Control is "Remedy's RPG franchise," says creative director, and it's been that way since long before it was even called Control

Dylan jumping towards a giant face during the trailer for Control Resonant. .

Control may have been GamesRadar's 2019 Game of the Year. It may be a thrilling action-adventure game with a mind-bending world and story, but there's one thing it isn't: an RPG. Sure, there are some light RPG-style systems and character progression, but a full-blown RPG, Control is not. That said, its sequel, Control Resonant, is shaping up to be exactly that, a true-blue action RPG with dedicated buildcrafting, a bunch of meaty skill trees, stat screens, and so many different abilities as to essentially have distinct classes, according to creative director Mikael Kasurinen, who tells me a Remedy RPG was the plan from the very beginning.

I caught up with Kasurinen during gamescom latam 2026, and I was surprised to hear him say Control was supposed to be an action RPG series since before the original game was even conceived.