Control Resonant is far more of an RPG than I expected, complete with talent trees, stats screens, and build-crafting that wouldn't feel out of place in a Diablo game

From its first announcement trailer at the tail end of last year, it's been clear that Control Resonant is not the safe Control sequel that many players may have been expecting. With a new protagonist, a new setting, and a shift from gunplay to melee combat, it's shaking up pretty much every element of the formula.

But even knowing all that, it still managed to surprise me again during an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the game. The thing I really didn't expect is how much of an RPG Control Resonant is.

Before heading out into Hiss-infested New York to battle its mutated denizens, the developers take me into The Gap, a surreal space inside protagonist Dylan's own mind. This warped grey wasteland—which you can jump into instantly at any time—is where you can tweak elements of your combat build.

Suddenly we're looking at full-on stats screens, multiple different talent trees, and customisable weapon forms. It's not quite Diablo, but it looks like a serious action-RPG—and success, Remedy says, lies in specialising your build rather than trying to be a generalist.

The core loop of combat is pretty simple. Weapon attacks on enemies charge up your abilities—big, flashy supernatural powers. Those deal lots of "falter" damage, which can leave enemies stunned. Then you can trigger an execution animation on them, taking them out and giving you a melee damage buff. Perfect for wailing on someone else with your weapon to get your abilities charged up again, and so on.

How you execute that loop is where things should get interesting. Every step is customisable. For your shape-shifting weapon Aberrant, for example, you choose its primary form (what its basic attacks are like), its secondary form (alternate and charged attacks), and its combo-ender (pretty much what it sounds like—a powerful final strike in your attack string).

So one player's Aberrant might be a sweeping scythe (good for crowd control) that turns into a slow-but-devastating hammer for charged attacks and then a flurry of gauntlet blows to finish enemies off. Another might prefer to mix an axe (better for high damage on single targets) with a quick-stabbing drill and end combos by leaving a spinning blade in the target that keeps ripping through their health even as you walk away.

Similarly, you can bring up to three abilities with you into the fight. These powers, earned by killing bosses, include effects as diverse as throwing up a telekinetic shield that can then be rammed into enemies or summoning a crackling ball of energy that fires projectiles across the battlefield.

On top of that are the multiple extensive talent trees—including ones for each weapon form, and a general one for Dylan himself covering things like improving his dodge, generating health pick-ups for sustained hits on the same enemy, or gaining bonus damage for backstabs.

The combat footage I'm shown is frustratingly brief, but it does show off just how big of an impact all this buildcrafting has. In one incarnation, Dylan is a lightning-fast assassin, leaping between enemies and overwhelming them with a flurry of blows. Then I see a build where he's a powerhouse, slamming between foes like a telekinetic wrecking ball. In a third, he's more of a puppet master, summoning a flying minion and a worm-like sentry turret to take the heat and lay down damage while he leaps to higher ground for a safe vantage.

It seems like a fun system to experiment with—especially with what looks like a much more interesting menagerie of bizarre monsters to try out all these attacks on than previous Remedy games. I'm particularly fond of the guys that just look like giant humanoid hammers that want to kill you with their heads.

The big question mark for me, however, is how all this actually feels in the hands. At a glance Control Resonant looks like a take on Devil May Cry's frenzied action-combat, but the more I see of it the more I think it seems stiff and stilted compared to that series. But if the RPG systems are truly as extensive as they look, and feel satisfying to master and tinker with, then perfectly smooth action may not be necessary. We never expected Mass Effect to be as tight a third-person shooter as Gears of War, after all.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I'm able to go hands-on and get a more decisive sense of the game. In the meantime I'm cautiously optimistic.

I can understand fears that Remedy has bitten off more than it can chew here, with such a radical shift in style and genre. But this is a studio that loves building wild new combat systems for each of its games, from the time-manipulating gunplay of Quantum Break to the telekinetic chaos of Control to the survival horror of Alan Wake 2. The specifics of Control Resonant may be unexpected, but it certainly isn't surprising to see the studio take yet another bold, creative swing with the game's action.