{"id":88109,"date":"2026-09-26T20:03:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=88109"},"modified":"2026-09-26T20:03:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T12:03:01","slug":"control-resonant-rapidfire-ceo-turnovers-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=88109","title":{"rendered":"Control Resonant, Rapidfire CEO Turnovers And Other New Indie Games Worth Checking Out"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/img\/gallery\/control-resonant-rapidfire-ceo-turnovers-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out\/l-intro-1790367579.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CONTROL Resonant - Launch Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SqvAvOAd1VA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Control Resonant<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Developer\/publisher: Remedy Entertainment<br \/>Platforms: Steam (Windows), Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X\/S, Xbox for PC. Coming to Mac via Steam and the App Store later this year<br \/>Price: $60<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Yes, <em>Control Resonant<\/em> is an indie game, even if it has a far bigger budget than most games we feature in this weekly roundup. I even saw a full-screen homepage ad for it when I opened my browser on Thursday, the day it was released. Still, Remedy is an independent studio, so it falls within our remit.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I&#8217;ve been looking forward to this ever since we learned five years ago that a sequel to <em>Control<\/em> was likely on the way. I figured we&#8217;d see more of Jesse Faden&#8217;s misadventures through The Oldest House. But that&#8217;s not the case here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Remedy isn&#8217;t a studio known for sticking to convention. It defied expectations by making Jesse&#8217;s brother Dylan the protagonist, expanding the scope from the confines of a shape-shifting building to an open world and ditching the morphable service weapon in favor of melee combat.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I haven&#8217;t had time to jump in yet and I&#8217;m very much looking forward to doing that over the weekend. The reviews I&#8217;ve read have generally been positive, though some noted that the combat becomes repetitive. I don&#8217;t mind that much, though. The combat wasn&#8217;t what I cared about in <em>Control<\/em>. The world and story Remedy built in that game were confounding and captivating, and that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m ready to see more of in <em>Control Resonant<\/em>. If combat gets too tedious, there&#8217;s always the option to turn on invincibility and one-hit kills.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ascend to New Commercial Heights | Stick it to the Stickman Leaves Early Access on September 23\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ucxlcq1A2ZM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Stick It to the Stickman<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Developer: Free Lives<br \/>Publisher: Devolver Digital<br \/>Platform: Steam (Windows, Mac, SteamOS\/Linux; Steam Deck Verified)<br \/>Price: Usually $12, with a 50 percent discount until October 1<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I appreciate art that has a clear point of view, and <em>Stick It to the Stickman<\/em> doesn&#8217;t shy away from getting its point across. This is a satirical, anti-capitalist roguelite brawler. The main loop sees you rise up the corporate ladder (well, the floors of a building) to defeat your company&#8217;s CEO and take their job. Then you do it all over again as a new employee. The rate of turnover at this company is incredibly high, so I think it says something that the characters are effectively stick figures with few defining features.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Along the way, you&#8217;ll battle your coworkers using a wide range of attacks, from a staple gun and flying kick to a hadouken and a projectile coffee mug. You&#8217;ll start each run (which takes just a few minutes) with a certain character trait and a few moves, and unlock and upgrade abilities as you move through the building. There&#8217;s lots going on in the overworld too, where you might be tasked with tackling protestors or earn a Grand Theft Auto-style police wanted level.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I&#8217;ve played an hour or so of <em>Stick It to the Stickman<\/em>, which left early access this week and I&#8217;ve enjoyed my time with it so far. The animations are smooth and kicking enemies through windows or into electrical panels does not get old. I&#8217;m tickled by the frequent appearances of the former colleague who recommends your first character for a job and is immediately replaced by them. The short runs help make it a good Steam Deck game too.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It&#8217;s probably not best to think about what&#8217;s going on too closely, though. Spending your avatars&#8217; hard-earned cash on expanding the company feels ghoulish, even if you do get some perks out of it.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Doggy Don&amp;apos;t Care - Official Launch Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_ln9MTRhr-g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Doggy Don&#8217;t Care<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Developer: Rohan Nowell<br \/>Publisher: Rotub Games<br \/>Platform: Steam (Windows; Steam Deck Verified)<br \/>Price: Usually $15, with a 10 percent discount until October 8<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In <em>Doggy Don&#8217;t Care<\/em>, the outfits that you unlock for the trouble-making pup are called &#8220;pawjamas.&#8221; That&#8217;s all I really needed to know to realize this adventure game is for me. It helps that reviews have suggested fans of <em>Untitled Goose Game<\/em> and <em>Little Kitty Big City<\/em> (I like both of those!) will enjoy it.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">You play as Charlie, a pup that&#8217;s left home alone by its owner, and your mission is to cause carnage and impress his friends. You&#8217;ll earn badges for your mischievous deeds, which may just involve a diamond heist. It looks chaotic and pretty cute. Sometimes, you just need something that&#8217;s chaotic and pretty cute.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Video Game Menu: The Game  - Official Trailer\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7b6A_X7YOD4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><strong>Video Game Menu: The Game<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Developer\/publisher: Sebastian Gioseffi<br \/>Platforms: Steam (Windows), Itch<br \/>Price: Usually $4, with a 10 percent discount on Steam until September 30<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Video Game Menu: The Game<\/em> is one of the titles included in the Out of the Box showcase. It&#8217;s a short game that slots into the burgeoning Fake OS genre while simultaneously parodying that category. As you might imagine, it&#8217;s all about navigating a video game menu system. Things very quickly get utterly ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I&#8217;ve played a bit of <em>Video Game Menu<\/em> and developer Sebastian Gioseffi sets the right tone immediately. As I do with pretty much every game, I opened the settings before doing anything else. I was tickled to see a drop-down menu that allowed me to choose from a range of emotional depth options for the challenges, ranging from &#8220;I Just Wanna Kill Some Zombies&#8221; to <em>Sophie&#8217;s Choice<\/em>. Turn on the gore option and every time you toggle a setting, there&#8217;s a splash of blood. If you like to see numbers arbitrarily go up, why not switch on the random score? You&#8217;ll never guess what happens when you enable airplane mode either.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I hadn&#8217;t even started the game yet and I was enjoying how the settings warped what I was seeing and hearing. I won&#8217;t give anything else away, but if you&#8217;re looking for something silly to play this weekend, <em>Video Game Menu<\/em> is right there.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2269434\/control-resonant-rapidfire-ceo-turnovers-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Control Resonant Developer\/publisher: Remedy EntertainmentPlatforms: Steam (Windows), Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X\/S, Xbox for PC. Coming to Mac via Steam and the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[5668,9042,10797,321,4706,30677,24423,30678,78],"class_list":["post-88109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-ceo","tag-checking","tag-control","tag-games","tag-indie","tag-rapidfire","tag-resonant","tag-turnovers","tag-worth","wpcat-32-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88109\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}