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Developer (Platform): Remedy Entertainment (PlayStation 5 Pro)
Publisher (Release): Remedy Entertainment (2026)
Length: 30-40 hours
Genres: Adult; Sci-Fi; Fantasy; Horror; Action
❗️Disclaimers❗️:
content contains moderate violence, gore, and horror
severe flashing lights warning
this review contains low-level spoilers
recommendation: must play
👍 Pros 👍
Fantastical sci-fi that asks more than it answers
Characters that actually shape the story
Hack-n-slash, action-adventure at its most addictive best
👎 Cons 👎
Dialogue is clunky in design
Not everyone will love the pretence of an unabashed, enigmatic story that will answer very little (I’m surprised I love it so much)
👀 Synopsis & Trailer 👀
After years in confinement at the hands of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), Dylan Faden emerges into a warped Manhattan at the peak of a paranatural crisis.
Charged with combating a mysterious cosmic entity as it alters fundamental aspects of our reality, Dylan must harness his new-found powers to take the fight to the myriad threats overwhelming Manhattan.
On the path to unlocking the full potential of his paranatural abilities Dylan will also seek out his sister, FBC Director Jesse Faden, as he bids to comprehend and contain the dangers that have spilled beyond the confines of the Oldest House to tear our world apart.
🛎️ Introduction 🛎️
Control Resonant is my most anticipated release in quite a while; the psychedelic sequel to one of my favourite games of all time. I hyped it up knowing full well the damage I could be doing to myself and the disservice I could impart on the game…
…yet, I couldn’t help it, and, armed with a sickening worry, I entered the twisted state of Manhattan as all hell broke loose and crossed my fingers. I shouldn’t have bothered. Resonant is everything I wanted and all the things I never knew I needed. It’s a slick/trippy/chilling action-adventure game with an LSD landscape to explore and viciously violent mechanics to learn as Dylan Faden searches for his missing sister in a battlefield littered with insanity/secrets/redemption.
🧩 Plots 🧩
Control Resonant kicks off players with the fall of The Oldest House’s 7-year lockdown started back in Control. Jesse Faden, Director of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), has gone missing and all the madness she held back from the outside world is now free to rain havoc on a Manhattan already under paranatural threat. It’s electrifying, thrusting the player right into the action with apocalyptic stakes and visual splendour as the world warps, literally, and powers beyond understanding take to the stage.
One of my biggest worries with this premise was how well the justification for undoing all the work Jesse/the player does in the first game would be sold? Thankfully, it’s not an issue. Jesse and the remnants of the FBC locked inside The Oldest House fought tooth and nail and prevented the crimson curse that is The Hiss from decimating the world. That said, Resonant more than sells the threat the malignant resonance actually poses. It’s a cockroach entity, a proficient disease, and the bittersweet tragedy of its remnants escaping before it can be completely dealt with infuses many a personal tale throughout the story.
Leave your insides by the door…
The Hiss, however, isn’t the world’s only threat. An overwhelming entity isolates Manhattan from the rest of the world, keeping the paranatural insanities erupting from containment locked down but free to wreak their horrifying effects on those left within. Resonant is honestly chilling. Sure, its predecessor had the horror flecks Remedy magically mixes with mesmerising music and trippy storytelling, but Resonant uses its fantastical plot and dry wit to distract the player before blindsiding them with the clinically contorted victims of the new Patterning entity that bends buildings and bodies alike into horrifying monstrosities that make The Hiss look cliche.
We really are tiny…
Progression and pacing are, for the most part, pristine. I do have a couple of gripes but, mostly, Remedy delivers their special supernatural sauce of deliciously deceptive nonsense. Nifty callbacks to the previous game enrich and reward while new stories and an abundance of side quests bring Remedy’s universe to the worldwide stage. It builds, it sparks, and, unlike its predecessor, it confidently explodes into an epic kaleidoscope of crazy in its finale with a satisfying conclusion that answers some questions and asks about a million more (very Remedy, love it or hate it).
I…love it. Control Resonant pulls together all the rich lore from the universe and crafts an inter-dimensional war between extra-dimensional entities with humanity the collateral ants caught between giants, and I absolutely adore it.
‘…apocalyptic stakes and visual splendour…’
🎭 Characters 🎭
The barrage of bonkers thankfully doesn’t hide Control Resonant’s beating heart. Dylan Faden, rudely awoken from a coma to find his sister, previous protagonist Jesse, missing and the world on fire, walks a complex road to redemption. Riddled with guilt for his past actions, Dylan puts his life on the line for those that would rather he lost that battle, regardless of if they suffer for it as well. Responsibility, however, is never one person’s burden, and Resonant gives us a much more in-depth look at what Dylan went through from childhood after being taken in/adopted/abducted by a government agency without oversight.
He’s sadly stunted, a veritable kicked puppy, trapped in adolescence through no failing of his own and Remedy do an incredible job of turning an incredibly creepy side character from the first game into an endearing survivor with skeletons in his closet…not all of them put there by him. The discrimination he faces highlights the ignorance of hate with a painful fury and everything we accomplish feels hard-fought and well-earned.
Lost…
Jessie, despite being MIA, casts a large, heavy shadow, fighting in the background to protect her baby brother while he marches doe-eyed into danger. Perhaps the biggest character moments come from the supernatural siblings and their mysterious past. Resonant plumbs those depths to tighten their connection to one another while applying the Remedy special of one answer and one hundred new questions.
The parallels between the two and their respective journeys are undeniable. Jessie, a precision instrument desperate to impose order on her chaotic life, balances Dylan’s raw, explosive power borne from a life in captivity. Two halves of a whole separated by a fear of what would happen if they were properly reunited.
…but never alone
Supporting cast members soar. Resonant showcases an array of characters that sit flush with the plot while actually utilising their agency to touch it. Their histories feel lived in, their reactions natural, and their development leaps confidently from solid foundations. Emily Pope, Simon Arish, and many more return from the first game undeniably changed from when we last saw them to join fresh faces that offer different perspectives than those suffering after isolation. Trauma is a palpable force occupying the seams of the narrative, unable to reach a resolution as the revolving door of chaos continues to spin.
Dialogue mostly lands and the primary performances hit the right emotional notes but supplemental voice acting can come across sickeningly campy, even for the bonkers tone of Resonant, underselling the brutal and horrific discoveries taking place. Conversations also feel fractured, restricting the player in what they can discuss with arbitrary limits that let some dialogue slip through the cracks.
‘…an array of characters that sit flush with the plot while actually utilising their agency to touch it.’
👾 Gameplay and Graphics 👾
Resonant’s gameplay is where the radical changes come into play. A third-person, mostly open-world hack-n-slash, Remedy takes the paranatural insanity of the first game’s shooter mechanics and dials it up to about a hundred. It’s fast/furious/frenetic, intimidating in its moving parts and the amount that can be happening at the one time, but, find your groove, and it’s an utterly satisfying dance that feels and sounds violently ripe with every sizzling slice and every bonebreaking smash. Upgrading sees an elaborate, well, upgrade, enhancing the series’s splitting of weapon improvements from active and passive powers. Resources can be earned through the plethora of things to see and do along with the rich variety of enemies lining the streets of Manhattan (and a much improved map, thank God).
Flexibility is one of Resonant’s strengths, and no two players will play the same. Status ailments and enemy weaknesses add some tactical spice while brutal combos and flashy finishers round off a combat experience that gives without losing the wisdom of restraint. If there was something I wanted more of, it would be the approach to stringing together combos. Largely, it comes very close to button mashy, in desperate need of hold and pause mechanics to switch up what Dylan can do.
What in the Metal Gear happened here?
Exploring the twisted streets of Manhattan is an absolute joy. Nooks, crannies, and mini-missions dot the map and keep the city perpetually alive. Like everything else, the freedom to what you choose to do isn’t undermined by any sense of urgency; everything is urgent, so tackling a delicious little side sojourn feels as natural as battling down the main road. Gorgeous visuals await around every corner and employ a kaleidoscope of colours and twisted landscapes to ensure no two areas are alike. Cities within a city, and the very kind of open-world game I think best utilises the genre through quality over quantity.
It’s not the size that matters, blah, blah, blah.
Manhattan, you okay?
Which brings me to my biggest high and lowest low: traversal. Resonant employs a variety of gravity-bending abilities to get Dylan through his journey but hides them behind missions…not all of which are naturally found. In particular, and by far the most vital form of movement the game offers, is Reach, the ability to shoot long distances at predetermined points. Embarrassingly, I went such a large amount of time throughout working around not having this ability because it is so infuriatingly well-tucked into the corner of the map that I didn’t happen upon it through general exploration. Neither was I pointed to it in any way I saw. I can’t even completely hold it against the game because I’m not 100% sure if it’s one poorly designed aspect or just something I infuriatingly missed on my own, but if I have one piece of advice for prospective players then it’s this: focus on gaining all traversal mechanics before all else.
That said, movement is absolutely magical. It slides into combat as a slickly stylish serenade while general exploration makes the player feel like a paranatural Bugs Bunny. I cannot think of a game in recent memory with the flowing and fractured design of Resonant or the seamless blend of abilities needed to fully utilise it. Remedy are an unrivalled force in experimentation and no two games feel the same, yet they’re all signature Remedy.
‘…takes the paranatural insanity of the first game and dials it up to about a hundred.’
💭 Final Thoughts 💭
Control Resonant is a spectacular sequel, faithful to Remedy’s imaginative and bombastic style of experimentation without ever losing their signature in all the controlled chaos. It’s nonsensical, addictive, a fast and furious hack-n-slash action-adventure game that challenges the player to defy gravity and explode in fantastic fits of paranatural power. A visually tantalising and twisted Manhattan hides mysteries and secrets that cater to the lore fiends out there while ephemeral answers raise more questions and keep the Remedy Universe alive and breathing.
For me, Resonant is one of those games that has me cursing development timelines because I need to live long enough to consume more. I need more of the universe’s special blend of crazy, I need more on the characters that feel like live beings wrestling against the story, and I need more of the slick, stylish gameplay that no doubt will be different but with every bit of passion and purpose Resonant boasts by the bucket load.
Control, as a series in itself, has me completely in love. The attention to detail, the world-building, the simmering scent of a million mysteries ready to boil over and surprise us players as we toil in the mines of theory for answers…Resonant is a sequel that showcases a studio with no intention of slowing down and one in a series of such phenomenal personality.
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