and weapons; and definitely its own level of cool.
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This game won one of our coveted Best of Summer Game Fest 2026 awards! These highlight the biggest, most exciting, and most innovative products on show this year. You can see what else won in our Best of Summer Game Fest 2026 roundup.
After three hours or so with Control Resonant earlier this month at a Summer Games Fest 2026-adjacent preview event, I can safely say that all of the above is back in extremely large quantities.
Control Resonant is shaping up to be one heck of a sequel, and all the layers from Remedy’s first stab at melee combat, the positively weird vibes, the expanded story of The Hiss and Jess and Dylan — all in much-larger open-ended environments — have me incredibly excited for its release later this year.
The perfect setting
My preview put me straight in the boots of Dylan Faden (brother of original Control protagonist Jess) inside The Oldest House, where (in shock news) something Hiss-y and terrible has happened again.
However, this time, rather than entering The Oldest House from the exterior as in the first Control game, Dylan needs to find his way out to the streets of Manhattan to pursue The Hiss, who are now on the loose. The inversion of the siblings’ journeys feels intentional, and thrusts Dylan out into the much more open-ended city streets, which is a nice step up from the strictly interior environments of its predecessor.
Hearing some familiar names on the airwaves and while in conversation with others, and exploring the paranatural streets, trying to find out what’s going on and why the Hiss are flooding through the city is a premise which already has its hooks in me, and anyone who found the weirdness of Jesse’s narrative will be intrigued from the off. Jesse herself is present, but communication between the two characters isn’t as clear as it can be, almost like it’s taking place across different planes…
What makes the premise even more gripping, though, is, indeed, this embracing of more open areas and bigger, more expansive spaces. These demand to be explored and make for a satisfying contrast from The Older House and its more linear spatial structure.
I only saw one open area as part of my preview, but it already proved to me that such areas are superb for exploration — you’ll find extra missions, bounties, towers to hack into to reveal map areas, and more.
They also provide the opportunity to really get to grips and experiment with all of Dylan’s moves, tools, weapons, abilities and more, while mastering his movement and the game’s exquisite set of physics.
Mastering Dylan in this manner is the key to getting the utmost out of the excellent combat, and it feels fantastic when it all comes together.
Once you’ve got used to the way Dylan moves, the game’s physics, the options open to him in terms of traversal and going airborne, and all the weapons and abilities available, you can put together some absolutely unreal, otherworldly, and unbelievably stylish combos to stick it to your foes. There’s definitely been a real emphasis on fluidity and movement in Dylan’s combat, and it’s very successful.
Not only do Dylan’s weapons literally transform between, broadly speaking, heavy and light variants (not unlike the three options available to you at the beginning of Bloodborne, for example), they also completely change the combat on show. This is a huge step up compared to Jesse’s more singular shooting in the first game.
You’re not controlling Dylan; you’re unleashing him.
These transformations come in a variety of scales too: the difference between heavy and light attacks, or if you just keep using the light attack, it’ll eventually alter into something different, are at the small end of the spectrum; while breaking down enemies’ guard means you can transform Dylan’s combat moves to become executions or finishers, brutalising The Hiss back to whence they came.
Layer on top of the weapon choices and transformations a host of skills and abilities — such as shielding yourself with a rock wall, throwing rocks telekinetically, a very satisfying ground slam, and a push effect that can inflict a burn status — and even passive effects that can be engaged in combat, and everything is leveled up.
You can also have two sets of three abilities equipped at any given time to mix things up and keep different builds at your fingertips. It really feels like a huge amount to manage, but also a very exciting smorgasbord of delicious Hiss-destroying tools at your disposal.
Going deeper underground
One of the most memorable experiences from my session was in some classic Remedy level design which allowed me to put all the combat excellence to use, while absorbing some brilliant worldbuilding and environment craft in one of the game’s dungeons — a new feature for the series.
This area was accessed at one end of an open area, so after you’ve been slicing and dicing your way through the streets and possibly upgrading yourself and your gear. Heading down a big hole in the ground on a tethered bell to place some receivers at the bottom, I was treated to some grin-inducing Remedy-level design combined with some combat encounters that really made me think and have me utilise all tools and moves available to me.
In one encounter or level within the larger dungeon level, I could traverse every physical plane of what used to be a hotel or residential building; with a tap of my DualSense’s L1, I could change the wall to be my floor, then the ceiling, and so on, constantly rotating to navigate my way towards foes — and to escape them. If this is even a small glimpse into what Control Resonant’s levels might offer, then fans of the first game’s Ashtray Maze are in for a treat.
It’s things like this which make me confident that the world is going to be one of the biggest characters in the game, and, combined with Dylan’s slick and stylish combat and a really cool setting and intriguing story, Control Resonant has all the makings of a hit.
Control Resonant releases on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC on September 24, 2026.
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rob.dwiar@futurenet.com (Rob Dwiar)
