Control Resonant's Hack-and-Slash Pivot Is a Cool Concept, But I'm Not Sold Yet

June 8, 2026 - 21:31

The next chapter in Remedy's supernatural action saga is taking a sharp turn away from its roots. Where the original Control leaned heavily on telekinetic gunplay and chaotic firefights, its follow-up, Control Resonant, is swapping the service weapon for a blade. I got hands-on with an early demo at Summer Games Fest, and while the concept is ambitious, the execution left me with mixed feelings.

The demo drops you into a familiar, shifting Brutalist building, but the rhythm is entirely different. Instead of floating and blasting, you're closing distance, parrying, and chaining melee combos. The swordplay has weight, and the signature telekinetic abilities are now used to stagger enemies or set up finishing strikes. It feels like a deliberate attempt to make combat more intimate and visceral. In theory, that sounds great. In practice, the flow is choppy. Enemies often break your rhythm with unpredictable attacks, and the camera struggles to keep up in tight corridors. The visual feedback is stunning--fractured reality and particle effects everywhere--but the core loop hasn't clicked yet.

There is a cool concept here. The idea of a psychic agent forced into close-quarters combat creates a new kind of tension. But the demo didn't sell me on the long-term fun. It feels like a prototype of a good idea rather than a polished game. I want to see how the full skill tree and enemy variety flesh out the system. For now, I'm interested but not convinced. Control Resonant could be a bold reinvention, or it could be a case of fixing what wasn't broken. We will know more when it launches later this year.