Control is a third person action-adventure game and has you playing as Jesse. The story is extremely confusing at first and it is designed that way. If you didn’t know any better, you might be wondering if you had pressed “New Game” and hadn’t accidentally started midway through the game. We slowly learn that there’s a Federal Bureau of Control and Jesse enters it just as something happens. She has special abilities and obtains more by interacting with Objects of Power. These take on the appearances of mundane objects and to obtain their power, you have to pass a type of trial.
The game has a surrealistic feel to it. It’s full of weird and trippy scenes such as hallucinations and other visual tricks. Coupled with the creepy music, it’s use of red and it takes on a tone that has a light tinge of horror to it. The environments being mostly empty of friendly NPCs, and enemies that pop into existence only adds to that feeling. It’s a unique atmosphere that’s done very well.
Jesse starts off with a melee attack before quickly obtaining a gun as her weapon. Ammo automatically replenishes when not in use, explained as part of the gun’s special powers. The shooting mechanics are what you’d expect. However, the game isn’t supposed to be played like a third-person shooter. Jesse will gain additional powers, including a telekinesis ability that lets her grab and launch objects into enemies. This is usually your primarily form of attack for most of the game.
Jesse can gain passive abilities via mods. New mods are created with the materials you collect from finding them or defeating enemies. Furthermore, Jesse has a skill tree that buffs her existing abilities using points gained from completing missions. However, similar to the rest of the game, there’s a distinct lack of a good tutorial around this so you need to figure it out yourself by checking out all the menu options.
Adding to the confusing nature of the game is the in-game map, and the level layout. The Old House, where this game takes place in (i.e. the Bureau’s office), is filled with twists and turns. The in-game map is difficult to decipher most of the game given that the building has multiple levels and various doors are blocked off. You need to rely on the in-game signs, so this aspect definitely could have been improved. Once you have to start going back to old areas in order to reach the new unlocked areas, that’s when it’s even more frustrating. The Old Building is much bigger than you’d initially expect as you’ll quickly cover the area you start in, but then it reveals that it’s only one floor. There are fast travel points but their usefulness is debatable.
The twisty level design plays into the combat as you need to be constantly on the move and take cover. There are certain battles where the enemy waves will easily overwhelm you. If you die, you are pushed back to the last checkpoint. It can physically be very far back and you will need to trek through the same areas again, but thankfully enemies usually do not respawn if you have defeated them already. There are some nice features for players who just want to enjoy the story. There is a slew of assists that can be toggled on and off, ranging from aim assist to lower damage to outright immortality. The difficulty is customizable to exactly how you’d want it to be.
As you progress through the game, side quests will pop up but they can feel out of place given the story. There are time limited recurring side quests, which are little more than pure filler. The better side quests rewards you with new abilities and are crucial to giving Jesse more combat variety, while the side quests that only reward materials are usually not worth completing. However, they might make the difference given that the later parts of the game are filled with waves and waves of strong enemies. There are also puzzles but they never evolve to much more than finding a spot to flip a switch or lever.
At some point the confusion lessens and you start to understand the setting of the game, which really helps in understanding the current situation that Jesse finds herself in. It even ends up becoming intriguing. The game’s story boils down to a simple plot, it’s the complex setting that draws you in. There are a lot of bizarre and weird scenes that don’t make sense and that’s the whole point. You’ll either love it or hate it, since it can feel pretentious. It’s understandable that it doesn’t want to spell things out but when it’s done this way, it can be obnoxious. The ending leaves a lot of questions unanswered but covered enough of the main conflict to be provide closure. It doesn’t take long to finish because if you rush through the main story quests, it can be done in under ten hours.
The graphics are probably one of the game’s highlights although it’s let down by the drab setting. Most of the game is set in an office building and while there are differences between each section, at the end of the day, it’s still desks, chairs, paperwork, doors and industrial design. The raytracing is nice though. Having a look at the difference between having it on and off and you’ll be surprised at how immersive it can be having it on with the reflections.
The Ultimate Edition includes the two major pieces of DLC. The first of which is The Foundation. It’s a big piece of story content that unlocks a large new area to explore and play through. It’s around three hours long, longer if you plan to do the side quests and thoroughly explore. You’ll also gain two new abilities, although they’re only useful in this new area and are mainly utilized for simple environmental puzzles. There’s a new enemy type that’s somewhat annoying. The story itself isn’t too revealing as it only shows the purpose of the new area underneath the Old House and takes place after the main story, taking around three hours to complete.
The other piece of DLC is Altered World Events, and this is a crossover with Alan Wake, who makes an appearance. Once again, the DLC opens up a new area of the Old House to explore in, and the theme for this area is darkness. Lighting, or the lack of it, is prevalent here, coupled with puzzles that involve it. Mainly, you’ll be finding lamps to shine away the darkness, or find power cores to fit into generators to light up a room as you constantly chase a boss. The boss battles are predominantly puzzles, and all of this can combine into a stressful experience if you don’t like this type of gameplay. As per usual, there are a bunch of new additions such as a new weapon, a new enemy, a mode where you fight against waves of enemies and of course, the side missions. It’s another lengthy piece of content, with the main quest taking around three hours but there are side missions as well.
Overall, Control Ultimate Edition is a unique game. It revels in its own surrealistic atmosphere, which sends shivers up your spine and keeps you anticipating something is going to happen even when there isn’t. It’s terribly confusing at the beginning but soon opens up to be intriguing. The story, gameplay and mission structures aren’t too creative but it makes up for it with its lore and world building. It may not be the perfect masterpiece game that critics were raving about, but it’s a highly polished, impressively built game that’s worth experiencing, especially since this edition contains the DLC which adds a significant amount of content.
--------------------------------------------------