Last year, Remedy released the survival horror title Alan-Wake 2a sequel that has taken 13 years to develop and represents the next step in the studio’s connected games universe. controla brilliant and totally crazy third-person shooter that focuses on the character Jesse Thread and their exploits at the Federal Bureau of Control, a government agency that tries to contain supernatural threats and phenomena. In controlconfront these forces inside the Oldest House, a brutalist office building in the heart of New York whose awkward interior is constantly changing.
This is just the tip of the bizarre iceberg. control, which not only celebrates its fifth anniversary this week, but also happens to be on sale on PlayStation. If you are interested (and I think you should be), you can get the ultimate edition of control (including the very necessary DLCs) for $10.
I claim that these are necessary because control is not only indirectly connected with Alan-Wake and the universe that Remedy builds. It and its supplementary material (as well as the sequel and the multiplayer spinoff
Beyond its role as connective tissue control is also a loving ode to everything strange. The FBC is basically just the SCP Foundationwhich has its own basis in the history of internet creepypasta and urban myths. It’s a world where the strange monsters we created as children are real, and where cursed objects exist. Some, like the floppy disk, bestow blessings like the ability to telekinesis. Others, like a rubber duck, might zip around and prove to be a simple nuisance. And then there are refrigerators, which could contain powerful beings beyond comprehension unless you keep constant eye contact with them.
Much like the things it tries to hide, locating the FBC’s headquarters is impossible. Unless you know where to look, or are a particularly powerful parautilitarian, you won’t be able to find and enter the Oldest House. Once you’re there, there’s also no guarantee you won’t get lost within its walls, or die in one of its “shifts,” which drastically change the layout of entire floors and departments.
At the same time, the Oldest House is the most aggressive and banal office building. Wherever you look, concrete walls are bathed in the glow of sterile white office lamps. Typical desks and office chairs line the cubicles and offices you explore. Small boxes, all the same, as far as the eye can see. But even so, the environment is permeated by an uncomfortable, sometimes threatening feeling. An office becomes Away too many Post-it notes decorate its surfaces, while a hallway in another wing of the building seemingly drifts off into nothingness. The bodies of office workers hang in mid-air. And for all the boring office spaces, there are breathtaking and impossible views in places like the Black Rock Quarry or way down at the Oldest House.
The environment speaks a lot in controlWhole stories can be deduced from the arrangement of things, but control Also Features a lot of noteswhich are often shared between employees in departments, expertly expanding the fiction of the game and adding even more mysticism. And then control
controlto his central weapon, is just endlessly fascinating and full of possibilities. The service weapon, itself an object of power, can transform into all sorts of firearms, including a pistol, a shotgun, and eventually even some sort of grenade launcher. Combined with Jesse’s increasing abilities, such as levitation and a shield, it’s very easy to become this all-encompassing powerhouse. Maybe that’s what I really like about Control. Not the power fantasy of the whole, but how impossible it feels to fence in or pin down, how consistently and skillfully it adapts different modes and forms that give the feeling that they could all breathe in it controlThe possibilities are seemingly endless.
control is, simply put, one of the most exceptional games of the last generation. Although it had a little trouble at launch, it eventually found its audience and has already become a title worthy of awe. If you don’t know what’s going on yet, do yourself a favor and take some time to read it control and just sink beneath the surface. You won’t regret the time you spend trying to find out what the oldest house has to hide.
