Control Resonant Hands-On: A Melee-First Shift for Remedy’s Sequel

I’m standing in a maze of apartments suspended in thin air, hundreds of feet beneath the streets of Manhattan. An unfortunate resident named Anne is floating above me, twisted by the Hiss into a reality-warping threat. In Control Resonant, the sequel to Remedy’s breakout hit, I don't have a gun to fall back on. Instead, I leap to the ceiling, invert gravity, and close the distance with my dual-wielded blades. It is a sharp departure from the original, but it feels undeniably like a Remedy game.

A New Perspective on the FBC

Spending three hours with the game revealed that this is a dedicated action RPG rather than a stylish slasher. Lead Gameplay Designer Sergey Mohov, who also worked on the original, explains that the shift was baked into the first pitch. While the first game followed Jesse Faden as an outsider discovering the FBC, Control Resonant flips the script. You play as her brother, Dylan, who has spent his entire life inside the FBC and is now venturing out into the streets of Manhattan.

“The first game is Jesse, who is an outsider coming into the FBC... it's this Alice in Wonderland sort of story,” Mohov tells me. “Now everybody knows what's going on in there.” By placing players in the shoes of Dylan, Remedy can show how the FBC actually manages Altered World Events (AWEs) and contains threats in the public eye. It also serves as a fresh entry point; characters like FBC agent Zoe de Vera provide a bridge for new players, meaning you don't necessarily need to have finished the first game to jump in.

Combat: Aggression is the Best Defense

Remedy considered adding melee forms to the Service Weapon in the first game, but decided it would change the fundamental identity of the title. In Control Resonant, they have gone all-in on that vision. The combat loop is defined by constant movement and aggressive engagement.

You aren't just hacking away; you are managing a 'falter' meter by using heavy attacks and supernatural abilities. Once an enemy is staggered, you can trigger an execution, which grants you a 'bloodlust' buff and health drops. The rhythm feels closer to modern Doom than a traditional slasher, rewarding you for staying in the thick of the fight. Even your defensive options, like the shield, are designed to be used as a battering ram to dash through incoming threats.

The Challenges of the Shift

The transition isn't without its growing pains. The platforming can feel clunky, and the traversal—which includes double jumps, dashes, hovering, and grappling to set points—can occasionally be difficult to master. During my demo, I had a few awkward moments attempting to scale environments or miscalculating a hover, though these are hurdles that likely smooth out with more practice.

Furthermore, the move from the calculated, brutalist architecture of the Oldest House to the wider streets of Manhattan is a trade-off. While the open sections are visually striking, they lack the claustrophobic, strange design that made the original so iconic. However, Remedy is keeping these areas limited, ensuring the core of the experience remains focused on authored set-pieces. One such mission, involving a descent into a massive sinkhole via a giant drill, showcased the studio’s signature ability to fuse audio and visual design into a high-octane escape sequence.

While I will miss the specific charm of the Objects of Power, the introduction of 'People of Power'—and the spectacular enemy designs like the floating, clawing passenger bus—suggest that the core mysteries and character work that defined the first game remain in good hands. Provided Remedy hits its stride with these new mechanics, Control Resonant looks to be a worthy evolution of the series.