Control Resonant is Remedy Entertainment’s action RPG sequel to Control, launching September 24, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC for $59.99. You play Dylan Faden, not Jesse, in a paranaturally twisted Manhattan, and the third-person gunplay of the original is replaced by melee combat with the Aberrant, a shapeshifting weapon. The main story runs around 30 hours, and you do not need to have played Control first.
Release date, platforms and price
Control Resonant launches worldwide on September 24, 2026 at 2:00 PM GMT, the same moment everywhere rather than at local midnight. It is on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store, with GeForce NOW supported at launch and a Mac version following later in 2026. This is the first time Remedy has shipped a game on every major platform on day one.
The Standard Edition is $59.99 and the Digital Deluxe Edition is $69.99. Only PS5 Digital Deluxe owners get early access, which starts September 22 — PC and Xbox players unlock on the 24th regardless of edition. Physical discs, including the SteelBook Edition, arrive later on October 15.
The story picks up seven years later
Resonant is set seven years after Jesse Faden walked into the Oldest House. The House has been in lockdown, Jesse has disappeared, and the Hiss have spilled out into New York alongside a new form of resonance and the Mold, warping Manhattan as a cosmic force reshapes reality.
You play Dylan Faden, Jesse’s brother, who was corrupted by the Hiss at the end of the first game and left comatose. The sibling roles are reversed: this time Dylan is the one searching, and the remaining FBC staff keep him at arm’s length because of what he did while under the Hiss’s influence.
Combat is melee-first now
Dylan’s weapon is the Aberrant, a polymorphic melee weapon that reshapes mid-fight between forms such as a slow, heavy two-handed hammer and fast, lower-damage dual blades. Each form has its own upgrade path, so investing in one changes how your whole loadout plays.
The core loop is depleting an enemy’s stagger meter with tactical attacks and then landing a punishing finisher. Resonance abilities sit on top as a supernatural counterpoint, powered by a resource you generate by playing aggressively, and you can swap between two ability loadouts.
- Shift — physically re-orientates a distorted world by flipping gravity.
- Reach — a grappling hook for traversal across impossible spaces.
- Levitation and air dodging — vertical movement carried over from the series’ DNA.
Manhattan is open-ended, not open world
Remedy has been explicit that this is its most open game but not a full open world. Manhattan is split into large, distinct zones, each with its own atmosphere, encounters, lore and secrets, filled with side activities, hidden encounters and optional discoveries. Fast travel between zones is near-instant.
Zone difficulty escalates as you progress and enemies level alongside you, so the city does not become trivial once you outgrow the opening areas. The phenomenon distorting the city is called the Patterning, and its boss-level embodiments are the Resonants.
Progression: talents, artifacts and free respec
Resonant adds real RPG depth: a character statistics screen, a talent tree that grants a point on every level-up, artifacts, and separate upgrade trees for each Aberrant form. Paranatural combat abilities are unlocked by defeating Resonant bosses rather than bought from a menu.
Crucially, all of it can be respecced freely at any time. If a boss punishes your build, you can rebuild around it at no cost, which makes experimenting with unfamiliar Aberrant forms far less risky than it looks at first.
How long it takes, and newcomer friendliness
Lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov puts the main story at roughly 30 hours, with completionist runs closer to 50. The original Control averaged about 11 hours, so this is roughly three times longer. New Game Plus is available at launch and carries your abilities over.
The story is written so newcomers can start here, and a recap of the first game sits in the main menu. Difficulty options are generous and dodge timing is forgiving, which Remedy has framed as a deliberate accessibility decision alongside dialogue that plays while you move instead of interrupting the action.
What we deliberately do not claim
Press coverage and PlayStation.Blog describe the Aberrant’s form count differently, so we do not publish a single number as fact. What is confirmed is that multiple melee forms exist, each with its own upgrade tree, and that you pair a primary and a secondary at the Gap.
Editions and what pre-orders give you
| Edition | Price | Key contents |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $59.99 | Base game on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam or Epic |
| Digital Deluxe | $69.99 | Artbook, soundtrack, Untapped Artifact, starter bundle, AWE Mission Outfit; PS5 early access |
| The Siblings Collection | $98.98 | Resonant plus Control Ultimate Edition on Steam, around 10% off |
| SteelBook (physical) | $69.99 | Disc, SteelBook case, three art prints, poster, slipcase — ships Oct 15 |
Pre-ordering any edition grants the Hiss Corruption Outfit and the Pickpocket’s Tool Artifact, and PlayStation pre-orders add the Occult Outfit. There is no redeem-code system, and the items unlock at the end of Act 1 rather than at the start. Buying on the Epic Games Store also grants the Dylan Faden Outfit in Fortnite.
What you need to run it
On PC, Remedy published six tiers. The floor is a GTX 1070 or RX 5600 XT for 1080p/30, the recommended tier is an RTX 3060 Ti or RX 6700 XT for 1440p/60, and 4K with path tracing at 60fps calls for an RTX 5080. Every tier needs 16 GB of RAM and 120 GB of SSD space, and every tier assumes upscaling is enabled.
Install sizes are roughly 104 GB on PC, 90 GB on PS5 and 82 GB on Xbox Series X|S. Pre-load opens 48 hours before launch, and PC players have to start the download manually in Steam or the Epic Games Store rather than waiting for it to begin on its own.
Console performance at a glance
PS5 runs a 1440p/60 Performance mode and a 2160p/30 Quality mode. PS5 Pro adds 2160p/60 Performance, a 2160p/40 Balanced mode with ray tracing on a 120Hz display, and 2160p/30 Quality with ray tracing, all using PSSR. The DualSense adaptive triggers change resistance depending on which paranatural ability you have equipped.
Xbox Series X offers a 60fps Performance mode and a 30fps Quality mode, while Series S has a single profile locked to 30fps. Remedy committed to a 60fps option on consoles because this is an action-led game built on timing.
How it reviewed
Control Resonant opened at 84 on Metacritic from 60 critics and 84 on OpenCritic with 84% of critics recommending it. That is higher than the original Control’s 82, making it the best-reviewed game in the series so far.
The spread is wide: VGC gave a perfect 10/10 and GameSpot 9/10, while Eurogamer landed on 3/5 and ComicBook on 4/10. Praise concentrates on art direction, story and audio; criticism concentrates on repetitive combat encounters and RPG systems that some reviewers found shallow.