There’s no doubt that the headline for CONTROL Resonant belongs to the fact that it’s a true-blue melee-action game now. Where the original CONTROL centred on paranatural gunplay, a direct line of evolution from Remedy’s history with Max Payne and Quantum Break, its sequel brings us up-close and personal with the freakish threats this time around.
But once you become accustomed to its combat, there’s so much more to CONTROL Resonant that we’ve simply not seen from this series – or this developer – before. Remedy’s big swing is, in fact, an entire combo of big swings.
Here are just a few of the ways it’s breaking free from convention.
Sure, we’ve seen skill trees in CONTROL, but we’ve never seen this many. Resonant brings you not only a sprawling Talent tree for the newly playable Dylan Faden, but individual upgrade paths for the multiple forms his weapons can take, as well as multiple choices of Secondary Weapons and Combat Abilities, and even an entire menu worth of bespoke combo finishers (each of which can fundamentally alter how you approach a fight).
Hell, even the world itself can level up – the more fights you dominate, secrets you find, and quests you complete in a given area of Resonant’s warped Manhattan, the higher level that area becomes, offering you bonuses as it goes. But defeat one of the area bosses – known as Resonant Entities – and the world will actively become more dangerous, as if it’s daring you to get better.
It adds to up a game that constantly grows with you, a stealth-RPG hidden under the classic action game you’re engaging with.
The new approach to action might be tight and gratifyingly punishing, but the world around is anything but linear. Resonant’s Manhattan isn’t a traditional open world – instead it’s separated into densely packed, highly designed zones. Each one offers its own challenges, and sometimes vastly different looks, but they’re also peppered with ideas that will feel very familiar to an open world connoisseur.
From the familiar (hidden collectibles, rewarding activities) to the less-than-familiar (I unlocked a sidequest by hearing something singing out of a subway tunnel), this is a truly rich map to make your way around, offering constant distraction. It offers the best of both worlds – levels clearly designed with points of interest and choreographed brawls, with all the scope for exploration you’d expect from an entire game world.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/09/23/control-resonant-launch-genre-details/
