Last year, Remedy released a survival horror game Alan Wake 2sequel, which was 13 years in the making and is the next step in the studio’s connected games universe. Among them is Controla brilliant and completely strange third-person shooter focused on a character Jesse Faden and her exploits with the Federal Bureau of Control, a government agency that tries to stop supernatural threats and phenomena. In Controlyou battle these forces inside The Oldest House, a brutalist office building in the heart of New York City whose unwieldy interior is constantly changing.
This is just the tip of the weird iceberg that is Control, which not only celebrates its fifth anniversary this week but is also, coincidentally, available for purchase on PlayStation. If you care (and I think you should), you can get the final version Control (with necessary DLCs) for $10.
I say they are necessary because Control is not only indirectly related Alan Wake and the universe that Remedy is building. He and his supporting materials (as well as sequel and multiplayer spin-off that are on their way) are the quintessence of understanding the connections between all of this. You’ll get a much fuller picture of the scope of things by playing first Controlwhich describes many concepts such as Altered World Events and Objects of Power that affect Alan Wake 2 quite tough. It’s kind of a side continuation of the first Alan Wakeproviding a wider window into the larger world he had only hinted at, and connecting countless dots in the meantime.
In addition to its role as connective tissue, Control is also his own loving ode to all things weird. FBC is basically just SCP Foundationwhich has its own foundation in the history of internet creepypasta and urban myths. It’s a world where the weird monsters we created as children are real, and cursed objects exist. Some, like a floppy disk, grant blessings like telekinesis. Others, like a rubber duck, can move quickly and prove to be just a nuisance. And then there are refrigerators, which can contain powerful beings beyond comprehension unless someone maintains constant eye contact with them.
Like the things it tries to stop, the FBC HQ is impossible to locate. Unless you know where to look, or are a particularly powerful parautilitarian, you can’t find or enter the Elder House. Once you’re there, there’s no guarantee you won’t get lost within its walls. Or die during one of its “changes,” which drastically rearrange entire floors and departments.
Throughout, Oldest House is also the most aggressively down-to-earth office building. Everywhere you look, concrete walls are covered in the glow of sterile white office lights. Generic desks and office chairs adorn the cubicles and offices you explore. Small boxes, as far as the eye can see. But despite this, the surroundings are still permeated with an unsettling, sometimes menacing feeling. One office will have way too many Post-it notes adorning its surfaces, while a corridor in another wing of the building will seem to spiral into nothingness. The bodies of office workers hang in midair. And for all the dullness of the office space, there are stunning and impossible views to be had in places like the Black Rock Quarry or at the very bottom of the Oldest House.
The environment plays a gigantic part in this Control. From the scheme of things one can deduce whole stories, but Control Also characteristics Very notesoften shared between employees in departments that expertly build and add more mystery to the game’s fiction. And then Control does one of my favorite things that only a game can do, and it lets you explore and discover the secrets builds up in the background of the story’s main plot. Reader, it rarely, if ever, disappoints on this front.
Controlto his primary weapon, is just endlessly intriguing and full of possibilities. The service weapon, an Item of Power in its own right, can transform into any type of firearm, including a pistol, a shotgun, and eventually even a grenade launcher of sorts. Combined with Jesse’s increasing range of abilities, like levitation and a shield, it’s very simple to become this all-encompassing powerhouse. Maybe that’s what I really love about Control. It’s not the power fantasy itself that matters, but how impossible it seems to fence in or nail down, how consistently and expertly it adapts different modes and forms that seem to be able to breathe. ControlThe possibilities seem endless.
Control is, quite simply, one of the most unique games of the last generation. Despite some struggles on the market, it has finally found its audience and become a title worthy of worship. If you don’t know what it’s all about yet, do yourself a favor and set aside some time to get your hands on it Control and simply sink beneath its surface. You won’t regret the time you spend discovering what the Oldest House has to hide.
