Control Resonant: Launch Trailer, Release Date and Everything Explained
Control Resonant's launch trailer has arrived ahead of the game's September 24 release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC. Here's everything confirmed so far about Dylan Faden's story, the shapeshifting Aberrant combat system, and PS5-specific features.
Remedy Entertainment has dropped the launch trailer for Control Resonant, and the countdown to its September 24 release is officially on. The sequel to 2019's cult-hit Control swaps protagonists, swaps cities within the same warped reality, and swaps a claustrophobic office building for a whole reality-bending slice of Manhattan. Here's everything confirmed so far about the story, combat, PS5 features and release details ahead of launch.
1. The launch trailer is here, and the countdown has begun
On September 17, Remedy published Control Resonant's official launch trailer, set to The Cardigans' "My Favourite Game." It's the clearest look yet at protagonist Dylan Faden tearing through a Manhattan twisted by paranatural forces, squaring off against monstrous "Resonant" bosses along the way.
Remedy's official Control Resonant account backed the trailer with a countdown post on X the same day, confirming the release date and platforms one more time for anyone who'd missed it:
The countdown has begun! Only 7 days left until the launch of CONTROL Resonant.
— CONTROL Resonant 🔻Pre-order Now! (@ControlRemedy) September 17, 2026
CONTROL Resonant arrives September 24th 2026 to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. Pre-order now!#CONTROLResonant pic.twitter.com/ID6Yq1FRBL
2. Release date, platforms and editions
Control Resonant launches worldwide on September 24, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, with GeForce NOW support available from day one. Remedy has confirmed a Mac version via Steam and the App Store will follow later in the year. Pre-orders for both digital and physical editions are open now, and Remedy has called it "Remedy Entertainment's most expansive game to date."
3. The story: Dylan steps out of Jesse's shadow
Control Resonant hands the controller to Dylan Faden, the younger brother of the first game's protagonist, Jesse. According to Remedy, a new supernatural crisis is unfolding: "a new form of resonance, alongside the Hiss and the Mold, is warping Manhattan as a mysterious cosmic force reshapes reality itself." With Jesse missing, Dylan — recently freed after years in a coma and in FBC custody — is forced into a role Remedy describes as humanity's "last line of defense."
Official previews describe the tone as a continuation of the first game's surreal, horror-tinged sci-fi, this time built around a theme of people discarded or deemed unworthy by society. That plays out through Dylan's relationships with Jesse and his handler Zoe, and players get some input into his character through dialogue choices that shape his shy, hesitant personality.
4. A warped, non-open-world Manhattan
Rather than the confined FBC headquarters Jesse explored, Dylan gets the run of a much larger, twisted Manhattan — wide streets, rooftops, and gravity-distorted, Inception-style areas where the city folds in on itself. Remedy has been explicit that this isn't an open world game: lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov has described it instead as a series of "large, distinct, and expansive zones filled with side activities, hidden encounters, and optional discoveries."
Mission variety spans combat objectives like clearing out Hiss infestations or investigating missing persons, environmental puzzles such as repairing machinery, and arcade cabinet challenges tucked into each zone. Players can prioritize the main story, side quests, or the search for Jesse in whatever order they like, and Dylan's handler Zoe chimes in over the DualSense controller's built-in speaker during relevant tasks.
5. Traversal: double jumps, air dashes and a grappling hook
Dylan's movement kit is noticeably more mobile than Jesse's, in keeping with a bigger map to cover. Holding the jump button lets him climb to the top of shorter buildings after a double jump, while a quick tap of the dodge button triggers an air dash — tap it twice and he leaves a trailing afterimage. An unlockable "Reach" grappling hook, earned through side content referred to as Jesse Quests, adds another layer to getting around. True to the character, though, Dylan's landings are deliberately un-heroic: staggers, wobbles and clumsy topples replace the usual superhero three-point landing.
6. Combat and the shapeshifting Aberrant weapon
Combat is unforgiving by design — carelessly wading into a fight against the Hiss ends runs quickly. Dylan's paranatural abilities lean more melee-focused than Jesse's ranged toolkit, pushing fights into close, face-to-face encounters against enemies that don't always have a face to begin with. Cover drawn from the Manhattan environment (bus shelters, abandoned trucks) matters, but his real toolkit is his shapeshifting Aberrant weapon, which has two forms that can be layered with status effects like burn and infect, plus perks for faster cooldowns and stronger combo finishers.
A secondary Combat Ability — a shield, a projectile barrage, or a summonable ally built from environmental junk — draws on a shared Power resource that recharges through melee hits, and each ability carries its own resistance on the DualSense's adaptive triggers for a bit of physical weight. Stunned enemies can be finished off with chainable L3 execution moves. With six default Aberrant types, dozens of loadout combinations, and multiple skill trees to build into, Remedy is positioning Resonant's combat as a significant expansion over the original's toolset. Loadouts are managed at a limbo-like hub called the Gap, reachable by holding down on the d-pad.
The horror throughline from the first game is still very much present. Reports from hands-on previews describe hallucinatory jump scares, sudden booming announcements from the mysterious organization known as The Board, reality-warping taxis, and the ground-shaking arrival of the game's Resonants — colossal, unpredictable boss encounters. One early boss is described as a giant, porcelain-doll-faced entity that wields taxis and girders as weapons.
7. PS5 features: performance modes and DualSense integration
On base PS5, Control Resonant offers a Performance mode targeting 60fps at 1440p and a Quality mode targeting 30fps at 2160p. PS5 Pro owners get three options: a 60fps Performance mode at 2160p, a 30fps Quality mode at 2160p with ray tracing, and a 40fps Balanced mode at 2160p with ray tracing for owners of a 120Hz display. Beyond frame rate, Remedy has built in adaptive trigger resistance tied to specific combat abilities — Sony's example cites Dylan's Barrage ability and his throwable Volatile Anomaly turret ally each producing distinct trigger tension — alongside 3D Audio support, in-game activity tracking for the main story, near-instant fast travel between zones, and a post-launch Game Help system.
8. Where Resonant fits into a packed fall 2026
Control Resonant is arriving in one of the busiest stretches of the year for major releases, with several other big-budget games launching in the same window before Rockstar's GTA 6 soundtrack rollout builds toward November. Superhero-flavored combat systems have also been having a moment lately — Insomniac's recent breakdown of Marvel's Wolverine's Rage-driven combat loop shares some of the same close-quarters, build-your-playstyle philosophy Remedy is leaning into here. If shooters are more your speed in the meantime, the current live-service scene is still moving fast too, with Black Ops 7 and Warzone's Season 06 content running in parallel. For the full spread of what's landing across every platform this year, walkthroughs.net's game guide archive is the place to keep tabs on new coverage as it goes live.
Quick recap
- Control Resonant launches worldwide September 24, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam, Epic Games Store), with GeForce NOW support at launch and a Mac version to follow later in the year.
- You play as Dylan Faden, Jesse's younger brother, searching for her while a new threat — resonance, alongside the returning Hiss and a new enemy called the Mold — warps Manhattan.
- It's not an open world: expect large, self-contained zones packed with side content, rather than one continuous map.
- Combat centers on a shapeshifting, two-form Aberrant weapon, six default Aberrant types, and deep skill-tree customization managed from a hub called the Gap.
- PS5 Pro supports 60fps, 30fps-with-ray-tracing, and a 120Hz-only 40fps Balanced ray-traced mode, alongside DualSense adaptive trigger and 3D Audio support.