Control Resonant Review Roundup

Control Resonant Is Officially The Best Game In The Series, But Falls Short Of Alan Wake 2 Published Sep 18, 2026, 9:23 AM EDT Joshua Robertson is an editor for TheGamer, having working in news, guides, features, and reviews since 2022. They have written thousands of news stories, ranging from industry-breaking events, to smaller, more personal community pieces, and have covered several high-profile showcases such as The Game Awards and Nintendo Directs. Joshua is considered an expert in soulslikes, horror, JRPGs and everything Final Fantasy, having written extensive coverage for massively popular online titles like Final Fantasy 14. Sign in to your TheGamer account Control Resonant is the next big game from Remedy, and a pretty big departure from what the studio has been making recently. It's traded in traditional gunfire for hack and slash gameplay akin to Devil May Cry, something that seems to be quite rare in the AAA space these days. Thankfully, it seems like that big change has paid off, as reviews coming in are pretty positive. Having reviewed the game myself, giving it a score of 4/5, I can personally say that it's one of the most imaginative and artistic open world games that Remedy has come up with, even if the busywork within it can get a little repetitive at times. That being said, those classic Remedy-esque moments and frantic combat make it a must-play regardless. Control Resonant Is The Best Game In The Series It seems like most of the critics that have also reviewed the game agree as well, with Control Resonant sitting at a score of 84 on Open Critic and 86 on MetaCritic. That comfortably surpasses the score of the first Control, officially making the game the best in the series. Sure, there are only two games in said series, but it's still true. As for what critics are saying, there's a wide range of positives and negatives. One of Control Resonant's only perfect score comes from Jordan Middler at VGC, who praises the game for its incredible art design and performances by the main cast, but criticizes the game for how repetitive its open-world activities can feel at times. Meanwhile, GameSpot gave the title a 9/10, once again praising the game's art direction and "ever-changing" combat, but mentioning the game's map is very frustrating to use, while Kotaku's unscored review praises Remedy for stepping outside its comfort zone to deliver a sequel that deviates so heavily from the original. However, there are some slightly tepid reviews floating around too. Both GamesRadar and Eurogamer have given the game 3/5, with the former complaining about the combat variety and the fact Dylan isn't Jesse, and the latter criticizing the game for its open world busywork and lackluster combat. Safe to say though, most of the reviews for Control Resonant are extremely positive, and it sounds as though Remedy has successfully managed to navigate the challenges of delivering a new Control game in a completely new genre.