Control Resonant review: Paranormal pandemonium

Dylan Faden's journey to find his sister, stop the Hiss, and save Manhattan takes some big steps from the original, but not every one of them is sure-footed.

In 2019, Control landed high on Game of the Year lists by presenting a labyrinthian building of paranormal activity in which original protagonist Jesse Faden was forced to traverse its halls and stop an extra-dimensional threat known as the Hiss to save her brother, Dylan. In Control Resonant, Dylan follows in his sister’s footsteps as the fight leaves the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) and takes the fight out to the open districts of an extra-dimensional nightmare-filled Manhattan. Resonant is more action-melee oriented than its predecessor, and sometimes feels repetitive or meandering, but it keeps Remedy’s trademark weirdness and goes to some fascinating places that make it well worth the time of fans invested in the Remedy-verse.

Dylan, you son of a b****

Classic Predator (1987) reference aside, that is indeed how everyone who knows Dylan feels about him at the start of Control Resonant. In case you forgot (don’t worry, Resonant has a recap of the first game), Dylan Faden was kidnapped as a child and groomed to be a “prime candidate” to direct the FBC, a secret government organization dedicated to the investigation and, if necessary, suppression of paranormal activity. When the Hiss, an otherworldly entity that possesses living and inanimate things through soundwaves, took control of Dylan, Jesse stepped up to purge the Hiss from him and take the Director role while she sought a way to stop the Hiss for good.

At Resonant’s start, we learn that not only did she not get it done in time, but the Hiss broke out of the FBC and invaded Manhattan where it came into contact with the Patterning and the Mold (both further extra-dimensional entities spreading in their own different way). These three entities clash over Manhattan, and what’s worse, Jesse has disappeared. As Dylan also happened to awake from the coma he was in when the Hiss was purged from him, he becomes the FBC’s ace in the hole: a powerful psychic capable of fighting all of these threats and saving Manhattan… and hopefully finding Jesse along the way.

Dylan is an odd duck to play. He’s not greatly likeable in any capacity, though you do get plenty of dialogue choices to decide how he feels about things. He’s still always stunted by his time being confined and trained for the FBC, being taken over by the Hiss, and being in a coma for years. Case in point, I found a dog at one point and Dylan talked about whether or not he was doing the “petting” thing correctly. He’s pretty awkward around most people and it makes him sometimes hard to connect to as a player, but I also felt for him because through my dialogue, Dylan was trying his best even despite everyone being quite afraid of him for the monster he was in the first game.

That brings me to the world we explore. Manhattan is a mess, turned topsy turvy by the influence of the Hiss, Patterning, and Mold fighting within it. They have different areas where they are stronger and have more presence, and it makes for some interesting enemy variety as you wander different districts experiencing their own space and time anomalies as a result of these threats. The Park is completely covered in Mold and billowing with cloudy creatures looking to infect anything they see. Meanwhile, the West Excursion Zone where the Patterning first appeared looks like MC Escher drew a New York City district. The biomes were genuinely interesting to explore, though sometimes a little dizzying. Especially when you get the ability to change Dylan’s gravity at certain points and walk on different surfaces.

I will say Control is as visually intense as Remedy games often are. There’s an appropriate seizure warning at the start, but even with that, it feels like a bit much. There are a lot of flashing visions, flashbacks, jumps to FMV, or blending of FMV into the game world. Atmosphere and sound is strong in Control Resonant, but also overly unpleasant at times. When you die in this game, it hits you with a bright red filter. Other times as you pass through areas, the screen flashes to jumpscare-like throbbing visions. Those who’ve played Remedy games like Alan Wake probably have an idea of what they’re in for, but it’s worth mentioning to anyone that might be affected by things like that. This game is in no way epileptic-friendly and you can’t really change that in any accessibility settings.

Lean into the aberrant

Part of the reason everyone fears Dylan so much is that he’s got insanely strong psychic abilities that allow him to manifest weapons, unleash telekinetic and pyrokinetic abilities, run at super speeds, float through the air freely, and more. But all of these things make him a great vehicle for the sprawling paranormal-infested Manhattan.

At its heart, Control Resonant is an action-RPG. You start with a couple weapons of your choosing (I chose a long scythe and a drill with an extended attack, but there were blades, staves, hammers, and more to choose from right from the start). Your goal is to go to each of the biomes and either find traces of Jesse that provide new movement abilities or find Resonant creatures that are conduits of the Patterning, Hiss, Mold, or some combination of them, and kill them to obtain combat abilities. The latter act as the game’s bosses and are a challenging array of warped beings unfortunate enough to become what you find when you encounter them.

Fighting is a mix of light and heavy attacks, use of your combat and movement abilities, dodging just before attacks, and dishing out damage to multiple enemies in a wide swath. If I had to compare combat and movement through the city to anything, it mostly brings Radical Entertainment’s 2009 title, Prototype, to mind. There’s an overpowered nature to Dylan in this world that becomes even more so as the story continues and he becomes even stronger, but there’s also a floaty looseness to all of it. Not shoddy, mind you, though it can get repetitive as you take on many of the same clusters of creatures over and over again hours into the game, who become little more dangerous than getting more health and tanking your onslaughts for a bit longer. Thankfully you can also upgrade yourself as you go to make just about everything you do from movement to fighting a little more powerful.

While I know bugs can be fixed in updates, I also have to say, this one was wacky for me in that regard. And by that I mean some of the weirdest bugs I’ve ever seen. There was a boss in this game I didn’t actually get to fight on my first run. There was a cinematic and it spawned, but then it just sat there in an idle animation, with no life bar and me unable to hit it until I went ahead and died in a room hazard to reload the battle. It then played a cinematic like I had beaten the boss and ran dialogue like I should be on my merry way. I had to restart the whole area to fix that. Other times, triggered dialogue following a scene would repeat, sometimes back to back, or dialogue choices I just made would play out again.

Control Resonant doesn’t need mechanical help being weird. In fact, I really dug the narrative and side stories, be it outwitting a deadly karaoke machine, a camera turning subjects into frozen “still life,” or even just Dylan seeing a possibility for artistic inspiration and arranging things for a sketch. I really liked exploring Control Resonant despite the few issues I mentioned. I just wish it was a wee bit better assembled.

Fighting for a Faden Family reunion

Control Resonant hits a vibe I haven’t felt in a while in an action melee. Dylan’s super-powered nature makes for a fun ride through the paranormal, chaos-filled streets of Manhattan, and the palpable fear of him by normies and his general awkwardness make for an interesting dynamic through the game as he tries to help others while also chasing Jesse (whom everyone tells him they liked more). Control Resonant isn’t an airtight experience. Besides running into a little too much repetition hours in, the bugs are sometimes as weird as the narrative, and the visuals, while atmospheric, are sometimes a harsh assault on the senses with no options for alleviation. However, between bizarre side encounters, mind-bending traversal, and a compelling main quest, there’s more than enough here to keep it moving.

This review is based on a PlayStation 5 review copy provided by the publisher. Control Resonant comes out on September 24, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

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Review for
Control Resonant
7
Pros

• Dylan is an intriguing character, narratively & mechanically
• The combat and movement abilities offer a lot to explore
• Manhattan's different biomes have much to offer
• Solid weirdness in the main story and side missions
• The boss Resonants are fun battles

Cons

• General enemies and encounters feel repetitive hours in
• No way to make some of the harsher, constant visuals less intense
• Buggier than it should have been in very bizarre ways