Remedy Entertainment's Control was a game defined by its setting. The Oldest House, a towering brutalist building in New York City, housed the Federal Bureau of Control and served as a locked-down bubble that separated players from the outside world. That isolation was the point. But for the sequel, tentatively shown under the working title "Control Resonant," the developers are deliberately bursting that bubble. The new game's official overview trailer, titled "A Paranaturally Warped Manhattan," lays out a city that has been twisted into a labyrinth by unknown paranormal forces. The Oldest House is no longer a containment unit — it has become a leak, flooding the rest of Manhattan with the weird and the dangerous.

From brutalist bubble to lived-in city

The first Control game took place entirely within the Oldest House. The architecture was brutalist, the hallways were endless, and the sense of isolation was suffocating. Players explored a building that felt both strange and familiar — a workplace that had become a prison. The lockdown was a crucial narrative device, making the Bureau feel like a sealed-off pocket of reality.

In Control Resonant, that lockdown falls apart. "The lockdown falls apart and we get exposed with the normal world," the developers explain in the overview. Manhattan itself becomes the playground, but it's not the Manhattan we know. The city has been reshaped by a paranormal force that may or may not trace back to the events of the first game. "It might be something completely new," the developers caution, leaving room for both returning threats and original horrors.

The world-building approach has shifted accordingly. Instead of starting with a blank bureaucratic interior, the team had to establish a "mundane and grounded and believable and lived-in baseline" for Manhattan before layering the paranormal on top. "It's very important for us, specifically when doing concepting and visual exploration, is not to look at reference from other video games," the developers note. They express concern that AAA games tend to gravitate toward an "aesthetic singularity" where nobody takes risks. To avoid that, the team is pulling inspiration from art exhibitions, film and television, scientific visualizations, and even nature. The goal is freshness — a New York City that feels real enough that the supernatural elements feel genuinely jarring.

Factions, zones, and a city that fights back

Control Resonant introduces multiple factions. The first game had the FBC, the Hiss, and the Mold as the primary players. Now, with the paranormal flooding into Manhattan, other groups are trying to stake their claim. The developers say that "all the zones in the game" contain these factions, but the degree of presence varies from zone to zone. Some areas might be heavily contested; others might be under the thumb of a single group.

The FBC is still present, but its grip has weakened. "Now it's not just FBC holding on and trying to gain control," the developers explain. "It's more of a lived-in world that has a history of its own already, and there are different factions that are basically trying to gain control in our world." That shift from a single-authority setting to a multi-faction power struggle is a major structural change. The first game was about exploring a single hostile building; the sequel is about navigating a city where multiple hostile groups are fighting for territory.

More enemies, including a boss

One of the criticisms of the original Control was its relatively limited enemy variety. The Hiss came in a few forms — riflemen, melee units, floaters, and the occasional shielded elite — but players quickly learned to read their tells. The developers of Control Resonant say they "definitely heard the feedback and tried to address the feedback we got for Control."

The sequel features "way more creatures" than the first game. Familiar threats like the Hiss and the Mold return, but they are joined by new enemies. Notably, the developers mention a boss enemy, which presents its own challenges for the animation team. "That obviously creates a little bit of challenge for the animation team of what can you actually do with this boss when you have limited controls on it," they say — a candid acknowledgment of the technical constraints of designing a boss fight.

Some enemies are still motion-captured. Tuomas Nilsson is the team's go-to actor for Hiss enemies, nailing the signature twitching and glitching movement. But the new creatures, combined with the expanded setting, mean the combat encounters should feel less repetitive.

Narrative collectibles evolve: audio logs and Dylan's radio

Control was known for its collectible documents and videos that fleshed out the lore. Control Resonant is adding two new types of narrative collectibles. The first is audio logs: unlike written memos, these can be played while the player continues moving. "As you're listening to the audio log, you can continue parkouring around the city, exploring, and finding other stuff," the developers explain. This is a practical improvement — players no longer have to stop and read to get lore.

The second new collectible involves Dylan Faden, the protagonist's brother from the first game. Dylan now has a radio that he can use to call his handler, Zoe, to report interesting things he sees around the city. This suggests a more dynamic relationship between the player and Dylan, and it introduces a way to receive narrative context without having to find a physical object. Whether Zoe is a new character or a renamed familiar face remains unclear.

World-building philosophy: risk over familiarity

The developers' commentary in the overview repeatedly circles back to a single idea: originality in world-building requires looking outside of the video game industry. "There's easily this tendency where AAA games start to all gravitate towards this aesthetic singularity, and nobody's taking risks, and everything starts to resemble each other," they say. This is a pointed critique of the homogenization of triple-A art direction, where photorealistic shooters and open-world games often blur together.

For Control Resonant, the antidote is to ground the paranormal in a recognizable, lived-in Manhattan. If the city feels like a real place before the supernatural warps it, the warping will feel more unsettling. The team is deliberately avoiding the safety of established game aesthetics, choosing instead to reference paintings, movies, and science diagrams.

What's next for Remedy's connected universe

Control is part of Remedy's broader connected universe, which includes Alan Wake and the upcoming Alan Wake 2 expansions. Control Resonant, while not yet officially titled or dated, sits in the middle of that web. The Oldest House was already a point where realities intersected; now that intersection is spreading into Manhattan. Players who followed the lore in the first game will recognize the implications for the Bureau, the Hiss, and the Board.

The overview does not mention a release window or platforms. But given that this is an official narrative overview, development appears to be far enough along that the creative direction is locked. Fans can expect more concrete details in future broadcasts.

The takeaway

Control Resonant is shaping up to be a genuine expansion of the first game's formula, not just a bigger map with more collectibles. The decision to leave the Oldest House and enter a warped Manhattan opens up possibilities for faction conflict, environmental variety, and enemy design that the original could not support. The developers are clearly aware of the risks — losing the claustrophobic atmosphere of the first game, for instance — but they seem committed to making the trade-off worth it. If they succeed, Control Resonant could feel less like a sequel and more like the first full realization of a world that Control only hinted at.