Control Resonant hands-on: Dylan’s Aberrant, early build choices

Remedy Entertainment presented a hands-on demo of Control Resonant at Summer Game Fest: Play Days that covered the game’s opening hour and a later combat arena. The demo places players in the role of Dylan Faden, who wakes imprisoned in the Oldest House with a shape-shifting melee weapon, the Aberrant, lodged in his chest. The publisher confirmed the game will release September 24, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC, with Xbox Play Anywhere support.

The demo begins with Dylan exiting a cell and pulling the Aberrant free. Immediately the game requires a choice among three primary melee options: Flurry, a fast dual-dagger set with higher critical chance; Slash, a wide-reaching scythe for group control; and Slice, a heavy axe that deals extra damage from behind. The demo then presents three secondary weapon choices-Crush, a slow mallet; Drill, a sustained directed weapon; and Extend, a whip-like chain staff-plus a separate pool for combo finishers. Light, heavy and finisher attacks are drawn from those pools and can be mixed to form distinct melee approaches.

The setting shifts between the Oldest House and Manhattan, both shown under larger-scale infestation. The Hiss, the hostile force from the previous game, appears in bureau offices and in city streets. A radio contact identifies an FBC agent, Zoe, who directs Dylan toward her. In one encounter, larger enemies with oversized heads create a blocked arena that must be cleared to progress while smaller foes respawn.

Movement upgrades appear as collectible items in a pocket-dimension rooftop sequence. Dylan finds consoles that grant dash, double jump and levitation, followed by short platforming challenges that teach each ability before returning to the city. The demo uses those movement options to require traversing larger gaps and reaching the first boss, a Resonant Entity.

The Resonant Entity in the demo appears as a large severed woman’s head embedded in pavement and attacks with telekinetic projectiles and environmental manipulation. After that encounter, the player selects from three Resonant abilities-Barrage, which summons rocks for ranged attacks; Seekers, throwable auto-firing devices; and Shield, a floating rock barrier that can be used offensively. Players can equip three Resonant powers at once, which combined with melee and secondary weapons yields multiple active attack options.

A later Evacuation Zone combat arena showed Dylan with an expanded set of abilities and equipment while facing enemies from multiple directions. The demo included weapon skill trees and passive artifact boosts that modify attacks and abilities, and a later save file demonstrated how many systems can be active simultaneously.

Recurring series elements return in the demo. The Board addresses Dylan directly: “You will serve as intern/player character/lackey.” Dr. Casper Darling appears in a brief FMV recounting Dylan’s early interactions with the Federal Bureau of Control.

Control Resonant will be released on September 24, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC with Xbox Play Anywhere support. The game’s progression presents early, sometimes mutually exclusive choices that affect combat and traversal from the start, contrasting with the previous title’s more gradual kit development.