Remedy Entertainment is placing a strong emphasis on exploration in its upcoming title Control Resonant, aiming to push players beyond the main story to discover side content in the game's open areas. According to lead level designer Anne-Marie Grönroos and art director Elmeri Raitanen, who spoke with TechRadar Gaming at a preview event alongside this year's Summer Game Fest, the studio learned from the first Control that many players only completed the main mission and missed side content entirely. "It turned out a lot of people actually just played the [Control] main mission and didn't even find the side content at all," Grönroos said. With Resonant, the team "really wanted to push more for in this game."
A Supernaturally Warped Manhattan
Unlike the interior setting of the Oldest House in the first game, Control Resonant takes place in a fully explorable, supernaturally warped Manhattan. The world is not fully open but is divided into "discs" similar to sectors. However, the city zones are much more open than the sectors of the Oldest House. Grönroos explained that players can see global landmarks from far away: "like that big red building, for example, you can see that from three other zones over." This design allows for visual cues that "can attract somebody's curiosity into some direction," a feature that was difficult to achieve when going from one interior space to another in the first game.
| Aspect | Control (2019) | Control Resonant |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | Interior of Oldest House | Warped Manhattan (open world) |
| Level design | Backtracking, more open than Quantum Break | Larger, distinct zones with global landmarks |
| Side content | Often missed by players | Heavily emphasized, built into exploration |
The City as a Deceitful Ally
Raitanen noted that the team did not want to "sprinkle paranatural things and weirdness a little bit everywhere." Instead, they built environments with the intention of being explored, often presenting a "deceitfully pleasant" city. "[It] occasionally invites you to explore, but then there might be this layer of paranatural threat and chaos that kind of is overlaid on top of the normal city," he said. This approach gives each zone a distinct identity, recognizable even in screenshots—such as the Evacuation Zone or the "molding park."
Linear 'Dungeons' for Contrast
Beyond the open world, Control Resonant includes "dungeons"—linear levels that Grönroos described as a "really nice contrast" to the overworld. These spaces are "not in the part of the overworld" and offer a "more content linear experience" with fewer distractions, focusing on story. However, she added that "when the story is done, then we might be doing something different in there. There might be a side quest that opens up in that place where you are just about to go, and in fact, later on in the game." The team wants the first-time experience to be "very graded in a very similar [way] to how we did the main quest in the first game."
"We want the player to kind of get lost in the world in a good way," Grönroos said. "And force them to have fun," Raitanen added.
Release and Platforms
Control Resonant launches on September 24 for PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and PC.
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