Remedy Entertainment has finally pulled back the curtain on Control Resonant, the long-awaited follow-up to its cult-hit paranormal thriller Control—and this time, the weirdness is going full open world in a warped Manhattan.
A New Control Game, A New Faden
Remedy confirmed that
Control Resonant is coming in
2026 to
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC (Steam/Epic), and Mac, expanding the universe in a big way. Instead of returning to the Oldest House, players are heading to a paranormally twisted
Manhattan on the brink of annihilation.
The biggest twist: you are
not playing as Jesse Faden.
- The protagonist this time is
Dylan Faden, Jesse’s brother, now deployed by the
Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) during a reality-breaking cosmic crisis.
- The story follows Dylan as he
hunts for his missing sister Jesse, while trying to keep his own humanity intact amid escalating supernatural horrors.
According to Remedy,
Resonant is designed as
both a direct sequel and a new entry point, so newcomers can jump in without having played the original.
Manhattan, But Shattered by the Paranormal
In the debut trailer shown at
The Game Awards 2025, we see a version of Manhattan that looks like it has been folded, shattered, and rewritten by unseen forces.
Key setting details:
- Remedy calls it a
“paranaturally warped Manhattan”—buildings distort, streets fracture, and reality itself bends in impossible ways.
- The game is pitched as a
“larger, more open adventure” with an
open-ended action-adventure RPG structure, rather than the more contained hub-based layout of the first
Control.
- Players will explore this shifting city while responding to FBC deployments and uncovering the source of a
“reality-bending cosmic threat.”That shift to a more open structure has big implications: expect more player choice, more side content, and a world that feels less like a single haunted office building and more like an entire haunted metropolis.
Combat Evolves: New Powers and a Shapeshifting Melee Weapon
If the first
Control was about telekinetic gunplay,
Resonant looks ready to crank that formula up.
Remedy highlights two pillars of Dylan’s arsenal:
-
New paranormal abilities – Dylan wields FBC-style powers that let him manipulate the environment and combat threats amid the chaos.
-
The Aberrant – a
shapeshifting melee weapon that changes form, suggesting a more up-close, physical combat style than Jesse’s Service Weapon-focused kit.
The announcement emphasizes that
Resonant will
“elevate the series’ signature action, atmosphere, and mystery” with a
more ambitious scale than anything the franchise has attempted so far. Early coverage from outlets like
PC Gamer echoes this, framing it as the true
Control 2, just rebranded with its new subtitle.
From Secret Sequel to Full Production
We’ve technically known a Control sequel was in development since Remedy announced “Control 2” back in 2022, but details were nearly nonexistent until this reveal.
Recent production milestones:
-
Entered full production earlier in 2025, according to reporting around The Game Awards reveal.
- The 2026 release window, shown in the trailer, suggests Remedy is confident enough in the schedule to go public, but is still avoiding a fixed date.
This slow-burn approach is very Remedy: long pre-production, followed by a big, cinematic debut once the vision is locked in.
Annapurna’s Surprising Role—and a Bigger Universe Play
One of the most intriguing parts of this story is who’s backing it.
-
Annapurna is
co-financing and co-producing Control Resonant, covering
50% of the game’s budget, as previously disclosed.
- This deal isn’t just about games: Annapurna will also *
help bring Remedy’s Control
and Alan Wake
franchises to film and TV.
- Tencent remains an investor in Remedy and its upcoming projects, supporting the broader transmedia ambitions.
This positions Control Resonant
as more than “just” a sequel. Remedy clearly sees the Remedy Connected Universe—the shared lore between Control
, Alan Wake
, and future titles—as fertile ground for cross-media storytelling, and Annapurna is an ideal partner for prestige film/TV adaptations.
What This Means for Fans—and for Remedy
For fans of the original Control
, Resonant
is shaping up to be:
- A deeper dive into the FBC mythos and the fate of the Faden siblings
- A chance to see the series’ weird fiction sensibilities spill into a living city, not just a single liminal building
- A more RPG-flavored experience, with open-ended structure and likely more progression systems and narrative choice
For Remedy, the game is a test of whether the Control universe can stand beside Alan Wake as a flagship franchise—and whether strange, cerebral, paranatural stories can succeed at blockbuster scale.
Given the critical acclaim of the first Control
and the success of Alan Wake 2
, Resonant
looks like a statement piece: this is the era of the Remedy universe, not just individual cult hits.
What to Watch Next
If you want to stay ahead of the curve, here’s what to keep an eye on over the next year:
- Deeper gameplay reveals – especially how the open-world structure works and how heavily RPG systems factor into builds and progression.
- Story teases – any hints at how Resonant
connects to the Oldest House, the Hiss, and the events of the original Control
and its DLC.
- Transmedia moves – announcements around Control or Alan Wake TV/film projects through Annapurna, which could drop before or around the game’s launch.
- Refined release timing – whether Remedy narrows the 2026 window to a specific quarter as development progresses.
For now, Control Resonant* is set up as one of 2026’s most intriguing genre-bending titles: an open-world paranormal thriller that could turn New York into the strangest battleground in modern gaming.
Sources
1. Remedy Entertainment Reveals CONTROL Resonant, Launching in ...
2. Control Resonant: All the key details on the sequel to Remedy's supernatural action-adventure
3. Control Resonant - Announcement Trailer | PS5 Games - YouTube
4. Control Resonant Debuts At The Game Awards, And It Stars A New Playable Character
5. Control Resonant Announcement Trailer - The Game Awards 2025
