Control Resonant Review Roundup: Remedy's Open-World Melee Gamble Divides Critics

Rarely does a AAA release produce a critical spread this wide. On one side sits PCGamesN, awarding Control Resonant a 9/10 and describing it as "a masterful explosion of creativity." On the other stands Polygon, which concluded that the game "fails at nearly all of its ambitions" and labeled it a "betrayal of Jesse."

These are not minor quibbles about frame rates or difficulty curves. They are fundamental disagreements about what Control Resonant is and what it should have been. And they make Remedy Entertainment's latest release one of the most polarizing major games of 2026.

The stakes behind that polarization are considerable. Control Resonant represents three simultaneous gambles for the Finnish studio: its first open-world game, its first melee-focused combat system, and a protagonist swap from series lead Jesse Faden to her brother Dylan. All of this arrives on an estimated €50 million development budget, following a difficult financial year for the studio.

What Control Resonant Actually Is

Control Resonant is the direct sequel to 2019's Control, launching September 24, 2026 on PS5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X/S, with a macOS version arriving later in the year. Announced at The Game Awards in December 2025 and declared gold on August 18, 2026, the game picks up after the Hiss escape the Oldest House and Jesse goes missing.

Players control Dylan Faden, voiced by Sean Durrie, who awakens from a seven-year coma to find his sister gone and reality unraveling. His primary tool is the Aberrant, a shapeshifting melee weapon that morphs between sword, scythe, hammer, and drill forms. It is the mechanical centerpiece of the series' departure from Jesse's telekinetic gunplay.

The setting has shifted as well. Rather than the brutalist corridors of the Oldest House, Control Resonant unfolds across a twisted, interdimensional Manhattan divided into distinct zones: Downtown, The Park, West Incursion Zone, Subway, and the enigmatic Unknown. Remedy has layered in action-RPG systems including stats, talent trees, and weapon customization. Combat abilities are earned by defeating bosses called Resonants, while traversal upgrades come from entities known as Faults.

New factions complicate the supernatural landscape, including The Patterning, which opposes the Hiss, and an expanding Mold threat. And in true Remedy fashion, the game includes idiosyncratic side content that few other studios would attempt: an art-therapy sketching mechanic and a fully playable karaoke sequence, the kind of detail that illustrates the unconventional, auteur-driven identity the studio has cultivated.

Reviews were conducted on PS5 using prerelease codes provided by Remedy, making console impressions the primary reference point. That picture appears broadly acceptable, though Rock Paper Shotgun reported the game struggles on Steam Deck, failing to hold 30fps in busy city scenes even on low settings with FSR upscaling enabled. The PC version, built in Remedy's Northlight engine with Nvidia-assisted path tracing, positions itself as a potential high-end showcase with real scalability questions. No reviewer suggested performance issues were the deciding factor in their verdict.

Where Critics Split

Combat: Reinvention or Iteration?

If there is a single point where the critical consensus fractures most dramatically, it is combat.

IGN praised the melee system as "slick and responsive like a Devil May Cry or Bayonetta," framing the Aberrant as the foundation of a character-action reinvention. That reviewer completed the campaign in roughly 30 hours. Rock Paper Shotgun aligned with that assessment, calling it "Remedy's best action in ages" and characterizing the overall project as a successful gamble.

Eurogamer saw something different. In its assessment, Control's combat has "not really" meaningfully improved from the original. Where IGN found reinvention, Eurogamer found iteration.

The split may come down to the baseline each critic applied. Those evaluating the Aberrant on its own terms, as a character-action system with its own combo fluency, tend to come away impressed. Those measuring it against the original's telekinetic gunplay, which many considered a defining strength of the 2019 release, tend to find the new approach less distinctive.

Narrative: Dylan vs. Jesse

Polygon's criticism cuts deeper than mechanics. Its review frames Dylan's ascension as a "betrayal of Jesse," arguing that the sequel abandons the protagonist whose story gave the original its emotional anchor. That position stands in stark contrast to PCGamesN's 9/10, which celebrated the game's creative ambition without treating the protagonist swap as a betrayal.

The root of this disagreement appears to be expectation rather than fact. Critics who approached Control Resonant as a continuation of Jesse's arc found Dylan's seven-year coma setup and his sister's disappearance to be a narrative detour rather than an evolution. Critics who approached it as a new chapter in the Remedy Connected Universe found the shift liberating.

There is also the question of scope. Expanding from the tightly authored Oldest House to an open-world Manhattan is a structural change that inevitably alters pacing and focus. For some critics, that expansion dilutes the concentrated identity that made Control distinctive. For others, it represents exactly the kind of ambitious growth the series needed.

Commercial Stakes and Remedy's Bet

The review split matters because the commercial math is unforgiving. Control Resonant carries a €50 million development budget, and Remedy has indicated that 3 to 4 million lifetime sales are needed for full return on investment.

The context makes that target more daunting. According to Remedy's 2025 financial report, the studio recorded €59.5 million in revenue and a net loss of €13.0 million. Its multiplayer spin-off FBC: Firebreak received mixed reviews and triggered a €14.9 million non-cash write-down, prompting the studio to refocus on narrative-driven titles.

Remedy has been preparing for this moment. The studio purchased full Control rights from 505 Games for €17 million in February 2024 and partnered with Annapurna Pictures in August 2024 to finance half of development. The original Control sold over 6 million units by March 2026, establishing the commercial bar the sequel must clear.

The release window adds further pressure. September 2026 is crowded, with Silent Hill: Townfall and Onimusha: Way of the Sword competing for attention. Remedy communications director Thomas Puha has acknowledged the window is "challenging."

Whether a polarizing critical reception threatens the 3 to 4 million sales target is now the central question. Strong reviews can drive word of mouth; divisive ones can complicate the marketing narrative.

What the Sales Numbers Will Reveal

Remedy took three significant risks at once: open-world design, melee combat, and a new protagonist. Critics largely agree the studio was ambitious. They disagree on whether the ambition landed. That is a fundamentally different kind of split than the one produced by a buggy launch or a compromised design.

For Remedy, the coming months will test whether the Connected Universe strategy can absorb this kind of reinvention. The studio has built a reputation on unconventional, auteur-driven projects. Control Resonant is its most expensive experiment yet.

Reviews can tell us whether critics believe the gamble paid off. Only sales will tell us whether players agree.