Control Is A 2019 Action-Adventure Video Game Developed by
Control Is A 2019 Action-Adventure Video Game Developed by
Control Is A 2019 Action-Adventure Video Game Developed by
Gameplay
Control is played from a third-person perspective, and is built using Remedy's proprietary Northlight Engine,
which was first used on the company's previous title Quantum Break. Control is set within the Oldest House, a
featureless Brutalist skyscraper in New York City, and the headquarters of the fictional Federal Bureau of
Control (FBC) which studies Altered World Events (AWEs) and collects and studies Objects of Power from
these AWEs within. The Oldest House, itself an Object of Power, has an interior far larger than its exterior, an
enormous, constantly shifting supernatural realm that defies the laws of spacetime.[1] At the onset of the game,
an entity called the Hiss is attempting to cross over through a dimensional barrier into this reality, and has taken
over numerous parts of the Oldest House, reconfiguring its architecture to its needs, as well as many of the
FBC employees to fight for it. The player controls Jesse Faden who has come to the Oldest House seeking
answers about her brother after a prior AWE, but becomes involved in the fight against the Hiss.[2]
Control is built in the Metroidvania format, with a large world map that can be explored at a nonlinear pace,
unlike Remedy's previous titles which were primarily linear. As the player completes main story missions, they
will encounter areas known as Control Points, which can be unlocked after clearing the area of enemies and
then used both as save points and for fast travel throughout the building to previously-unlocked Control Points.
As the player completes missions, they unlock more of the building to explore along with additional side
quests, in addition to various rewards. These include skill points which can be used to improve psychokinetic
powers that Jesse gains over the course of the game, such as projectile-launching debris at enemies or seizing
control of enemies' minds temporarily to turn them into her allies.[2] Mission rewards can also include
resources that can be used to improve the function of the Service Weapon, a special gun that can take on
multiple forms, ranging from a close-range shotgun-like blast to long-range sniper-like form, with each form
outfitted with various perks. The player can equip perks to improve Jesse's base attributes. Various side-quests
and optional time-limited mission alerts are available with additional rewards if completed.[3][2]
An A.I. system known as the Encounter Director controls interactions with enemies based on the player's level
and location in the Oldest House.[4] Enemies in Control are predominantly human agents of the FBC
possessed by the Hiss, an otherworldly force. They range from standard humans carrying firearms to heavily
mutated variations that possess a variety of superpowers.[2]
Synopsis
Setting
Control revolves around the titular Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), a clandestine U.S. government agency
which investigates supernatural Altered World Events (AWEs). These AWEs are affected by the human
collective unconscious and have a variety of "paranatural" effects, including the creation of Objects of Power,
archetypal items which grant special abilities to their wielders. Objects of Power are connected to the Board, a
black pyramid-shaped entity which exists within the Astral Plane, an alternate dimension. The individual
chosen by the Board to wield the Service Weapon, an Object of Power, is considered by default to be the
director of the FBC.[5] Control takes place entirely within the Oldest House, a Brutalist skyscraper in New
York City which is the headquarters of the FBC. The Oldest House is larger on the inside than on the outside,
and constantly experiences shifts in which its architecture unpredictably rearranges. The FBC controls the
Oldest House using Control Points, which stabilize the building's resonance.
The protagonist of Control is Jesse Faden (Courtney Hope), who at the start of the game is chosen by the
Board to replace the recently deceased Zachariah Trench (James McCaffrey) as the director of the FBC.
Seventeen years prior to the game's start, Jesse and her younger brother Dylan (Sean Durrie) were involved in
an Altered World Event in their hometown of Ordinary, Maine. After discovering an Object of Power in the
form of a slide projector, the two children accidentally unleashed paranatural forces which caused Ordinary's
entire adult population to vanish. Jesse and Dylan were rescued by Polaris, a mysterious telepathic entity.
Shortly thereafter, the FBC arrived in Ordinary, capturing Dylan and the slide projector while Jesse fled. In the
present day, Jesse arrives at the Oldest House seeking her brother's whereabouts.
Other notable characters in Control include missing Head of Research Casper Darling (Matthew Porretta),
research specialist Emily Pope (Antonia Bernath), security chief Simon Arish (Ronan Summers), Head of
Operations Helen Marshall (Brig Bennett), and Ahti (Martti Suosalo), a mysterious Finnish janitor.
Plot
In October 2019,[6] Jesse Faden arrives at the Oldest House following a telepathic message from Polaris,
seeking the whereabouts of her kidnapped brother Dylan. Inside the building, Jesse discovers the lifeless body
of Zachariah Trench, and is instructed by Polaris to pick up his fallen Service Weapon. Jesse is translocated to
the Astral Plane, where the Board immediately appoints her as the new director of the FBC in Trench's stead.
Exiting Trench's office, Jesse is attacked by FBC agents possessed by an entity Jesse dubs "the Hiss." Jesse
learns that the entire Oldest House is under emergency lockdown following the Hiss's spread, and that
everyone in the building has been possessed by the Hiss except those wearing Hedron Resonance Amplifiers
(HRAs), devices built by missing Bureau scientist Dr. Casper Darling. Jesse agrees to aid the surviving Bureau
agents in reclaiming the building and containing the Hiss, in exchange for seeking Dylan's whereabouts.
Using an Object of Power known as the Hotline, Jesse communicates with the deceased Trench and learns that
his former management team knows the secrets of the Bureau, including the location of Dylan. After lifting the
building's lockdown in the Maintenance Sector, Jesse enters the Research Sector in search of Helen Marshall,
one of the members of Trench's management team, whom she helps secure the production of more HRAs.
Marshall reveals that Dylan, known to the Bureau as Prime Candidate 6 or P6, was being groomed to succeed
Trench as the Bureau's director due to his immense supernatural abilities. However, after killing several Bureau
agents, Dylan was deemed too dangerous and locked away in the Containment Sector. Jesse rushes to the
sector to find Dylan, only to learn that he has escaped and surrendered to the Bureau in the Executive Sector.
Dylan reveals to Jesse that he has embraced the Hiss, and that the Hiss entered the Oldest House through the
slide projector Object of Power the Bureau recovered from Ordinary.
Ahti gives Jesse a cassette player which enables her to navigate an elaborate maze protecting the slide
projector's chamber in the Research Sector. She finds the slide projector missing, but learns that Trench and
Darling used the device to orchestrate several expeditions to an alternate dimension known as Slidescape-36,
where they discovered an entity they dubbed Hedron. Jesse finds Hedron and discovers that it is Polaris, but
moments later, the Hiss attacks and destroys Hedron. Jesse's mind is invaded by the Hiss, but Jesse is able to
rediscover Hedron's resonance within herself, saving her and the Bureau. In the process, Jesse learns that
Trench was the first individual to be possessed by the Hiss during the expeditions to Slidescape-36, and was
responsible for releasing the Hiss into the Oldest House. Jesse finds the slide projector in the Executive Sector,
where Dylan and the Hiss are attempting to enter the Astral Plane and overtake the Board. Jesse deactivates
the slide projector and seemingly cleanses the Hiss from Dylan, who falls into a coma. Accepting her new role
as director, Jesse resolves to defeat the remaining Hiss in order to restore order to the Bureau.
The Foundation
Jesse is summoned by the Board to the Foundation, a cavernous area lying at the center of the Oldest House
which houses the Nail, an object that connects the Oldest House to the Astral Plane. Jesse finds that the Nail
has been seriously damaged, which is causing the Astral Plane to leak into the Oldest House, with potentially
catastrophic consequences. As Jesse attempts to restore the Nail, she seeks the whereabouts of Helen Marshall,
who entered the Foundation during the Hiss invasion, and has gone missing. Meanwhile, Jesse discovers logs
left behind by Theodore Ash, Jr., a Bureau scientist who was part of the first expeditions to the Oldest House
in 1964. Ash reveals that Broderick Northmoor, the director who preceded Trench, fell under the Board's
influence during the expedition, and was responsible for radically changing the Bureau in order to serve the
Board's interests.
As Jesse continues to restore the Nail, she suddenly encounters Former, an extradimensional entity which
grants Jesse a new ability, enraging the Board. Former claims to have once been a member of the Board, but
was exiled after being blamed for an unknown transgression. Torn between the two entities, Jesse is eventually
able to restore the Nail, but tremors occur between the Oldest House and the Astral Plane which threaten to
destroy both dimensions. Jesse reaches the base of the Nail, where she finds Marshall possessed by the Hiss.
With the aid of Former, Jesse kills Marshall and cleanses the Nail. Jesse then learns that it was Marshall who
destroyed the Nail, as a preventative measure against both the Hiss and the Board. The Board destroyed
Marshall's HRA in response, allowing her to be possessed by the Hiss. Her faith in the Board shattered, Jesse
vows to lead the Bureau her own way.
AWE
AWE is a crossover between Control and Remedy Entertainment's previous title, Alan Wake. Alan Wake takes
place in Bright Falls, Washington, and revolves around Cauldron Lake, a supernatural lake in Bright Falls,
Washington with the power to turn artists' works into reality. Following the events of Alan Wake, Emil
Hartman, a psychologist who attempted to investigate and exploit this power, was confronted and arrested by
agents of the FBC, who confiscated all of his research on the lake. In a final act of desperation, Hartman dove
into Cauldron Lake and was possessed by the Dark Presence, the main antagonist of Alan Wake. Hartman was
subsequently captured and brought to the Oldest House by the Bureau, who attempted to contain him in the
Investigations Sector. However, after Hartman breached containment, the Bureau was forced to completely
abandon the sector. During the Hiss invasion, the Hiss mixed with the Dark Presence in Hartman, twisting him
into a monstrous entity which now haunts the sector.
Jesse is summoned to the Investigations Sector by an apparition of Alan Wake, who disappeared years prior
after diving into Cauldron Lake. As Jesse attempts to restore the Investigations Sector and destroy Hartman,
she learns from Alan that he was responsible for unleashing Hartman, using his power to rewrite reality using
works of fiction. Wake also strongly implies that he was responsible for the Hiss invasion, in order to create a
"crisis" for his "hero," Jesse, for unknown reasons. Jesse eventually reaches the Bright Falls AWE area of the
Investigations Sector and destroys Hartman. She is then informed by FBC agents of a newly detected AWE in
Bright Falls, the date of which is several years in the future.
Development
Control was developed by Remedy Entertainment. As their first major release since their initial public offering
in 2017 and separation from Microsoft as a publishing partner, Control was developed using more efficient
development strategies to keep costs and time low. In contrast to Alan Wake and Quantum Break which took
seven and five years to complete respectively, Control was completed within three years with a GB£30 million
budget, lower than the typical costs of a triple-A game.[7]
Mikael Kasurinen, who worked on Alan Wake (as lead gameplay designer) and Quantum Break (as lead
director), was Control's director and Sam Lake served as the game's writer and creative director alongside
narrative lead Anna Megill.[8][9] Development of the game began before the release of Quantum Break.[10] As
they were finishing Quantum Break and deciding on the next project, Kasurinen recognized that that game
rested heavily on full motion video and other cinematic elements, and suggested they look at a more open-
world game where the player would drive what they experienced.[11] Instead of focusing on creating a large
and complex story, Remedy wanted to put more emphasis on creating a game world and universe that is rich
enough for players to craft their own stories.[10] The team still wanted to leave narrative elements for players to
discover to help flesh out the world, and added optional documents, audio logs, and live-action video footage
that the player could review at their own pace.[12] Another goal for the team was to create a game that has
high replayability.[10] They still stated that they wanted to make a strong narrative, one that is "narrowly
focused" according to Kasurinen.[13]
Setting
The first concept down was creating the fictional FBC, a realistic setting that would serve as a basis for
paranormal events and a catalyst for events in the story.[11] This enabled them to consider multiple stories they
could tell, not just about the player-character but other individuals in the FBC, but this also created the
challenge of how to present the stories of the other characters in the open-world format.[11] The gathered
writings of the fictional SCP Foundation ("Secure, Contain, Protect") website was a major influence on
Control. Stories on SCP Foundation's site are based on singular objects with strange paranormal impacts, and
as a whole, they are narratively linked by the common format of reports written by the fictional SCP
Foundation, which catalogs and studies the objects. Control was built atop this, having the various Objects of
Power and Altered Items, along with numerous collectable writings about these objects or other stories in line
with SCP.[14] They fixed the story in the genre of the new weird, a modern variant of weird fiction with stories
that combine science fiction and fantasy often with a bureaucratic government agency involved in these
events. In Control, they reversed the role to make the bureaucracy at the center of the story. Narrative Designer
Brooke Maggs stated "there is an invisible, assailing presence of bureaucracy in the corporate office setting
that is in itself, unsettling".[15] The mundane features of the Oldest House helped to contrast against the
paranormal aspects of the game, thus well-suiting the new weird, according to World Design Director Stuart
MacDonald.[15] The design team's goal in using the new weird approach was not to create terrifying moments
as one would do in a horror game, but instead create a continuing sense of dread for the player.[15]
The everyday objects that would become Objects of Power in the game were selected to be within the concept
of the new weird. One such Object of Power is a floppy disk. MacDonald said he was drawn to use a floppy
disk in this manner after reading a story about how many of the United States national missile defense sites had
only recently transitioned off floppy disks, and prior to that, these disks could be seen as proverbial weapons
that were held with high reverence.[15] The copious presence in the Oldest House of 1960s and 1970s
technology such as pneumatic tubes, slide projectors and monochrome monitors, and the absence of modern-
day technologies such as cell phones, is explained in-game as the result of the tendency of newer technologies
to fail or malfunction within the boundaries of the Oldest House.
The Oldest House setting was based on brutalist architecture, a style utilizing
large concrete blocks popularized in the 1950s and used in many government
buildings at the time. The game's world design director, Stuart Macdonald,
described brutalism as a good science-fiction setting, as it has "this sense of
power, weight, strength and stability to it", and when the Oldest House's
geometries are affected by the Hiss, "it makes for a really good contrast with
the impossible architecture".[16] The relatively flat colors of the background
walls made it an ideal canvas to showcase other design and lighting effects in
the game, It also served well into the telekinesis powers of the game, as the
concrete walls would be used in lieu of a target object when the player throws
debris at foes via telekinesis, and the initially pristine spaces end up showing
the results of a large, destructive battle.[16] Among real-world influences in
the game's architecture is 33 Thomas Street, formerly known as the AT&T
AT&T Long Lines Building
Long Lines Building, a windowless building in the center of New York City.
served as inspiration for the
Macdonald used this building as a modern example of brutalism, and created
Oldest House.
the Oldest House as a "bizarre, brutalist monolith" to house the FBC.[16]
Other real-world locations used as inspiration included the Boston City Hall,
the Andrews Building at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and the Met Breuer.[16]
Other real-world architects inspired the game's structures. Carlo Scarpa's work was used heavily in designing
stairways that ascended with other parts of the structure, while Tadao Ando's focus on lighting and spiritual
spaces were reflected in other parts of the game.[16] Additionally, the design team turned to film for other
inspiration. Films of Stanley Kubrick, particularly A Clockwork Orange, as well as films featuring oppressive
government agencies, such as The Shape of Water, served as part of the design basis.[16] Other films, like
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, evoke the concept of repetitiveness, process, and ritualism in these agencies, and
that was used to define some of the internal artwork and architecture.[16] Art director Janne Pulkkinen stated
they also looked at real world churches and other places where ritualism is common, as lighting and design of
those spaces are often used to draw attention to specific points of interest.[16]
Certain areas of the game feature full-motion video sequences. Most of these are of Dr. Casper Darling
explaining parts of the Oldest House and Objects of Power within it, with Darling played by Matthew
Porretta. Another set of videos are short episodes of a fictional show called "The Threshold Kids", a puppet-
based show seemingly aimed at children that may reside within the Oldest House. "The Threshold Kids" were
written by narrative lead Anna Megill and produced by their senior cinematic designer Mircea Purdea.[15]
Poets of the Fall, an alternative rock group that are close friends of Remedy, provided songs for the game,
including "Take Control", in-game stated to be by the fictional band "The Old Gods of Asgard", itself an
allusion back to Alan Wake.[17] Remedy used this song as part of the game's "Ashtray Maze", a section where
Jesse fights through an ever-changing set of room set to the song. Remedy worked with Poets of the Fall so
that they could incorporate the song dynamically as the player progressed through sections of this maze [18]
The game includes Easter eggs referring to Alan Wake, which shares similar paranormal themes with Control;
one such Easter egg discusses the aftermath of Alan Wake as part of the FBC's case files, which considered
what happened in Bright Falls, the primary location of Alan Wake, to have been an AWE.[19] A secret area
includes a vision of Alan Wake. The past event in the town of Ordinary was alluded to by a backmasking
track in the credits sequence of Alan Wake: American Nightmare, with an unknown speaker stating "It will
happen again, in another town. A town called Ordinary."[20][17] Kasurinen said that the inclusion of such
references helps to establish a type of continuity between its games, elements to be found and shared by its
player community, but not meant to necessarily establish a shared universe between the games.[21] However,
Sam Lake later confirmed the existence of a shared universe between Alan Wake and Control known as the
Remedy Connected Universe.[22]
Cast
The game's main voice cast was announced at New York Comic Con in 2018, consisting of various actors
from Remedy's previous games. Courtney Hope, who played the character Beth Wilder in Quantum Break,
stars as Jesse Faden, while James McCaffrey, known for his roles as the title character of Max Payne and
Thomas Zane in Alan Wake, plays the role of Zachariah Trench. Matthew Porretta, who portrayed the titular
character of Alan Wake, is also featured in both voice roles and live-action videos as the character of Dr.
Casper Darling.[23][12] Finnish actor Martti Suosalo voices the janitor Ahti. Remedy's Sam Lake said that he
had been yearning to add his native Finland to one of their games, and Control presented that opportunity to
incorporate this. Among one of these pieces includes a Finnish tango which Lake wrote, Petri Alanko
composed, and Suosalo sang.[24]
The game includes a voice cameo by Hideo Kojima and his English translator Aki Saito; in one side mission, a
recording by Dr. Yoshimi Tokui, voiced by Kojima, relates a dream-like experience in Japanese, with the
English translation given by Saito.[25]
Technology
The game was released on 27 August 2019 for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.[32] Epic Games had
secured a year-long exclusivity deal for Control on the Epic Games Store with Digital Bros, the parent of 505
Games, for €9.49 million (US$10.5 million).[33]
On 27 August 2020, the first anniversary of the game's release, Control: Ultimate Edition was released via
Steam, including the base game, both the "Foundation" and "AWE" expansions, and the additional free
updates. Control: Ultimate Edition launched on the Epic Games Store, GOG.com, PlayStation 4 and Xbox
One on 10 September 2020, and will to be available for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2021.
Those that own the Ultimate Edition on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One will be able to update their version to the
newer console for free.[34][35] 505 Games stated that while they looked to find a free upgrade path that would
work for all users but that there was "some form of blocker and those blockers meant that at least one group of
players ended up being left out of the upgrade for various reasons."[36] The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series
X/S versions and updates were delayed until early 2021 in an announced just prior to the consoles' launches in
November 2020 to improve the quality of the product;[37] digital versions were released on February 2, 2021,
while retail copies are planned to release on March 2, 2021.[38]
A cloud gaming-based version of the game was released for the Nintendo Switch on 28 October 2020. It was
the first cloud-based game released on the Switch outside of Japan.[39]
Post-release
Remedy has affirmed plans for at least two additional content expansions to Control, titled "The Foundation"
and "AWE", both narratively set after the main game with Jesse taking on her role as the FBC Director.
However, at the time of Control's launch, the specifics of this content had yet to be determined, according to
narrative designer Brooke Maggs, as the team's focus was on addressing performance issues for the console
version of the games.[12] "The Foundation" released on 26 March 2020 for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft
Windows and for Xbox One on 25 June 2020.[40] The second expansion "AWE" was released on 27 August
2020, marking the game's first anniversary.[41][42][43]
Additional smaller, non-narrative content is also planned.[12] The first, "Expeditions", was released as a free
update on 12 December 2019, and presents standalone missions of various difficulty with power-up items for
their character.[40] A free update, to release alongside the "AWE" DLC but available for all players, will
increase the number of control points, or "hard" checkpoints in the game where saving the game is possible,
including adding ones before boss fights, as well as several "soft" checkpoints where players can restart
without having to travel back to a control point should Jesse die. A new "assist mode" will allow for the player
to have more control on customizing the game's difficulty, with Remedy intending this to make it possible for
even novice players to complete the game.[44]
Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
PC: 85/100[45]
PS4: 82/100[46]
XONE: 84/100[47]
Metacritic PC (Ultimate Edition): 84/100[48]
NS: 72/100[49]
PS5: 85/100[50]
XSXS: 87/100[51]
Review scores
Publication Score
Destructoid 9/10[52]
EGM [53]
IGN 8.8/10[58]
PC Gamer (US) 88/100[59]
VideoGamer.com 8/10[60]
IGN chose Control as their "Game of the Year", along with other awards including "Best Action-Adventure
Game", "Best Video Game Art Direction", and "Best Video Game Story".[61] Game Informer,[62] Electronic
Gaming Monthly,[63] and GamesRadar+[64] awarded Control as their "Game of the Year", while Polygon,[65]
Easy Allies,[66] USGamer[67] Giant Bomb,[68] Hardcore Gamer,[69] GameRevolution,[70] and GameSpot[71]
list Control among their top 10 games of 2019. PC Gamer[72] chose Control as "Best Setting" for their Best
Games of 2019. Eurogamer[73] listed Control among its games of the year.
Digital Foundry and Polygon considered Control on PC to potentially be a "killer app" for Nvidia's RTX
graphics cards, citing it as helping to enhance the game's visual style.[74][75]
By December 2020, the game had sold over 2 million units across all platforms, and Remedy stated Control
was their fastest-growing intellectual property since Max Payne.[76]
Awards
Year Award Category Result Ref
References
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2. Shea, Brian. "A Look At Every Supernatural Ability In Remedy's Control" (https://www.gameinfo
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(https://www.gamespot.com/articles/see-how-controls-incredible-ashtray-maze-was-creat/1100-
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to find it" (https://www.vg247.com/2019/08/27/alan-wake-easter-egg-control/). VG247.
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(https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/controls-remedy-wants-a-continuity-between-its-g
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development" (https://www.pcgamer.com/the-next-remedy-connected-universe-game-is-already
-in-development/). PC Gamer. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
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24. Takahashi, Dean (27 November 2019). "Sam Lake interview — How storytelling creates value
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