I played Control back in 2019 but apart from the weird things happening inside a building, I don’t remember much. And there is a lot to catch up on. The game has supernatural objects, mysterious powers, the Federal Bureau of Control, and so much more. And at the very centre of it all is Jesse. In the first game, she is seen walking into the Oldest House looking for her brother Dylan. Along the way, she discovers that she has powers of her own and gets pulled deeper into the strange world surrounding the Bureau.
Now, the game’s sequel, Control Resonant is set to launch on September 24. If you need a quick reminder of what happened in the first game, read on. Remedy has just launched a recap video for the first game and here is everything it tells you.
Also read: Control Resonant PC requirements out: 120GB storage, Nvidia RTX 5080 and everything else you need
In the first game, Jesse Faden arrives at the Oldest House because she is looking for her brother, Dylan. She has spent years trying to find out what happened to her brother, and the trail eventually leads her to the Federal Bureau of Control. But, what she finds is not what she expected.
The FBC is in complete chaos. An entity called The Hiss has invaded the Oldest House and taken control of several people inside the organisation. So, Jesse is suddenly surrounded by a supernatural threat while also trying to find her brother. And things escalate quickly from this point.
Jesse becomes the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Control and starts exploring the Oldest House. She also discovers that she has supernatural abilities, which become a huge part of how she deals with the Hiss and everything else thrown at her.
The further Jesse gets into the Oldest House, the more she learns about the FBC and the strange events surrounding her own past. The game keeps connecting her search for Dylan with the larger mystery behind the Bureau.
By the end of Control, Jesse finally meets Dylan who is shown to have been corrupted and is left in a coma. Jesse has managed to take control of the situation at the Bureau, but she hasn’t exactly got the ending she wanted when she first walked through those doors.
Her brother is still not really back. That brings us to Control Resonant, which is set to launch soon.
In the first game, Jesse was the one searching for Dylan. In Control Resonant, Dylan will finally wake up and search for his sister. From the trailers, it can be seen that he heads into a paranaturally distorted Manhattan to find Jesse.
I like this setup because it gives the sequel a very different starting point without throwing away what happened in the first game. Jesse’s journey still matters, but now we get to see what happens when Dylan has to step into this strange world himself.
Remedy is also changing the way the game is played.
Control Resonant is described as an open-ended Manhattan action RPG, with non-linear missions and more focus on close-quarters melee combat. That is a shift from the third-person, shooter-heavy gameplay of the original Control.
But the story still comes back to the Faden siblings.
Jesse went into the Oldest House looking for Dylan. She ended up becoming the Director of the FBC and discovering powers of her own. Dylan, meanwhile, was corrupted and left in a coma.
Now Dylan is awake, Jesse is missing, and he has to find her.
That is the part worth remembering before starting Control Resonant. You don’t need to remember every mission from the first game. You just need to know what happened to Jesse and Dylan, because the sequel is building directly on that relationship.
As mentioned already, Control Resonant launches on September 24, 2026, for PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S. Are you excited about the game? Let us know and keep watching this space for more such updates.
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