On July 15, 2026, Remedy Entertainment’s supernatural action-adventure sequel, Control 2, officially launched simultaneously on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. As the direct follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2019 title, the game continues the eerie world of the Federal Bureau of Control and expands its setting from the Oldest House to multiple FBC facilities across the country. On launch day, the game held a solid Metacritic score of 89, with multiple outlets praising it as “Remedy’s most ambitious work to date.”
The story of Control 2 takes place four years after the events of the original game. Protagonist Jesse Faden has become the official Director of the FBC, and under her leadership, the Oldest House has gradually returned to order. However, a sudden “Cognitive Storm” sweeps across several FBC facilities nationwide — facilities that contain paranormal entities far older than the Oldest House itself. Jesse must leave the Oldest House and travel to the “Echo Station” in the Nevada desert and “Frost Base” beneath the Alaskan ice sheet, re-establishing control in unfamiliar environments.
The biggest change lies in the level structure. Unlike the original, which was entirely contained within the Oldest House, Control 2 adopts a semi-open “hub and spoke” design. Jesse can travel between multiple FBC facilities via “Threshold Crossings,” with each facility serving as a self-contained, large-scale map roughly the size of a single sector from the original game. Reviews have highlighted the Echo Station in the Nevada desert as a striking reimagining of light and space — the facility is buried deep beneath the dunes, with light seeping only through cracks in the fractured ceilings, while roaming “Sand Shadow” enemies can emerge from any shadow.
The combat system has been significantly expanded. The Service Weapon now features two additional forms: “Melt,” a short-range energy shotgun whose projectiles can ricochet off surfaces, and “Shift,” a chargeable gravity weapon that can pull enemies toward each other or suspend them in mid-air. Jesse’s paranormal abilities have also been augmented with “Threshold Awareness,” a brief activation that reveals enemy positions behind walls and hidden interaction points, proving extremely useful for both puzzles and combat. Another widely noted upgrade is “Threshold Rush,” which allows Jesse to phase through solid objects over short distances, adding considerable tactical depth to both encounters and exploration.
The environmental storytelling so praised in the original has been further strengthened in Control 2. Hundreds of collectible documents, audio recordings, and projection clips are scattered across each facility, some of which are FBC reports written by Remedy’s other protagonist, author Alan Wake, providing extensive new clues for the “Connected Universe” that Remedy is building. Remedy has confirmed that Control 2 includes a dedicated photo mode and that a “Threshold Archives” DLC will be released post-launch, adding new side missions and explorable areas.
