Control Resonant is launching later this year, but it’s unlike the original game and totally different from last year’s online FBC: Firebreak spin-off.
The original Control was released in 2019. It’s a mostly linear single-player third-person shooter. In 2025, we got the multiplayer first-person Left 4 Dead-like spin-off FBC: Firebreak. And now, Control Resonant, a full sequel to the OG game, is launching later this year and is a semi-open-world, melee-focused action RPG. It’s rare to see a video game franchise bounce around genres this much just a few games into its existence. So when I got a chance to talk to Resonant‘s creative director Mikael Kasurinen, lead gameplay designer Sergey Moho, and communications director Thomas Puha as part of a digital event last month, I had to ask what exactly in the gameplay DNA connects these games that look similar but play differently.
“One of the major challenges for the design team of Control Resonant was to first figure out what is Control to begin with, right?” said Moho.
“And there were a lot of conversations early on…trying to define what it means to make a Control game. And this is very much a sequel to Control, but with very notable differences, as you can see. So first we needed to figure out what it meant philosophically and gameplay-wise to make a Control game, and then define mechanics and dynamics that we wanted to happen within that framework.”
Moho continued, telling me the secret to nailing this is “a lot of thinking, iteration, and prototyping.”
“I think in the end, what it means to be Control is to have an action game with interplay between weapon attacks and combat abilities, and an aggressive playstyle. And that’s a big part of the action part of it, at least.”
Creative director Mikael Kasurinen jumped in and re-emphasized that aggression is a very important and key part of what makes a Control game feel like a Control game.
“With [the original] Control, it was actually a bit of a challenge when it’s like a shooter, but it’s not a cover shooter,” said Kasurinen. “We wanted people to leap into the middle of enemies, keep doing things, using abilities, shooting, of course, as well, and so on. But it was all about how you navigate these complicated fluid situations and so on.”
“And that’s what makes the game fun and makes it tick. And you could say it’s exactly what we have with Control Resonant, as well. So I do feel like the DNAs are really shared…extensively.”
Control Resonant launches sometime later this year on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Read more about what we learned at the digital event here. And read what Remedy had to say about criticisms that said its State of Play trailer featured “Focus, M”-style dialogue here.
