No, you do not need to play CONTROL before CONTROL Resonant.
Control Resonant
Release Date: September 24, 2026
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure
Remedy has explicitly designed the sequel as a fresh entry point, and Resonant includes a recap for newcomers. However, playing the original first will make Dylan and Jesse Faden’s story considerably more meaningful.
Required: No
Recommended: Yes, especially for the story
Best version to play: CONTROL Ultimate Edition
Need the DLC? No, but The Foundation is useful for deeper lore
Need Alan Wake or FBC: Firebreak? No
CONTROL Resonant release date: September 24, 2026
CONTROL Resonant is a direct sequel to Remedy Entertainment’s 2019 supernatural action game, but that does not mean seven years of homework are standing between you and Dylan Faden’s trip through a reality-warped Manhattan.
Remedy has been unusually direct about this point. CONTROL Resonant is being built for both returning fans and players who have never entered the Oldest House.
Control | Ultimate Edition
Release Date: August 27, 2019
Genres: Shooter, Adventure
The short answer is therefore simple: you can start with Resonant. The more interesting question is how much you will miss by doing so.
Do You Need to Play CONTROL Before CONTROL Resonant?
No.
CONTROL Resonant has been deliberately designed to work as a standalone starting point. Remedy describes it as both a sequel and a new entry point into the CONTROL universe.
Co-Creative Director Mikael Kasurinen put it particularly clearly when introducing the game:
“You don’t need to have played the first Control to experience Resonant.”
That makes Resonant very different from a sequel that assumes you remember every character, document, organization, and supernatural event from the previous game.
If September 24 arrives and you have never played CONTROL, you can still start with Dylan’s story.
But if you have the time, playing CONTROL first is absolutely worthwhile.
What Remedy Has Said About New Players
Remedy has repeatedly emphasized that CONTROL Resonant should stand on its own.
The studio’s original announcement described the game as a larger adventure that welcomes newcomers and returning fans alike. Kasurinen later explained that the two CONTROL games are intended as distinct journeys centered on different members of the Faden family.
That distinction is important.
The first CONTROL follows Jesse Faden entering the Federal Bureau of Control and discovering its paranormal world from the outside. Resonant reverses that perspective.
Dylan grew up inside that world. Altered Items, paranatural forces, the FBC, and the Oldest House are not strange discoveries to him. Ordinary life is.
That gives Remedy a natural excuse to explain concepts again without making Dylan feel like a protagonist who inexplicably forgot how his own universe works.
You can read more about the sequel’s September launch in our CONTROL Resonant release date guide.
What Do You Gain From Playing CONTROL First?
The biggest advantage is not understanding the combat or terminology. It is understanding Jesse and Dylan.
The original game begins with Jesse entering the Oldest House while searching for the brother who disappeared from her life years earlier.
That search eventually puts her at the center of a catastrophic Hiss invasion and reveals what happened to Dylan after the Federal Bureau of Control took him as a child.
By the end of CONTROL, the relationship between the siblings has become one of the most important unresolved parts of the story.
Resonant deliberately flips that setup. Dylan is now the protagonist, while Jesse is missing.
If you have already played CONTROL, that reversal immediately has more weight. You know what Jesse went through to reach Dylan, what the Bureau did to him, why his relationship with the FBC is complicated, and why finding Jesse means more than completing another objective marker.
Why Dylan Makes the Original CONTROL More Relevant
Dylan was not a background character in the first game. His fate was one of the main reasons Jesse entered the Oldest House at all.
He was taken by the FBC as a child and raised inside the organization as a potential candidate for its Director program. Later, the Hiss took control of him during the invasion of the Oldest House.
Jesse eventually managed to cleanse him, but Dylan fell into a coma.
CONTROL Resonant begins after years of isolation. Dylan is awake, Jesse is missing, and Manhattan is being distorted by another paranatural crisis involving a new form of resonance alongside familiar threats such as the Hiss and Mold.
Remedy says Resonant will go deeper into the Fadens’ past and the consequences both characters continue to carry.
So while the first game is not required, this is one sequel where knowing the previous protagonist is likely to improve the emotional side of the new protagonist’s story.
Does CONTROL Resonant Have a Story Recap?
Yes.
Lead gameplay designer Sergey Mohov has confirmed that CONTROL Resonant includes a CONTROL recap accessible from the main menu.
That is the strongest practical reason newcomers should not worry about starting with Resonant.
The recap can establish the essential events before Dylan’s new journey begins, while the sequel itself is written as a story that can stand independently.
What a recap cannot easily reproduce is the atmosphere of discovering the Oldest House yourself, gradually understanding the FBC, reading its bizarre case files, meeting the Board, or spending hours watching Jesse and Dylan’s story unfold.
Do You Need to Play The Foundation or AWE Before CONTROL Resonant?
No, neither expansion is required.
If you do want to prepare properly, however, The Foundation is the more directly useful expansion for CONTROL lore. It continues after the main campaign and digs further into the history of the Oldest House, the Board, and the deeper structures behind the FBC’s paranormal world.
AWE is more important to the wider Remedy Connected Universe. It explores the Bureau’s Investigations Sector and connects CONTROL directly to Alan Wake and the events surrounding Bright Falls.
If you are buying CONTROL specifically to prepare for Resonant, CONTROL Ultimate Edition is the simplest option because it includes the base game, The Foundation, and AWE.
Do You Need to Play Alan Wake or FBC: Firebreak?
No.
CONTROL shares a universe with Alan Wake, and AWE makes that connection explicit, but Remedy’s approach is that its individual games should still work independently.
You therefore do not need to finish Alan Wake, Alan Wake 2, or their DLC before Resonant.
Alan Wake
Release Date: February 16, 2012
Genres: Shooter, Adventure
Alan Wake 2
Release Date: October 27, 2023
Genres: Shooter, Adventure
FBC: Firebreak
Release Date: June 17, 2025
Genres: Shooter
The same applies to FBC: Firebreak. The co-op shooter provides another perspective on the Federal Bureau of Control and the Oldest House, but it is not required homework for Dylan’s campaign.
They are useful if you enjoy Remedy’s interconnected lore. They are not prerequisites.
Best Playing Order Before CONTROL Resonant
If you want the smoothest story progression without turning the next month into an FBC training program, this is the order we recommend:
- CONTROL – play the main story.
- The Foundation – recommended for additional FBC and Oldest House lore.
- AWE – optional, particularly if you are interested in Alan Wake connections.
- FBC: Firebreak – completely optional world-building.
- CONTROL Resonant – Dylan’s story begins September 24.
If you only have time for one game, play the original CONTROL and skip directly to Resonant afterward.
If you have no time at all, use Resonant’s recap and start playing.
CONTROL Resonant Is Also a Very Different Game
Starting with Resonant may be easier than the word “sequel” suggests because Remedy is changing much more than the protagonist.
CONTROL was primarily a supernatural third-person shooter built around Jesse’s Service Weapon and telekinetic abilities.
Resonant pushes heavily into melee combat and action RPG systems. Dylan’s primary weapon is the Aberrant, which can transform into different forms including heavy and faster close-range configurations.
Character progression is also deeper. Weapon Forms, supernatural Combat Abilities, Talents, buffs, and branching choices allow more specialized builds.
The setting changes too. Instead of spending the game almost entirely inside the brutalist labyrinth of the Oldest House, Dylan explores large handcrafted zones across a distorted Manhattan, with World Quests, hidden encounters, optional discoveries, and Gravity Anomalies.
Remedy estimates the core Resonant experience at around 30 hours, with completionist play potentially approaching 50. You can find more details in our CONTROL Resonant playtime breakdown.
The game has also already gone gold ahead of its September release, although its physical edition has been delayed until October 15.
Play CONTROL Before Resonant on G2A.COM
If you decide to catch up before September 24, the Ultimate Edition is the most complete option because it packages the original campaign with both major expansions.
Planning a trip through the Oldest House?
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More CONTROL Resonant on G2A News
- CONTROL Resonant Goes Gold, Physical Edition Delayed to October 15
- CONTROL Resonant Release Date Locked – Remedy’s Sequel Arrives This September
- How Long Will It Take to Beat CONTROL Resonant?
CONTROL Resonant FAQ
Can I Play CONTROL Resonant Without Playing CONTROL?
Yes. Remedy specifically designed CONTROL Resonant as a fresh entry point, and the game includes a recap of CONTROL for new players.
Will I Understand CONTROL Resonant Without the First Game?
Yes. The sequel is designed to stand on its own. Playing CONTROL will mainly give you deeper context for Jesse, Dylan, the FBC, the Hiss, and the siblings’ shared history.
Is Jesse Faden in CONTROL Resonant?
Jesse remains an important part of the story, but Dylan Faden is the sole playable protagonist. Jesse is missing when Resonant begins, and finding her is central to Dylan’s journey.
Do I Need to Play CONTROL’s DLC Before Resonant?
No. The Foundation and AWE are optional. The Foundation adds useful CONTROL lore, while AWE is most relevant to the wider connection with Alan Wake.
Do I Need to Play Alan Wake 2 Before CONTROL Resonant?
No. Remedy designs its games so they can stand independently, even though CONTROL and Alan Wake share the same wider universe.
What Should I Play Before CONTROL Resonant?
If you have time for one game, play the main story of CONTROL. If you want the fullest experience, play CONTROL Ultimate Edition and complete The Foundation and AWE afterward.
You Can Skip CONTROL, But Should You?
Remedy has made the practical answer easy: CONTROL Resonant can be your first CONTROL game.
There is a recap, the new story is built around Dylan rather than Jesse, the setting has moved from the Oldest House to Manhattan, and even the combat system has changed substantially.
But this is still the other half of the Faden siblings’ story.
If you have a few evenings available before September 24, playing CONTROL will give Resonant more emotional context than any recap possibly can.
You do not need to play CONTROL first. You will probably be glad you did.