Control Resonant Unlocks Thursday, But Your Disc Waits Until October

Hero image: CONTROL Resonant promotional art. Image: Remedy Entertainment, via Steam

Remedy’s sequel unlocks worldwide on Thursday, and going digital is the only way to play it this month. Australian retailers have the disc down for 15 October, three weeks behind.

You have two choices to make before Thursday, and they are not the same choice.

The first is digital or physical. In Australia that has quietly become a question about timing rather than taste. CONTROL Resonant unlocks on 24 September on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, through both Steam and the Epic Games Store. A macOS build follows later this year. The physical editions are a separate run, and JB Hi-Fi has them listed for 15 October on both consoles.

So if you want to play it this month, you are buying it digitally. That is the entire decision.

What it costs here

Australian retail pricing has settled, and it is worth knowing before you walk into a store.

The SteelBook adds the case itself, three fine art prints, a key art poster and an outer slipcase. The JB Exclusive swaps that for one print and a collectable slip case. Neither adds anything you can play.

The classification is MA15+, with consumer advice for strong violence. Worth checking if you were planning to hand it to someone younger.

Digital, and the early access catch

Digitally there are two tiers, standard and Digital Deluxe. The Deluxe adds an artbook, the soundtrack, an Untapped Artifact wallet, a starter resource bundle and the AWE mission outfit for Dylan.

One difference matters more than the cosmetics. The PlayStation 5 Digital Deluxe includes 48 hours of early access, so that version plays from 22 September rather than the 24th. No other edition does.

Pre-ordering any version adds the Hiss Corruption outfit and a Pickpocket’s Tool artifact. Steam is also running a bundle, CONTROL: The Siblings Collection, pairing Control Ultimate Edition with the Resonant Digital Deluxe at ten per cent off — useful if you never played the 2019 original and want to before Thursday.

If you are playing on PC

Check your storage before Thursday, not on Thursday. Remedy asks for 120 GB and an SSD, and the SSD is listed as a requirement rather than a suggestion.

The minimum spec is an i5-8500 or Ryzen 5 3500 with a GTX 1070, RX 5600 XT or Arc A580, on 16 GB of RAM. Recommended moves to an i7-10700 or Ryzen 7 3700X with an RTX 3060 Ti, RX 6700 XT or Arc B580. RAM stays at 16 GB across both, which is unusual and welcome.

What you are actually playing

You play Dylan Faden, the brother from the 2019 game, out of Federal Bureau of Control confinement and into a Manhattan being rewritten by something cosmic. His sister Jesse, the Bureau’s director, is missing. The Hiss is loose beyond the Oldest House, along with a new corrupting growth called the Mold.

Combat runs on the Aberrant, a shapeshifting melee weapon that swaps between a two-handed hammer and dual blades mid-fight. It is a single-player action RPG, and Remedy is calling it the studio’s most expansive game.

Dylan is played by Sean Durrie. He is joined by a new Bureau ally, Zoe de Vera, with Simon Arish and Emily Pope returning from the original.

If you want the disc, pre-orders are open now at both retailers and you will not be playing until the middle of October. If you want it Thursday, the store page is the only door.

Source: Steam, JB Hi-Fi, EB Games, Gematsu