A game that delivered a rare AAA experience to genre fans by weaving bizarre settings with a world reminiscent of the SCP Foundation. Furthermore, it became a cornerstone of Remedy's gaming universe alongside Alan Wake through an integrated urban fantasy universe known as the Remedy Connected Universe. That game is Control. And its sequel, CONTROL Resonant, is preparing for launch on October 15.

At this Gamescom, a hands-off demo session was organized to offer a firsthand look at how CONTROL Resonant will greet players. Community Manager Julius Fondem played the game live while explaining his actions, while Manager Miika Huttunen joined in to highlight more detailed aspects.

While it was harder to get a tactile hands-on feel compared to playing directly, taking down the boss in the demo area made it much easier to confirm the key characteristics this game aims to present. In particular, the flashy airborne action delivered a level of speed on a completely different trajectory from previous Remedy titles.

'The Park' Swallowed by Mold, Dylan Cutting Through Gravity in Flight

The stage for this demo is a new district called "The Park." Briefly glimpsed in previous trailers, it is a location where players who enjoyed the original Control can guess to some extent what is happening just from its visuals.

As the Oldest House's pipeline was damaged, not only the Hiss but also dimension-invading entities known as "Mold" leaked out, with this Mold completely consuming The Park district. The Mold is an entity designed to entice subjects both visually and olfactorily. The developers explained that "the Mold appears delicious and smells fragrant, which is intended to induce subjects to ingest it themselves and mutate into Mold." Indeed, during the demo, NPCs infected by the Mold were shown basking in euphoria before gradually transforming into Mold, further heightening the uniquely uncanny atmosphere.

The premise is that the protagonist, Dylan, possesses paranatural abilities and can resist this infection effect, allowing him to undertake the demo's goal: collecting—or more precisely, ingesting—Mold samples. Having already secured three samples, the journey is set around searching for a minimart within the district to obtain the final remaining sample.

Substantial traversal takes place in the air. Dylan can jump, double-jump, hover mid-air similarly to gliding, and perform dashes from that suspended state. As these aerial actions suggest, zipping through buildings creates a sense of speed never before seen in any Remedy title. Even more impressive is the animation: while characters floating in mid-air often strike superhero-esque poses, Dylan looks as if he is forcefully dragged along by his powers, making it feel all the more grounded and realistic.

Another key feature is Shift, a gravity manipulation power. Using this power alters the direction of gravity on structures. Shifting gravity by 90 degrees allows a path that would normally ascend along the Z-axis to be traversed by sprinting straight forward. This essentially means that, unless blocked by a specific mechanic, ground pathways will never truly obstruct progress.

Additionally, it was explained that shortcut elements designed to reduce traversal fatigue are placed throughout the district. Side facilities apparently constructed to study the Mold, such as an FBC field research facility, caught the camera's eye, but entering them was skipped due to time constraints. The developers commented, "We hope you will discover the people and interesting stories inside for yourselves in the actual game."

No Shields: Offense Is Survival

The combat system was assigned the largest portion of time during this demonstration. Dylan's main weapon is the Aberrant, a melee weapon that freely changes forms. Its primary form consists of Dual Blades specializing in fast attacks and critical hits, featuring a combo finisher with spinning blades that deal continuous stationary damage. The secondary form is a Large Drill. Striking enemies with the drill builds up a purple gauge; when filled, it causes the target to take increased damage while inducing a staggered, so-called Polter state. Once the Polter gauge displayed in yellow on screen is maxed out, the enemy can be executed immediately.

Special powers build upon this to broaden combat options. The demo highlighted two powers: Ignite, which inflicts fire damage alongside the Burn status effect, and Barrage, which fires rocks and other projectiles from range to induce Polter. Lore dictates that Mold is vulnerable to fire. By inflicting Burn with Ignite and then building up the Polter gauge with the drill, players can induce the Polter state much faster.

Using these special powers requires Power gauge, a resource replenished solely by attacking enemies. Thus, combat naturally forms a feedback loop. Attacking restores Power, using that Power triggers abilities to induce Polter, and executing Polter-inflicted enemies grants the Dominance buff—which boosts damage for a set duration—allowing for even stronger follow-up attacks.

The developers described this as "a good loop of attacking, using powers, staggering, executing to gain Dominance, and dealing even greater damage again."

Particularly notable is the absence of defensive mechanics. The game features no guards or parries. The intent was to compel players to navigate the game with a highly aggressive playstyle throughout. Executing enemies is also the sole method for recovering health during combat, with separate healing items available only out in the field outside of battle. The developers summarized their design philosophy with the phrase, "Offense is the best defense."

However, players are not entirely defenseless. A Perfect Dodge mechanic, obtainable early in the game, allows players who evade an enemy attack with precise timing to trigger a slow-motion effect along with a temporary damage buff. This slow-motion effect appeared multiple times during the live demo. When a reporter on site pointed out the slowing screen effect, the developers answered that it was the effect triggered by a successful Perfect Dodge.

Explanations regarding the characteristics of Mold-type enemies followed. Unlike previous encounters dominated by Hiss enemies, this demo focused heavily on the Mold. Mold enemies are generally larger, feature diverse attack patterns, and frequently utilize damage-over-time or explosive attacks, but are relatively slow.

A Gravity-Warped Battlefield, a Desperate Clash With the Tentacled Monster 'Collective'

Before diving into the full boss fight, there was a preparation phase. Artifacts discovered during exploration serve as equipment that allows fine-tuning builds for specific combat situations. In the demo, the Fork artifact—which increases melee damage by 15%—was swapped out for the Fingerboard, which boosts both damage and Polter stats by 25% during gravity anomalies. Given a universe where small symbols evoke massive changes, utilizing items like a fork or fingerboard left a distinct impression.

Since the upcoming boss battle would take place in the heart of a massive gravity anomaly area, the loadout was tailored specifically for the situation. In this scene, the developers also introduced the in-game gravity manipulation mechanic. When an item was dropped, instead of falling normally, it fell toward a specific direction, with the developers explaining, "Because gravity is actually pointing in that direction." Visual details such as a companion character's hair and clothes drifting to one side were also cited as elements supporting this gravity anomaly visually. It effectively explained a core game mechanic through graphical presentation.

When asked whether Artifacts could be swapped immediately, they answered that while previously unlocked Aberrant forms on Artifacts could be changed anytime from the menu, upgrades and unlocking new forms required a separate process.

With preparations complete, all surrounding enemies were cleared to remove the Mold wall blocking the minimart. Following this, the battle against the demo's first Resonant boss, "Collective," began.

This boss featured an attack pattern that used two tentacles up front to project Mold masses from range. The developers advised that "it is best to dodge these attacks as much as possible, as facing them head-on is neither fun nor effective," and actually took a flanking approach from the side. From there, combat flowed by using the Barrage ability to induce Polter on one tentacle, executing it to gain the Dominance buff, and using that momentum to clear the opposite tentacle.

Once the first stage was passed, the boss revealed a destructible weak point on its body. The developers explained, "While The Collective has exposed its weak point, it will also attempt to protect itself," noting that spawned minor enemies needed to be handled before destroying it. These adds were sizable and wrapped in armor on their front, making frontal attacks deal virtually no effective damage.

Frontal attacks proved ineffective against the dark, armored sections. Since options included spending time to break the armor or maneuvering behind to attack, the developers opted to execute an ambush from behind.

After clearing the adds, the boss's weak point was fully exposed and successfully destroyed. The fight then transitioned into its final phase, with two tentacles appearing simultaneously in front to press Dylan. Here, a strategy was employed using cover to focus fire on the weak point of one tentacle first. Midway through, a large enemy landed nearby, momentarily creating a crisis, but Dylan immediately vacated the area to escape danger. With low health, dodging was prioritized over forcing reckless attacks.

Upon defeating the boss, Dylan transitioned to a liminal space called The Gap. The Gap is a space within Dylan's mind where players must choose one of the newly acquired paranatural abilities each time a Resonant is defeated. In this demo, a scene was shown presenting a choice between two abilities: "Score Burst," which lets Dylan rapidly fire Mold projectiles directly from his arm, and "Growth," which summons a Mold ally that shoots scores. The developers explained, "You can only select one, meaning you cannot possess both powers simultaneously, but you can change your selection at any time during gameplay by using 3 Spec Points." Additionally, in New Game Plus, players start while retaining the ability initially chosen and can unlock the remaining ability as well.

There are six total slots available to assign abilities. By default, three abilities are utilized, while pressing a specific button swaps slots to access the remaining three. The developers concluded the demo by adding that within The Gap, players can engage in various progression steps such as obtaining new Artifacts, changing paranatural abilities, upgrading Aberrant forms, and earning new talents.

The backlash resulting from defeating a Resonant is another noteworthy aspect. The developers explained, "When a Resonant is defeated, a phenomenon called 'Resonant Surge' occurs," describing it as "something behind the patterning striking back." While this makes remaining enemies in the district significantly stronger, it simultaneously refreshes various world content. Interestingly, not every Resonant needs to be defeated. The developers emphasized that "players do not have to defeat every Resonant in the game, and the order in which they are challenged is entirely up to player freedom."

Hidden Story, Open Combat — Only Launch Remains

This hands-off demo focused on confirming the framework of the combat system and the texture of the setting, while keeping story details—the most anticipated aspect—strictly under wraps.

However, combat design that eliminates defensive means entirely to allow recovery only through executions, along with status effect synergies pairing fire and infection, promised a rhythm clearly distinct from its predecessor. A non-linear progression model that leaves the order and quantity of Resonant defeats up to player choice also clearly illustrated the game's direction toward an expanded, near-open-world structure.

Where the original Control delivered a dense narrative within the confined space of the Oldest House, CONTROL Resonant expands its stage across Manhattan while directly continuing the story of the Faden siblings.

In particular, this demo was conducted on a PC build from roughly three weeks ago. Before the session began, the developers noted that incomplete elements remained, such as the final audio mix not yet being applied, suggesting that the final launch version will showcase an even more impressive experience.