Control Resonant's verdict: an 84, Remedy's gamble paid off — mostly

Control Resonant launched on 24 September, and the verdict is in: an 84 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic. Remedy changed the protagonist, the setting, and the combat all at once — and critics mostly agree the gamble paid off.

What's confirmed

What changed from the original

The biggest change is who you play as. Jesse Faden, the original's protagonist, is missing. You play Dylan Faden, her brother, who was a supporting character in the first game. The Federal Bureau of Control releases him to deal with an extradimensional threat, and he goes looking for his sister along the way.

The setting moves out of the Oldest House to a warped version of Manhattan, with gravity anomalies and the first game's threats, the Hiss and the Mold, spreading through the city. And the combat leans harder into action-RPG territory than the original's third-person shooting with telekinesis on top.

The range

The average hides a wide spread. VGC gave it a perfect five stars, GameSpot a 9, and IGN an 8. Eurogamer and GamesRadar+ both gave it 3 out of 5.

What reviewers loved: the world and the movement. The warped Manhattan setting, the art direction, and a new Shift ability that lets Dylan switch which way gravity pulls him drew consistent praise. The combat centres on the Aberrant, a shape-shifting weapon that changes form mid-fight, and several outlets called the combat design excellent.

The recurring complaint: combat thins out. Several reviews — including some positive ones — say it starts to feel repetitive in the back half of the campaign. The lower scores also argue that leaving the Oldest House cost the sequel some of what made the original feel so strange and specific.

The comparison worth making

Put this next to Marvel's Wolverine, which landed at 78 earlier this month. Wolverine was the bigger-budget, safer-seeming bet from a studio with a strong track record, and it came in below expectations. Control Resonant was the riskier sequel — new lead, new genre lean, new setting — from a smaller studio, and it came in above its predecessor, at $10 less.

It's not Alan Wake 2-level acclaim. But for a sequel that changed this much, an 84 with near-universal recommendation is a strong result.

Should you buy it

Yes, if you liked the original Control or Alan Wake 2, or you want a strange, stylish action game with a world that's worth exploring for its own sake. At $59.99, it's also cheaper than most big releases this autumn.

Maybe wait, if repetitive combat in long campaigns wears on you — that's the one complaint that comes up across reviews of every score.

For everything else landing before GTA 6 on 19 November, our autumn release rundown has the calendar.