As we head into the weekend, Remedy has released their first developer diary for CONTROL Resonant!
With Resonant's vision taking the series beyond the walls of the FBC, the team reflects on the reasons for the change in tone and how the contrasts in the two stories complement each other. They reveal why Dylan makes a very different kind of protagonist and the team's early exploration into what makes "a Control game".
Throughout the nine-minute video, we hear from a number of talented developers, including Mikael Kasurinen (Creative Director), Juha Vainio ( Executive Producer), Annika Lehtinen (Lead Gameplay Animator), Anne-Marie Grönroos (Lead Level Designer), Elmeri Raitanen (Art Director), Sergey Mohov (Lead Gameplay Designer), and Vida Starčević (Senior Community Manager). Each voice brings a unique perspective as they share their takeaways from the project.
Check out the first development diary for CONTROL Resonant below or on the studio's YouTube channel, HERE!
CONTROL Resonant - Beyond the Oldest House | Development Diary Transcript
Vida Starčević: So many people go *gasps* at that bit.
Mikael Kasurinen: And there's something really exciting about that.
Elmeri Raitanen: I feel like we're standing on the shoulders of an aesthetic giant.
Annika Lehtinen: "Absolute f***ing cinema."
Title card showing "Control Resonant. Beyond The Oldest House."
Mikael Kasurinen: My name is Mikael Kasurinen, and I'm the Creative Director of CONTROL Resonant.
Juha Vainio: I'm Juha Vainio, I'm the Executive Producer of CONTROL Resonant.
Annika Lehtinen: My name is Annika Lehtinen, and I'm the Lead Gameplay Animator on CONTROL Resonant.
Anne-Marie Grönroos: I'm Anne-Marie Grönroos, and I'm the Lead Level Designer on CONTROL Resonant.
Elmeri Raitanen: I'm Elmeri Raitanen, I'm the Art Director of CONTROL Resonant.
Sergey Mohov: I'm Sergey Mohov. I'm the Lead Gameplay Designer of CONTROL Resonant.
Vida Starčević: I'm Vida Starčević, and I'm the Senior Community Manager on CONTROL Resonant.
Anne-Marie Grönroos: So, the obvious big thing is that now we are outside of The Oldest House. In the first game, you really only met people from the FBC.
Mikael Kasurinen: It's a world that's been warped by this paranatural phenomena. So, it's kind of a messed-up environment that is sometimes hard to process and understand. So, literally, sometimes it's about figuring out how do you navigate these types of environments? But it's also about Dylan, right? He is new to this world. He doesn't quite know himself either, so sometimes he's not quite sure, like, how to deal with certain things that he faces.
Sergey Mohov: We got to apply a lot of the lessons that we learned from the first game to the sequel. First, we had to figure out what it meant to make "a Control game". What made Control special? And what we could improve about it. Yeah, it's been a long ride, but I think the results will speak for themselves.
Elmeri Raitanen: I feel like we're standing on the shoulders of an aesthetic giant, so to speak. And for many years now, the developers and the players and Dylan Faden alike, we have been staring at these oppressive, brutalist walls quite closely. So, I think it's time to get a breath of fresh air.
Mikael Kasurinen: The first game is inside the Oldest House, in isolation, and it's about Jesse, who's comes from the outside world into that space. Right? She's new to that reality. She hasn't seen any of this stuff before. So, she learns a lot about these paranatural forces and the nature of the FBC and all of that... but she's kind of trapped inside. Dylan, he's always been inside The Oldest House, or for twenty years, his whole adult life. That's normal to him. So, it feels poetic and right that now his journey is from within that place we saw in the first game to the other direction. It's a reverse journey compared to Jesse going from that isolation and captivity, that strange place that is normal to him, to the outside world. And that outside world is weird and strange to him, yet familiar to us. And there's something really exciting about that.
Annika Lehtinen: Things that I'm most excited about for players to actually experience is all the cool new ways, you can finish off all the enemies, because we've put a lot of emphasis on that.
Juha Vainio: Another thing I'm super keen about is the balance between the Aberrant (the melee weapon) and the paranormal powers that Dylan has. So, you can get really close with the Aberrant, and then you can take a step back and use the paranatural powers from a distance.
Mikael Kasurinen: One part of the experience that I'm very excited about is the sense of motion that you have through the world. We put a lot of energy into it, and many of you have already seen Shift, the way that you can tap into these Gravity Anomalies within the world. And the whole world can kind of, rotate, basically. And we're really tapping into that, like, finding these mind-bending journeys through the world where it's being paranaturally shaped around as you navigate through it.
Vida Starčević: I am excited to see players experience Dylan's story because there have been so many players that have found themselves in Jesse's story and that have loved Jesse's story. And Dylan was kind of an enigma in the first game. So now we are going deeper and we're going to figure out who this guy is, where he's been, how he's gotten to the point where he is now.
Mikael Kasurinen: With Control (1), we wanted to establish a new world, basically. It's a new IP, a new experience, and so on. And we have this perspective of a character who is also new to this world. Jesse didn't know what the Oldest House was about; she didn't know about the powerful forces and so on, and we get to learn about that together with Jesse. And I wanted to replicate that feeling with the sequel as well. We call it "a sequel", and it is a sequel, but it's also an independent product that stands on its own feet. And to me, these games go together like two siblings, each belong to the same family, but they have their own, identity and desires and own fate, and they're connected.
Vida Starčević: Control is a game that, at the point of shooting this, it's like seven years old. And I feel like the way that the culture, the internet moves these days, you don't really get that kind of staying power with a lot of games. Like, there's only a select number of games that you can think of that people are still talking about the way that they talked about it, with the same sort of zeal and love that they talked about it when it launched, as they are seven years after it launched. So, that's been incredible to witness, and it's been so humbling to witness. And I don't know what to do with myself when I see people, you know, seven years in talking about how much they love Control, how much the game meant to them.
Juha Vainio: What I think resonates with Control audiences and makes it one of the biggest IPs we have is the fact that we are doing things gameplay-first in the Control franchise. So, story has always been in the centre of Remedy games, and story is super important for us as well, but when it comes to the second-to-second combat and traversal, we've really gone to town with gameplay. And we already did that with Control (1), but now with Resonant, we are taking it to the next level. So, we have the biggest gameplay team in Remedy history working on it.
Mikael Kasurinen: Returning players will definitely get to see a lot of familiar faces, familiar phenomena. The Hiss and Mold are there, but of course, we're introducing a lot of new things as well. There's a fun layering of familiar things, but definitely facing new challenges.
Vida Starčević: I think the team really poured a lot of themselves into this game and really listened to the community and to their love and to their criticism for Control, and just improved on it and in CONTROL Resonant.
Mikael Kasurinen: We, as a studio, we have existed for thirty years, so there's a really loyal fanbase, that mean a lot to us. As we created CONTROL Resonant, it had a special meaning to us. What we wanted to do was make sure that the fans get to experience the things that they've experienced with all the Remedy games in the past, yet at the same time, we wanted to do something new and unexpected, something that we're also invested in and excited about to expand the universe and do new things.
Vida Starčević: When the trailer came out, it did feel bigger, and I think that's what stood out to me the most, like, "oh my God, all these people who I wouldn't think were a Remedy fan saw this and loved it!" And I think my favourite is just seeing that bit in the trailer when Dylan walks out of the subway, and he slams the Aberrant open, and so many people go *gasps* at that bit. And that's just, *chefs kiss* so nice to see that!
Annika Lehtinen: "Absolute f***ing cinema."
