During Summer Game Fest: Play Days 2026, we had the opportunity to speak with Mikael Kasurinen, Creative Director of Control Resonant, and Sean Durrie, who plays Dylan Faden in the upcoming game. Our chat goes through the development process of the game, music implementation, Sean’s personal touches on Dylan as a character, and much more. Thank you to Mikael and Sean for their time and insights, and thank you to the teams at Remedy/TBPR for making this happen! Please enjoy.
Thank you all so much for your time. Remedy has made a name for itself by constantly experimenting with new genres. What made you decide to go for this kind of action-focused hack-and-slash feel for Control Resonant?
Mikael Kasurinen (hereafter referred to as MK): When we started to think about Control as a franchise, what was important to me was that it was RPG-oriented, kind of a series of games. To make that possible, we shifted our thinking from this kind of character-centric type of thing, like what we did with Alan Wake and Max Payne, where it is only about one character going through a larger story.
We turned it the other way around. Instead, it is a world where we have a lot of different types of characters, and then we get this new perspective into the world through them. They become a lens as a protagonist in that world. With this kind of RPG approach, it also allows us to explore the different ways they can fight, different characters and different personalities, and different approaches to how they deal with different types of situations.
Once that direction was solidified, we started to think, “Okay, the first game is going to be about Jesse.” The first step was a bit more like a traditional action-adventure from Remedy, which we are known for, third-person shooters, and so on. But what we did want to do was bring on board their paranatural abilities and better movement through the world, and of course, a rich selection of enemies for you to fight.
As we got that done and it felt good, I was already thinking during the first game, as we were making it, that melee is cool and fun. We wanted to find that other side-of-the-coin type of feel when we compare Jesse and Dylan to each other. They have different personalities and different approaches to situations. So, if Jesse has a gun, then obviously Dylan has a melee weapon.
We were excited about doing melee for a long while, so it was a good match and made a lot of sense. What I would like to think is that it still very much feels like Control combat. It just has a different setup from a weapon perspective, but it still has that same kind of recipe. It is fast-paced, and every scenario is almost like a puzzle for you to solve in regards to how you deal with it, what powers you use, and so on. So, that is the logical thinking there.
With the recent trailer that was released, we heard a new song featuring Finnish vocals. How has Control Resonant expanded on previous Remedy games’ focus on seamlessly implementing lyrical tracks into the action and gameplay?
MK: Right. One of the things that we love to do is mix different mediums, be it comic books, movies, and yes, music. We continue to mix live action as well. Music became a big thing when we worked on the first Control game.
What we did here now is take this more integrated approach to how music becomes part of the gameplay experience, and you see it also in the demo. If you play through the same call, where Zoe is using music to help guide you out of the maze and so on, we try to continuously find ways to make it part of the game experience and not something that you stop the action for. It is integrated.
Can we expect to see some nods to the broader Remedy universe that you have created, such as Alan Wake, or is this designed as a self-contained story first and foremost?
MK: This is a self-contained story that stands on its own two feet. You can play it, you can start it, complete it, and it is a satisfying, gratifying story where you understand the stakes. It has a solid conclusion.
But of course, there is this kind of vibe in the world that makes it feel bigger than what is immediately around you. We want to have that feel, but what we do not want to do is make people feel like we left something out. It is an entire package, and it works as it is.
As Creative Director, what was your favorite aspect of Control Resonant? What is the one thing about the game that you are the most proud of, or the most satisfied with?
MK: If I really zoom out and look at the entire thing, I think it is Dylan’s arc. It is how we took an angle with the character that I think is unexpected, and something that I think people will really love at the end of the day.
Sean, with Dylan taking on this role following Control, what was it like stepping back into the shoes of Dylan and being the star of your own game?
Sean Durrie (hereafter referred to as SD): On a surface level, amazing. Absolutely incredible. If you have ever played a game, I think a lot of people have imagined what it would be like to be in the game. Getting to quite literally do that is awesome.
But from more of a practical standpoint, or the craft of it, it was an awesome challenge because Dylan, in the last Control, is possessed by something. He is not possessed by it anymore in the second one when he wakes up. He is more of his human self, as opposed to this person who has been taken over by the Hiss. Getting to develop the character almost from scratch, in a way, because we never saw him behave in a human way before this, was exciting.
Would you say that was the biggest challenge with Control Resonant, trying to portray this new side to Dylan that we have not been able to see before?
SD: Yeah, I would say that was one of the great challenges to begin with. I got the chance to go out to Finland and work with the writers at step one, where we plotted out and mapped out his whole past in detail, and then how we wanted to take him in the future.
It was a real collaboration, as opposed to just, “Play this.” It was like, “What are some of your ideas for how he might behave? Because you have played him before, what do you think we might bring to this character that he still has, but that we can show this next time?”
What we have built with the arc of his character, I am really excited about. I hope that the Dylan you meet and the Dylan you finish with are different.
Bouncing back from that, you said you were able to inject some of your own ideas into the character as well. Is there something in particular that you are the biggest fan of, or really happy made it in?
SD: Yes, but some of it I cannot say right now. The gameplay is extremely fun, and gamers are going to have a lot of fun killing monsters with Dylan’s abilities, but there is a massive focus on the story and what he does.
Without giving anything away, yes, there is stuff we have up our sleeves. The beats and the changes that this character goes through are things I am really, really proud of.
Performance capture is a big part of the work in modern games. What was the experience like going through that process with Remedy, and how was that in Control Resonant?
SD: It is awesome. The way that Remedy is able to capture performances using the technologies we have now means we can capture a detailed performance from an actor that we could not in the past.
There is a solid argument for wanting actors more because we can finally capture the nuances that they bring to the role or to the screen. We have come a long way since the NES, as far as graphics and storytelling.
Doing each process of facial capture, movement, body scans, and voiceover, all these different aspects create the whole character in the end. It is just so much fun to make.
Control Resonant arrives on September 24.
