Control | Review – An Exceptional Extranormal Experience
Originally published September 1st, 2019
After my 22-hour romp through Remedy Entertainment’s Control, a bittersweet feeling came over me; my new favorite game, like all good things, had come to an end. I could not get enough of the story Remedy created— one where the grounded narrative of a woman searching for her missing brother was contrasted with the surreal and supernatural. The gameplay felt incredibly satisfying — playing as Jesse Faden was like stepping into the shoes of a bombastic superhero. Yet nothing impressed me more than the world-building; the art direction was stunning, and the lore I came across expanded on the sometimes horrific, sometimes wacky daily life at the Federal Bureau of Control in so many different ways. My first priority when exploring a new area was finding collectibles to learn more about this strange setting and the unique internal logic it operated on. To put it simply, I was immersed in Control, and I want to immerse myself again.
For those not in the know, Control revolves around the titular Federal Bureau of Control, a clandestine US Government agency tasked with investigating, containing, and researching the supernatural. You play as Jesse Faden (played by Courtney Hope), a woman who, as a child, found herself in the midst of a Bureau cover-up after a paranormal event occurred in her hometown of Ordinary. As part of their operations, the FBC took her brother Dylan away to learn more from him about the events that occurred in Ordinary; Jesse managed to escape. Seventeen years later, Jesse finally tracks down the secretive Bureau to their headquarters in New York City, known as the Oldest House — a massive, Brutalist skyscraper in the middle of Manhattan. The House dwarfs the Empire State Building and the Freedom Tower, but it is only visible in the skyline to certain individuals that the Oldest House has deemed worthy of perceiving its presence. For the majority of the population, the House does not exist. Jesse being able to see and enter the House is the first indication that there is more to her than meets the eye.
The interior of the Oldest House
It soon becomes clear that something is very amiss at the FBC. There is not a single soul in the reception area, the lights are off in the hallways, and papers are strewn across the floor. The one person Jesse meets is Ahti, a janitor mopping the floors in the dark, who is fond of speaking in riddles and the occasional Finnish metaphor. After a confounding conversation with the custodian, Jesse turns around and discovers the entire floor she was just on had been rearranged over the past few moments. Nothing was where it was when she entered.
Control truly shines in moments like these, when the game attempts to unnerve the player. Bizarre noises, recurring ideas and words (i.e. the Rule of Three), and the non-Euclidean geometry of the Oldest House lend themselves very well to immersing players in the world, now eager to solve the surreal mysteries that lay before them.
As Jesse comes to terms with the weirdness around her, she hears a loud bang from a nearby room. Investigating the noise, she finds the current Director of the Bureau, Zachariah Trench, dead on the floor due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She picks up the gun and realizes it’s no ordinary weapon, it’s the “Service Weapon,” a physics-defying firearm that can morph into various forms. Moments later, she is attacked by possessed agents of the FBC and fights them off with her newfound weapon.
She eventually rescues surviving Bureau researcher Emily Pope, who explains that the possessed men she encountered were under the control of the Hiss, an otherworldly lifeform that operates through resonance, using sound to infect unprotected hosts and add them to their hivemind. It’s at this point that Jesse is hit with her first big revelation; since she picked up the Service Weapon and did not die, she is now the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Control. Clearly, promotions work a bit differently at the FBC than they do in real life!
Jesse is now tasked with solving the mystery of the Hiss; how they got into the Bureau, and how they can be stopped. To that end, Jesse has many tools at her disposal, the aforementioned form-changing Service Weapon, as well as abilities obtained from “Objects of Power.” Objects of Power are mundane objects imbued with supernatural energies; Jesse can bind these objects and obtain new abilities from them. One mission involves ritually binding a floppy disk that launches objects around it at high velocities; succeeding at this allows Jesse to telekinetically throw objects at enemies. Another is a 1950s television set that floats throughout the Oldest House — Jesse can catch up to it and absorb its power to levitate. These objects are spread out at reasonable points throughout the story and world map, so Jesse follows a typical progression where she slowly learns more powerful abilities until she is a reality-warping powerhouse.
These powers are used to great effect in the game’s phenomenal combat. Particle and debris heavy-fights lend themselves to bombastic, cinematic experiences in even the simplest of skirmishes between Jesse and the Hiss. The ability to utilize both the Service Weapon and Jesse’s powers gives a great amount of freedom in regards to how players want to approach combat; I personally tended towards an opening salvo of telekinetically launched objects at foes and following up with gunplay while my “mana” recharged.
One thing I particularly liked about the combat is how surprisingly difficult it could be. It’s all about forward momentum; the game is not a cover-shooter, and your best bet is to overwhelm your enemies on offense and dig in for the next wave of Hiss with your defensive capabilities. Wait for another opening and then go crazy with your powers, not stopping until they are all dead or you need to retreat. The latter is rarely an ideal choice, as the only way to regain health is to defeat enemies and pick up the blue clusters they drop, which refill your health bar. In essence, if you aren’t staying near the enemies you are killing and/or perpetually moving forward towards to next set of enemies, you will find it difficult to regain the upper hand. There is only a single, static difficulty, which might turn off more casual players who were hoping to switch to an easier setting if the going gets too tough. The game can indeed be quite difficult if you cannot maintain this momentum, and the wide variety of outfit and weapon modifications you find can only alleviate this difficulty to a certain extent. In my opinion, it’s a refreshingly challenging experience that takes a bit of practice to master; but once you do, you’ll feel like Neo in the Matrix, dodging attacks and floating above the battlefield, your enemies at your mercy.
On these battlefields, almost every object can be interacted with. Countless items can be picked up by Jesse and telekinetically thrown at the Hiss. Grenades detonating in workspaces result in spectacular explosions that send papers, office supplies, and chunks of wood and concrete flying every which way. The destruction effects in the environment are exceptional — however, though I personally played on my high-end PC, I have heard reports from console users that the particle and effects-heavy fights can lead to some serious slowdown on older consoles, such as the original PS4 and Xbox One. While I will not be factoring that into my personal verdict, I feel it is important to note so readers planning to play it on a console can adjust their expectations accordingly.
In addition to the spectacular-looking fights, the game’s graphics and art direction are second-to-none. The brutalist architecture of the Oldest House, with its hard lines and drab colors, stands in stark contrast to the otherworldy forces you routinely encounter there. I’d go so far to say that the Oldest House itself is a character; the unwelcoming, possibly sentient concrete monstrosity certainly has a way of unsettling the player even when the Hiss are not present. The graphics ooze realism, with powerful lighting effects and dynamic shadows, as well as high-quality textures that give the environments and characters a phenomenal level of detail (detail that is taken even further if used in conjunction with NVIDIA’s RTX technology). This, coupled with the fluid, expertly-crafted animations, allows the world to feel believable and immersive.
Well, believable in a certain sense. Control certainly looks realistic, that much is a given. However, the world itself is certainly not believable, which is the point. The FBC’s entire mission is to contain paranormal objects and entities that do not abide by natural law. It goes without saying that Jesse’s forays deeper into the Oldest House are going to get pretty strange. At one point, I had to chase down a murderous fiberglass merry-go-round horse that had escaped containment, after which I absorbed its power and was able to dash across the Oldest House with great speed. Later, I found an almost completely redacted document detailing a shark that seemed to be loose in the House. The last sentence of the document? “Shoot to kill.”
Everyday life inside the Oldest House is strange. When you’re dealing with the supernatural, not everything is going to be horrific — grotesque body horror and monsters lurking in the shadows are only part of the equation. Logically, items that don’t abide by the laws of nature and have various strange effects could be horrific, but they could also be mundane or even unintentionally humorous. I commend Remedy for embracing this weirdness, as it complements the game’s surreal horror aspects and is believable when taking the game world’s internal logic into account.
From a level design standpoint, said world is expertly crafted. The Metroidvania-style map has multiple sectors to explore, each themed around a different role. The Executive Sector is home to the general administrative offices that keep the Bureau running, while the Research Sector houses laboratories run by the FBC’s scientists. Each area has a wealth of collectibles to find — exploring every nook and cranny to discover secret documents was half the fun of the game for me.
Well that’s disconcerting!
The plot of the game is another strong point, and it will keep you guessing throughout your time playing. I don’t want to spoil too much, but Jesse’s search for her brother, and her gradual acceptance of her role as Director, are both central aspects of the plot that pay off in a satisfying way. This story is supplemented by a cast of likable supporting characters, who guide Jesse through the strange new world she’s in and provide much-needed exposition. These include in-game NPC Bureau employees, such as Research Assistant Emily Pope (Antonia Bernath) and Security Officer Simon Arish (Ronan Summers), who are always eager to answer any question Jesse may have.
In addition, live-action characters are also present. Late Director Zachariah Trench (played by James McCaffrey, who played the title character in Remedy’s Max Payne series) and Head of Research Dr. Casper Darling (played by Matthew Porretta, who played the title character in the Alan Wake series, also by Remedy) complement the in-game cast through various live-action recordings found in the world. This trademark Remedy practice of “Medium Blending” is alive and well in Control, and it’s put to good use; Casper Darling’s live-action recordings provide more detailed insights into the character than a 3D-rendered, motion-captured version of him could. Jesse on the other hand is almost exclusively a digital character, and her personal feelings are instead presented through various asides and internal monologues during conversations and gameplay. Although difficult to portray a character’s thoughts in visual media, Remedy managed to pull it off here, giving players just enough insight into Jesse’s thought process that they have little trouble understanding her motivations, but also being curt and vague enough to keep players asking questions, all without seeming awkward or forced.
Overall, Control is a remarkable experience, and for reasons that aren’t typical for most games. While the gameplay is exceptional, and the story gripping, by far the strongest aspect of the game is the world created for it. All the secrets, the little hints, the hidden documents; all of it made me want to find out more about this world. I never wanted it to end. Remedy has crafted a setting that has almost unlimited potential in terms of what kind of stories it can tell. And, while some might be unsatisfied with the ending (I personally am not), its open-ended nature leaves room for countless opportunities to continue telling the story of the FBC and the Oldest House. I cannot wait for the expansions, and I certainly cannot wait for the sequels!
I rate Control 10/10. In my book, it’s an absolute masterpiece.
