How often do we see game sequels totally shift genres?

Max Payne and Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment has spent most of its life making third-person shooters. Its 2019 hit Control, which gave you some telekinetic powers but also a transforming pistol, mostly stuck to that format—while also proving that the third-person shooting really isn't why anyone's playing Remedy games.

We play them for the settings, the stories, the vibes. In the more literary words of PC Gamer reviewer James Davenport, Control was "littered with mundane objects made fascinating and sinister...