Pop Culture has practically built itself on the idea of the unknown. Vampires, werewolves, conspiracies, aliens, and so many other tales are built on this idea. Cryptids and stories about paranormal events are scattered all over Reddit and other sites, so it is no surprise that the concept is bleeding into video games. Control takes the concept of the unknown, of a world unseen behind the curtain of what we know to be natural, and builds a spellbinding narrative.

I will admit that I have very little experience with games created by Remedy Entertainment. I’ve heard good things about Alan Wake, and while Quantum Break wasn’t well-received, I thought the premise was very interesting. Control has everything that fans of Remedy games have mentioned, such as great storylines, interesting aesthetics, and precise attention to detail.

Control puts you in the shoes of Jesse Faden, a young woman who enters a labyrinthine building known as The Oldest House, and becomes the Director of the Federal Bureau of Control. At the same time, The Oldest House (and the Bureau) is being overrun by a hostile malevolent force known as The Hiss. The Hiss seeks to escape The Oldest House and infect the entire world, but there is far more to this tale than meets the eye.

The Oldest House became the headquarters of the FBC when the Bureau discovered it. The Bureau investigates what are known as AWE’s or “Altered World Events” that stem from paranormal activity due to objects being imbued with supernatural power or influence from other dimensions. Because of this, The Oldest House contains a variety of powerful items, some of which Jesse learns to use to augment her own abilities.

The aesthetic of The Oldest House (and Control itself) is simultaneously meticulous and impressively detailed. From shifting rooms, to the usage of color to indicate danger, every aspect of the environment either has something to show you, or just looks fantastic in the process. The Oldest House is more than just the environment you traverse while you try to stop the Hiss.

The term “Oldest House” is a slight misnomer, as it is actually a building that connects to multiple “Thresholds” or dimensions. Disguised as a skyscraper in New York City, The Oldest House will immerse you in a variety of environments, not just office areas. However, The Bureau is comprised of multiple floors, with various “Clearance” levels.

As the new Director of the Bureau, you would think that Jesse automatically gets access to everything. In reality, this is part of where the “Metroidvania” aspect of Control comes in. Jessie uses a variety of supernatural abilities to traverse the environment or fight enemies. These abilities are unlocked either as part of the main story or by exploring The Oldest House and undergoing side quests from various Bureau members.

You may not be able to access certain areas until you acquire an ability, this is most notable in the case of the flight ability, which comes along as you progress through the story. There is another obstacle though that I previously mentioned. There are doors locked with various clearance level keycard locks. As you progress, you will be given these keycards and will have to backtrack to previous areas in order to explore places you couldn’t reach before.

Jesse also has access to something called the “Service Weapon,” a gun that can change form. As you explore the Oldest House, you can acquire mods for each of the five gun forms, as well as personal mods to augment Jesse’s health, energy, and abilities.

The Oldest House also contains a variety of crafting materials and collectibles that you can obtain. There are case files and documents that detail various Altered World Events that the Bureau has dealt with, as well as videos that contain Full Motion Video segments to further expand on the world of Control. The FMV segments are very well done and fit somewhat seamlessly with the documents and the other bits of the game’s storytelling.

The world-building and the environment of the Oldest House becomes almost a character in itself. There is so much lore and history provided, that I dare say Remedy could create far more than the two DLC expansions they have announced. I could easily see there being a sequel, or even a series of games set in this same world, just from different perspectives, perhaps taking on the role of other Bureau Directors.

The combat in Control is both smooth and chaotic. The Service Weapon has unlimited ammo, but after you empty the clip, you have to take cover or dodge attacks while it reloads. Additionally, Jesse’s supernatural abilities take energy, which also refills over time. The trickiest part of Control, however, is health management. There are no med-kits or no healing spells, and the only way to heal is by collecting health elements that drop off of slain enemies, or by interacting with Control Points.

You might find this to be frustrating, and in some cases (such as boss battles), it can be. Sometimes if there is very little cover, or early on when you haven’t upgraded your health yet, combat can be a very strategic, chaotic affair. However, the controls for both the Service Weapon and Jessie’s supernatural talents, are smooth and easy to understand.

Control Points have a variety of other uses, such as fast travel to other Control Points, using Ability Points to upgrade Jesse’s abilities, crafting, and taking a variety of side quests known as Board Countermeasures.

Board Countermeasures aren’t tied to the story or the environment, and there are a variety of them in the game. Some may ask you to kill a certain enemy type, while others might want you to use a specific weapon form to kill enemies. I found that it was a little annoying that I could only have 3 Board Countermeasures at a time, but it was easy to take a few, and then complete them as I explored.

As I mentioned earlier, crafting plays a part in Control’s progression. You start out with only one weapon form for the Service Weapon, but as you collect materials, you can craft four other forms. Pierce is a long-range, armor-piercing weapon. Charge is a rocket launcher, Spin is an SMG, and Shatter performs more like a shotgun. Grip, on the other hand, is what I found most useful as it is a standard pistol.

You can also craft mods for Jesse and the Service Weapon at Control Points. The problem with this is they only tell you what rarity and type of mod it is. So you may decide to craft a personal mod with a rarity of four, but when you get it crafted, it may not be the Health Boost mod you wanted. There’s no way to get specific mods, but you can play around and try your luck if you wish.

The biggest issue that I wound up having with Control, was in regards to the map. The map is set up almost like a blueprint. There is no way to mark places to return to later. There is no way to check the individual floors of a Sector when a Sector is multi-level, and it is almost impossible to figure out which pathways are exits only, or areas you can come and go from at will.

The Maintenance Sector was my biggest struggle because it has multiple levels accessible by elevator, but only a single map, making it difficult to figure out if my goal or target was above me or below me. I also found it somewhat annoying that Control doesn’t allow you to manually save. The game autosaves very often, but I would have to track down a Control Point and force it to autosave when I needed to stop playing for food, drink, or sleep.

I should also mention that I played on PS4, and there were some framerate issues and lag, particularly after unpausing the game. There were no crashes or major problems for me, but I expect that PC users may have an easier time because there is a more varied set of display options to adjust. Speaking of display options, I found the brightness option to be a bit inconsistent. Some areas were far too dark even when I raised the brightness, while some areas had bright office lighting that made it hard to see.

The last issue I had with Control’s visuals, might be based on personal preference. When Jesse’s health gets low, the screen starts to bleed red around the edges moving toward the center. The problem with this is that it can make it hard to see during boss fights, making it almost impossible to recover by collecting health elements.

Luckily enough, even though the boss fights can be tough and test your mastery of Jesse’s abilities, you never have to travel far to get back to them if you die. Often, you try the fight a few times to get a feel of how the boss attacks, and then after a few deaths you go in for the kill, armed with the knowledge of how best to take it on.

To bring all this together, I just have to say that Control impressed me greatly. The voice acting was well done, even the FMV “instructional videos” which have a cheesy sort of feel to them that is pretty fun. The environments are gorgeous, there is so much lore to sink your teeth into, and overall the game is incredibly fun.

With smooth controls, interesting characters, and lots of things to do and explore, Control is a fantastic experience. Even though it does have some issues, I would whole-heartedly recommend it to any fan of Remedy games, or even just someone who is intrigued by the paranormal, or third-person shooters in general. It lets you see behind a curtain that many of us only speculate about.

A PS4 review copy for Control was provided by 505 Games for this review.

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Control

$59.99 USD

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful Visuals
• Great Characters and Story
• Smooth Controls and Combat
• Lots of Content and Lore

Cons

• Map is Terrible
• Brightness Option Needs Work
• No Way to Manually Save
• Framerate Issues and Lag