Translation: Original published in Finnish on 9/21/2026 at 8:10 am EEST.

The critic reviews for Control Resonant were released on Friday, and in light of them, Remedy has once again succeeded in creating a critical success (Metacritic PC: 83 and PS5: 84). Based on this, the commercial success of the game will certainly not be hindered by the critical reception, and we still see the game having a good probability of meeting or even exceeding our forecasts. This will ultimately be judged only after the game's release on September 24. Good reviews, however, remove one uncertainty from the equation. In addition, several gaming influencers seem to like the game, which provides very important additional support for the game's sales alongside Remedy's own marketing efforts. As for Remedy's share, we are sticking to our view last updated in connection with the Q2 report and will reassess it after the game's release. In our view, the valuation of the stock is attractive when mirrored against both the earnings growth brought by upcoming game releases in the next few years and the company's longer-term potential.

Remedy has once again succeeded in creating a new critical success

Based on the reviews published by Monday morning, Control Resonant's Metacritic score was 83/100 on the PC platform (34 reviews) and 84/100 on the PS5 platform (63 reviews). The OpenCritic score out of 66 reviews was 84/100. On Metacritic, almost all the reviews were positive, but a single 40/100 review is dragging the average down.

In light of these figures, Remedy has once again succeeded in developing a very high-quality game, and the game's sales will not suffer from a lack of critical acclaim, at the very least. Of Remedy's previous games, Control scored 84/100 across platforms, the original Alan Wake scored 83/100, and Alan Wake 2 scored 89/100. All of these games have been considered critical successes, although Alan Wake 2's scores were exceptionally good even by those standards.

The game's world and visual presentation receive the most unanimous praise

Reviews are most unanimous about the game's world. The distorted Manhattan and its visual style stand out in practically every review, and several reviewers consider it the most impressive game world of the year. Another widely shared praise concerns the movement mechanics. The environments that play with gravity are built as an integral part of progression rather than just a backdrop, and this makes traversing the world rewarding in its own right. Melee combat and the progression paths built around it receive praise especially from the reviewers giving the highest scores, and some reviewers consider the overall package to be Remedy's most successful gameplay achievement. In most reviews, the open-world content is not criticized as filler, which is rare for a game of this type. The technical execution and optimization of the PC version also draw praise.

The clearest common thread in the criticism is that combat loses its edge as the game progresses. In the lowest reviews, the combat is considered to become repetitive and spread too thin across a world that does not justify its size. The same observation is repeated in the reviews that gave the game the highest scores. Another recurring criticism concerns the limited variety of enemies. Some reviewers also feel that leaving the Oldest House behind took away some of the atmosphere of the original game. Among individual criticisms, the recurring ones are the difficulty level in the opening hours, unclear navigation, and the game's length. Overall, the praise clearly outweighs the criticism, and almost every reviewer ultimately enjoyed the game experience.

We believe the game has a good probability of becoming a commercial success

In our previous comment, we stated that, based on our rough estimate, a Metacritic score of over 85 would mean that a hit game option for Control Resonant exists, and the game's sales tail would likely be strong over a multi-year horizon. With review scores around 80-84, we believe the game would have a chance to meet our current sales forecasts (1.9 million copies in 2026e, 2.2 million copies in 2027e). With review scores below this, the risks to the realization of our current forecasts would have increased. Our base case forecast expects the game to be a commercial success.

Based on the figures seen now, at least the scenario in line with our forecasts still looks very realistic, and there are also conditions for a better performance. We will review our assumptions regarding game sales after the release, at a point when new and informed estimates can be made based on players' initial reactions, reviews, and Steam data. At this stage, everything is still open, and it remains to be seen how briskly the game will start to sell. Promising signals regarding the game's sales have already been received, as gaming influencers generally like the game, and the vast majority of both critics and influencers recommend playing it. For example, Skill Up, a YouTube channel popular among gamers (1.1 million subscribers), strongly recommends Control Resonant.