| \n | \n Polygon<\/span> \n Summer Game Fest 2026 \n Live game reveals, world premiere trailers, and what\u2019s next from 40+ developers, publishers, and hardware makers.<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Dive in\u2192<\/span>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n | \n \n Picture a looping maze of living rooms and bedrooms. They stack on top of one another in what looks like an infinite megastructure. Some are filled with piles of chairs scattered around with little rhyme or reason. No, I\u2019m not describing Backrooms<\/em>, though all of that is entirely applicable to A24\u2019s hit horror movie. I\u2019m actually describing a sequence from Control Resonant<\/em>. A mid-game mission called The Sinkhole tosses protagonist Dylan Faden into a liminal labyrinth that\u2019s entirely mind-bending.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/section>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of coincidence you can\u2019t plan for, but it\u2019s bound to work in Remedy Entertainment\u2019s favor when Control Resonant<\/em> launches on Sept. 24. The sequel to its 2019 hit, Control<\/em>, is filled with the kind of impossible mazes that moviegoers are currently fascinated \u2014 and terrified \u2014 by. Control Resonant <\/em>creative director Mikael Kasurinen is embracing that happy coincidence. In an interview with Polygon, Kasurinen explained why Remedy is just as drawn to liminal spaces as horror fans.<\/p>\n Control Resonant<\/em> is different from its predecessor in a lot of ways, but it shares the same DNA when it comes to level design. Both games deal with confusing spaces that loop in on one another in bizarre ways. Control famously features a disorienting space called the Ashtray Maze that\u2019s a bit like a brutalist designed the Backrooms. Control Resonant<\/em> has no shortage of spaces like that, but it brings that idea to a wider world that goes beyond the Federal Bureau of Control.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first game is inside The Oldest House, which is this brutalistic space,\u201d Kasurinen told Polygon. \u201cIt almost feels organized and perfect, and then, of course, as you play the game, Jesse messes it up all the time. But still, it feels like a space with clarity and identity and intent, and, of course, very impressive. And now we\u2019re stepping into the outside world, which is filled with human chaos and complexity. You know the feeling where you walk down the street and there\u2019s a shopping cart in the middle, and it\u2019s like, what the hell, how did that end up there?\u201d<\/p>\n While Remedy usually explores that idea in its interior spaces, Control Resonant <\/em>is taking it outside the doors of The Oldest House. The game takes place in a Hiss-infested version of Manhattan that is entirely warped. It looks like something pulled out of a Doctor Strange movie, with mirrored skyscrapers, roads that lead into chasms, and building textures that eerily repeat in natural patterns. Though it\u2019s a big change from Control<\/em>, Remedy felt that a city was a perfect place to expand its ideas. Getting it right would just come down to execution.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York is, of course, the most iconic city, so it was a wonderful backdrop for this experience,\u201d Kasurinen said. \u201cBut what we didn\u2019t want to do was make it a tourist simulator. Like let\u2019s go see the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. That\u2019s not the story that we wanted to tell. We spent a lot of time researching and making sure that we get the architectural styles right. It\u2019s more like this clay. Let\u2019s create this canvas, a backdrop, and start layering on top of that everything that is Control. Be it how a strange force patterns a building into itself, or the Hiss that is almost this liquefying, strange osmosis where things blend into each other. That combines with how time is a pattern as well. When you step into one zone, time might be different. Weather can be different as well. We have a wonderful weather system that we basically stole from Alan Wake.\u201d<\/p>\n During our discussion, I pointed out the accidental harmony between Control Resonant<\/em> and Backrooms<\/em>. It\u2019s not as apparent when exploring Manhattan, but it\u2019s undeniable in missions like The Sinkhole that explicitly function as confusing mazes. (Part of the mission revolves around following a trail of music through repeating living rooms.) Kasurinen sees that accidental connection, too, and understands what makes it so creepy for audiences.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the perfect collision of something that is so familiar to us,\u201d he said. \u201cNot in its archetypal sense, but in its mundanity. Just seeing an old shopping mall that is totally void of any artistic depth or anything like that. It\u2019s just this boring space. But then something utterly strange is happening with that. It\u2019s shaped in a way that you just don\u2019t understand. There\u2019s this deep mystery there. It\u2019s incomprehensible and impenetrable. There\u2019s something within all of us, where you see something that\u2019s not what it\u2019s supposed to be, and that\u2019s definitely what Control is about.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like with Backrooms<\/em>,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s a familiar world, but there are these strange alien forces that are colliding within this human world. True to that, I think we\u2019ve created something unique that stands out. It\u2019s New York like you\u2019ve never seen it before.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean Durrie, who plays Dylan Faden in the game, told Polygon that he agrees with that sentiment: \u201cYou take something that people think of when you think of New York \u2014 even something very normal like pigeons \u2014 and now we\u2019ve made pigeons something like you\u2019ve never thought pigeons would be.\u201d<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find out what exactly that means on Sept. 24, when Control Resonant<\/em> is released for PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X, but be afraid. Be very afraid.<\/p>\n |
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\n <\/picture>Image: Remedy Entertainment<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mcdback_ec094.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: A24\/Everett Collection<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Mary](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/mcdback_ec100-1.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=220&h=124&dpr=2\"\/)
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