It’s only fitting that New York’s Tribeca Festival should feature CONTROL Resonant, a game that takes place in a warped version of Manhattan. This past Friday, CONTROL Resonant creative director Mikael Kasurinen took to the Tribeca Games stage to chat about the upcoming Remedy sequel. Entitled “CONTROL Resonant: Beyond the Oldest House,” the panel featured game info, special guests, and more.
Nia DaCosta, director of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and Candyman, moderated the event. DaCosta asked Kasurinen about the choice to move from the Oldest House, a location made of liminal spaces in CONTROL, out into the wide-world of, as she put it, “Waluigi Manhattan.”
Kasurinen explained that while CONTROL Resonant takes place in a city as opposed to a building, it’s not an open-world game. Each area that protagonist Dylan explores will be its own zone with enemies to take out or tasks to check on before moving to the next one. Players won’t be going to tourist spots or iconic landmarks. “Manhattan has a presence almost as an idea,” Kasurinen went on to explain. It’s a thematically-rich environment for Dylan, someone who’s been cooped up for a long time.
As CONTROL fans know, Dylan is the younger brother of Jesse Faden, the protagonist and reluctant director of the Federal Bureau of Control from the prior game. In this sequel, Jesse has gone missing/rogue, so Dylan takes over as the main character. He has spent almost his whole life trapped in the FBC building, and resents the clandestine organization.
So how will Dylan voice his feelings about the FBC? Jesse had Polaris, a kind of sentient frequency that she could narrate her inner monologue to, also cluing the player in on her mindset. Would there be narration for Dylan?
“No narration [in Resonant]. We don’t hear what’s going on in Dylan’s mind,” Kasurinen explained. Instead, Dylan meets up with Zoe, an FBC agent he builds trust with, chatting with her in-person and via radio. “We wanted Dylan to talk to people.”
Aside from Dylan and Jesse Faden, CONTROL has a number of characters, some of whom tie into other Remedy games like Alan Wake. Asked about working across connected universes that often share lore, Kasurinen explained that the key to consistency lies in character development. “You have to stay true to the characters.”
CONTROL Resonant will also feature storytelling from objects and files found in the world. “Nonverbal storytelling is usually important to us,” Kasurinen noted. As for whether this game will have the equivalent of CONTROL‘s visually trippy and musically-synced Ashtray Maze, Kasurinen did not want to give too much away. “There are several moments… we do a lot with music. I’ll say that.”
During the panel, Remedy showed off three videos for CONTROL Resonant. The first two were trailers, with the second focusing on Dylan’s gameplay. Unlike Jesse’s telekinetic- and shooting-driven combat from afar, Dylan gets up close with a shape-shifting melee weapon. Meanwhile, the third video featured a behind-the-scenes look at how Remedy makes their trippy FMV visuals. It showed designers rotating cameras with kaleidoscope-like lenses while filming art mobiles.
Later on in the panel, Sean Durrie, the actor who plays Dylan, came onstage to talk about his role. He’s had a long history with Remedy, first appearing in 2016’s Quantum Break alongside Courtney Hope, who would go on to play Jesse in 2019’s CONTROL. “Over time we became friends,” noted Durrie on working with Hope. “In fact, she lived less than a mile from me!”
As for CONTROL Resonant, Dylan spends the most time with Zoe, played by Frankie Kevich. Currie noted that they recorded most of their scenes in the same sound stage.
And while Remedy games are highly cinematic, they’re not becoming movies anytime soon. “Stories written for games are stories written for games,” Kasurinen stressed. “The medium shapes the story, how it’s written.”
That said, the team at Remedy has thought about what a Remedy cinematic universe might look like, noting that Alan Wake or CONTROL would likely fit best. The question, as Kasurinen sees it, boils down to two options. Do they remake CONTROL or make a CONTROL prequel film? For Kasurinen, the latter “would make the most sense.” It would be a new story for a different medium.
Until then, Remedy is content with being heavily inspired by films. “We’re excited about David Lynch, for instance,” Kasurinen noted.
That makes sense, as Alan Wake and CONTROL both blend the mundane with the surreal, common in the late director’s work. David Lynch’s Americana settings bleed through, notably in Alan Wake’s Twin Peaks-inspired town of Bright Falls. But as a Finnish studio, Remedy also taps into Finnish culture, particularly with the character of Ahti in CONTROL.
In a post-panel Q&A, we had the opportunity to ask about the shifts in genre and tone that we could expect in CONTROL Resonant. Kasurinen explained that the team wanted to stay focused on what Dylan would naturally come upon in exploring the wider world. A big musical number could be fun, but it could also be distracting. The team aimed to strike a balance between different tones, but still, “there’s crazy shit.” This prompted Durrie to laugh, telling me that there’s a lot he wishes he could say, but he’ll leave us to play the game first.
And in fact, last weekend at Summer Game Fest, we went hands-on with CONTROL Resonant. In his preview, Keith noted that “Resonant could end up being something very special” and that “this is not Remedy playing things safe.” You can read his full impressions of the game here.
CONTROL Resonant launches on September 24th, 2026. You may pre-order both digital and physical editions for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.
