Control Resonant is a sequel — and also a starting point

Chronologically, Control Resonant is a sequel to 2019’s Control. But in most other ways, the games aren’t directly connected. To developer Remedy, they’re more like two sides of the same coin.

When Resonant was first revealed last year, creative director Mikael Kasurinen said you can play the games in any order. The world of Control is reality-bending in lots of ways, but the general linear progression of time isn’t really one of them — how would someone start with the sequel?

It didn’t click until I played Resonant myself. In a two-plus-hour preview earlier this week, I played the opening act of the game, as well as a later story mission and an open-ended section filled with Hiss to fight. The events of Control, and of protagonist Jesse Faden’s arc, have already happened, but Resonant isn’t actually about what happens next. It’s about her brother, Dylan, and exploring this same world from a very different point of view.

“Right from the starting point when we were thinking about Control as a franchise that’s going to be several different games, the thinking was that it’s a story of a world, and then with every game we get a lens into that world through different protagonists,” Kasurinen told me.

“Jesse’s coming from our world into the paranatural world; Dylan has always been there,” Kasurinen added, comparing Control’s setting of the mysterious, otherworldly Oldest House to Resonant’s setting of Manhattan. “Now he’s stepping into our world. And our world is weird to him. He has no connection with that. So he’s like a fish out of water in our world, just like Jesse was inside the Oldest House.”

That fish-out-of-water feeling is what makes Resonant a viable starting point for the series. Dylan knows a lot about the paranatural; he’s been held captive in the Oldest House for most of his life due to his abilities, and he was trained to be a weapon. As he navigates the outside world, he’s in a position to explain some of the finer points of the paranatural to the people he encounters and, by extension, the player.

That’s not to say Resonant is bogged down with expository dialogue. You get enough information to get by, and that’s about as much downtime as you’re going to get for a while. Combat in Resonant is about constant movement: Kill some weaker enemies to build up your ability gauge; use those abilities on stronger enemies; inevitably lose some health in the process; kill some more weaker enemies so they’ll drop health for you to pick up; repeat until all the strong enemies are dead. If you don’t want to die, you should probably be moving the entire time.

The loop reminded me of 2016’s Doom, in that you have to kill to keep killing until there’s nothing left to kill, but with a melee-focused, PlatinumGames flair. Combat in the original Control wasn’t slow, but it didn’t feel like this. Jesse uses a gun, and she has a confidence in herself that Dylan doesn’t yet have. As Dylan, I felt scrappy.

“The way I thought about it was like: Jesse has her strength and she had to find her ability. Dylan has his ability and he needs to find his strength,” said Sean Durrie, who plays Dylan.

And I did need to find my strength to survive as Dylan. I cycled through his many skill trees — different weapon styles, abilities, and perks — trying to find the build that would give me the best chance against the Hiss. I found lots of builds I liked, my favorite including a drill I could stab into enemies and charge up, and Dylan’s abilities felt powerful, but I didn’t succeed until I learned how to move and properly chain it all together.

If I’d come into Resonant not knowing anything about the Hiss, or the Oldest House, or Jesse’s experience in this world, I wouldn’t even have had time to feel lost. Fighting and surviving are more pressing matters; explanations and lore can come later. You don’t need to talk at length about the mysteries of the Hiss when you’re up close and personal stabbing them with a big drill. And for those who do come to Resonant as a starting point? Well, they’ll have plenty to look forward to afterward.

Control Resonant launches on September 24th on the PS5, Xbox, and PC.