Control

Control is another incredibly unique experience from Remedy. From its gripping start that left me wanting more, to plenty of secrets and rich lore waiting to be uncovered, it's a game that pulls you in and keeps you hooked. The intriguing storyline, the immersive atmosphere, the amazing sound design, and the sheer thrill and fun of hurling all kinds of objects at otherworldly beings all contribute to its unique charm.
But as the hours passed, the gameplay loop of navigating the same environments, fighting the Hiss, and cleansing the control points started to feel a bit too repetitive. While the storytelling remained creative and engaging, the lack of variation in enemies and scenery became a noticeable drawback. This honestly slowed me down quite a bit as my play sessions became less and less frequent. As much as I love narrative-driven games, the gameplay loop just didn't click with me as much as I wish it did. Which is a shame, because the actual gameplay with all the fun physics and abilities is buttery smooth.
Overall, I'm glad that I finally got the time to play Control and experience something special. Just like Alan Wake, Control stands as a fantastic testament to creative storytelling. It's a perfect example of how narrative-driven games can unfold in innovative ways.
And the Ashtray Maze was just freaking awesome. Ahti has great taste in music.

Control Review
Note: The game was beaten on Series X, then played some on PC.
Introduction
Control is a third-person action game in the universe of the Alan Wake series, a popular supernatural thriller game. It focuses on Jesse Faden, a woman who finds herself in the FBC (Federal Bureau of Control) as she searches for her missing brother. As the Bureau is under a lockdown due to supernatural phenomena and the FBC is in dire straits, Faden will have to embark on a paranormal adventure to find her brother and discover the FBC's secrets and their involvement in her life.
Control and Gameplay
The game is an action shooter game; the player moves around, dodges projectiles, and shoots the enemy. What makes Control cool is that it puts a big emphasis on the surroundings for all battles. Faden can control objects with telekinesis, launching them at enemies at will. The ability is functional because it can, for example, throw giant boulders at foes to shred through their armor, and you can even catch rocket launchers and reverse their direction to the enemy.
Control also has more variations in its dynamic combat. Weapons can change forms, Faden can equip mods to enhance her stats, abilities, or weapons, and enemies feature unique behaviors and tactics. Combine that with an ever-changing maze, The FBC, which constantly shifts and rearranges its layout, and you have exciting combat that requires creativity and a strategic approach to its core. The environments can also have multiple floors, so using cover or attacking from different altitude levels influences the game.
Strong Points
The game's strong points are the graphics and gameplay. It is fun to play as you find different entities to combat or avoid, while the graphics are beautiful, especially when maxed out and using Ray Tracing. Control environments use a lot of gray and red to dictate whether a space is safe or dangerous as corruption spreads across the FBC, resulting in the player's association of color and areas.
The story is also solid and exciting, as expected from the developer Remedy. The characters are interesting, and the lore of the FBC is even more. There are expositions to the nature of the experiments, which involve bizarre and often humorous videos created by Dr. Darling, the FBC's head of research. These videos and the extra information files are a treasure trove for those who want to delve deeper into the lore. Alan Wake as a series and a continuity is explored to a lesser degree, but it still shows up in the game to set up events for Alan Wake 2.
Sound, Replayability and Performance
The sound of Control emphasizes its eeriness, suggesting that something is very wrong with the FBC. Disturbing sounds, industrial noises, and enemies can be heard in the background. Faden's abilities also boast impressive sound effects, resulting in a more immersive experience. The music can change from creepy ambient noises to dynamic pump action, depending on what is going on the screen. Lastly, the voice acting is excellent, as the characters sound authentic.
Regarding replayability, the game is on the short end of the spectrum, with 8-11 hours for the main storyline and 13-15 if you do the side missions. Adding the DLC can increase the playtime to 14-18 hours. Other than beating the main game, there is no reason to replay the game, so the replayability of this title could be higher.
With its stunning graphics and immersive gameplay, Control demands the best from your setup to run everything at max. While the Ray Tracing feature enhances the visual experience, it can be quite taxing on computers, necessitating a powerful PC.
Conclusion
Control is an incredible game that excels in all facets: superb gameplay, fantastic looks, and a solid story and sound design. The title is a love letter to those who love the supernatural and enjoy abnormalities such as SCP. The environments can always be used creatively to take down enemies, and the exploration requires careful analysis of the layout of the FBC to navigate it. Few games can be as perfect as Control to deliver fantastic quality for the player.
9/10 AMAZING
:) If you enjoy and find the review helpful, please follow my curator! StarsDeck

Control hits you in several places you didn't expect.
A perfect example is trying to understand the story and how to make sense of it. It's purposefully confusing, but complete. The connection between the other Remedy games and several references to other things made me excited to look a little more about the game after doing 100%.
The gameplay is introduced in a simple way. Shoot to kill, a few steps later you are flying around the room throwing objects and dominating enemies to fight for you in a war in the middle of an office. It's definitely something I didn't expect. Especially when the Dlcs introduced a "SHUM" Arcade mode and "Jukebox" expeditions.
The game's collectibles are separated in the most organized way I've ever seen. Obviously, in a game with a narrative at this level, a menu is necessary only for the collectibles you find.
The aesthetics from beginning to end maintain its atmosphere. The live action scenes make the experience much more immersive.
Looking at the simplest locations in the game makes you realize how much this is worked on in these games. The way you can make a bullet interact with any object is impressive. Everything is destructible and very real. Basically Control makes you see and do the surreal in a realistic way.
When I took the initiative to play on PC I already imagined that some type of error I would encounter. Fortunately I only found two bugs in a period of 40 hours in game. When an enemy didn't appear at all, forcing me to start over from the checkpoint.
A common problem in AAA games, but unlikely to happen in a game nowadays. Most current games come with disastrous bugs. The dedication and refinement of the final product is everything, and that's exactly what control delivered to me.
One thing that almost made me spend a few hours researching to resolve it was a DX12 error where textures didn't load properly. Switching to DX11 I didn't encounter any problems, but I lost the newer graphics mechanics like DLSS and RT.
In the end, my experience was fantastic. The art direction is brilliant, the story is distorted but simple to understand in the end and the gameplay is addictive enough for me to want to spend hours in arcade mode.

i got this game for free on the epic games store but i bought it on steam because i liked it so much

Control didn't immediately click for me; maybe it was because of the story or the labyrinthine nature of the environments, but my first time playing Control wasn't a compelling experience. I am very grateful that I gave it a second chance because Control is a fantastic game. The combat is thrilling, challenging, fluid, and progressively more fun as you level up your powers. The story is confusing at times, but the world and the storytelling are intriguing and thought-provoking, and having played through the main story and the DLC, I have actually been converted to Remedy's unique brand of story. I eagerly await a sequel if it ever ends up on the agenda for Remedy, but it was a worthwhile experience on its own and is one of the rare games that left me with the desire to continue playing even after I played through all of the major content.

Control is a game I should love. I’ve always been a huge fan of Remedy’s games, starting with Max Payne all these years ago. In my book, Alan Wake is an absolute masterpiece and even though Quantum Break wasn’t really my cup of tea, I still respect the hell out of Remedy for pushing the boundaries of the medium with this game. When I saw trailers and screenshots for Control, I was hyped. This seemed to be exactly my kind of game, being heavily inspired by Twin Peaks, SCP, and X-Files. All this with a Kafkaesque twist that shines through the game’s brutalist world and narrative.
Having finished Control now, I am happy to say that the game pretty much fully convinced me with its writing in all aspects. Control has some of the most delightful characters, Remedy has ever created. Dr. Darling, Emily Pope, and Ahti in particular were among the most interesting, charming and just quirky NPCs I’ve ever come across in a Remedy game, or any game for that matter. The dialogue (or monologue) writing in general is really strong. I felt like each character had a weird and fascinating personality and backstory of their own and I loved coming back to each one of them and indulge in conversation. The same goes for the plot and worldbuilding, another strong suit of Remedy if you ask me. The Oldest House is a fantastic setting for a game, especially one with such a strong focus on mystery and the obscure. This house is a shifting place where time and space are distorted. One minute you walk down a regular office hallway and in the next you’re standing in the middle of a huge quarry that extends into the sky. It shouldn’t and wouldn’t make sense in any other video game, but in Control, the weirdness and absurdity of it all is the very allure of the game. Each section that you visit during your time in the Oldest House is enriched by deep and evocative lore that is presented by audio logs, video tapes, letters or just very intricate environmental storytelling. I loved exploring this place and reading up on the strange events and items that you learn more about as you progress through the story.
Exploration and traversal in Control is fun, not only because the writing keeps you wanting to learn more about this place but also because movement itself is a treat. Running, dashing, and levitating through the various departments of the building never got me bored. Same goes for using telekinesis to smash objects into enemies. That shit never gets old. However, speaking of gameplay, this is where we have to address a wide range of issues I had with the game.
For one, the game just feels so drawn out in places. Fighting wave after wave of enemies, that don’t come in a large variety, can become quite tedious. I felt that even though I used different weapons (or weapon mods) and abilities, most enemies were quite bullet-spongy. You do have a large variety of ways to deal with enemies, which is cool, but sometimes I felt like the game just actively discouraged me from playing the way I enjoyed the most. For instance, I loved using telekinesis to pick up items and just fling them right into the enemies’ faces. But then the game decides that some enemies just dash out of the way. I cannot express how frustrating it felt to pick up three items with telekinesis, which takes a bit of time, aim those items at an enemy and release them only to see that enemy perform a sneaky little step to the side and evade my attack entirely. In the later stages of the game, and especially in the DLC sections, this shit happens all.the.time. and it sucks major balls.
Unfortunately, I cannot say anything more positive in regards to the game’s boss fights. I don’t think that Remedy has ever been particularly good with designing fun bosses but this game definitely takes the cake in terms of frustration and tedium. Now, this is naturally a very subjective assessment but for me, all bosses in Control felt super random. Typically, a fight would go something like this: I enter the boss room, shoot and telekinize my way around the arena and the boss kills me with like two attacks that felt like they came out of nowhere. I try again, this time I am a little more careful, run around, dash around, use my shield ability, take cover and manage to decrease the boss’ health by half. Now, the boss decides to summon some additional enemies, some on the ground and others in the sky. Not only do I have to watch out for the boss’ attacks that kill me in one or two hits, I also have to keep an eye out for grenades flying at me or monsters that come at me kamikaze-style and explode on hit dealing massive damage. Sometimes I got lucky and defeated the boss anyway but mostly I had to rely on a semi-cheese strategy. I would find some spot of relative safety and try to stay out of sight, only occasionally attacking the boss and reducing its health bit by bit. I’m sorry but this was not fun and it never felt rewarding when I succeeded. Again, I felt like the game didn’t need those boss fights. They gave me the impression that their sole purpose was to artificially stretch the game length by making them as frustrating and unfair as possible requiring the player to try again and again. The placement of control points, this game’s checkpoints where you respawn when you die, reinforced that feeling. Having to run to where I died for 2 minutes may be an interesting mechanic in a Souls game, but it’s not in this one.
Stretching the length of the game seems to have been the design philosophy in most side-missions as well. The core game consists of 10 missions that guide you through the Oldest House and are very much focused on progressing the plot and giving depth to the characters. Those missions were good, some even great with the occasional awful boss fight in between. So far so good. However, there is a ton of optional stuff you can do in this game and it all sucks. Again, I’m very sorry to say it so bluntly but it just sucks. Boring ass fetch quests, enemy wave kill quests, confusing cleaning (Yes cleaning!) missions that have you run around like an idiot looking for that last mold bubble on the wall, it’s all so very dull and lifeless. Why is this in this game? It doesn’t need any of this. Honestly, I don’t get why the devs didn’t simply focus on designing a tight 9-10 hours experience instead of bloating the playtime to hit that 20 hour mark for some reason. Now, of course you can ignore most of the side stuff but the rewards you get for completing side missions are really valuable. And I’m sorry but just because something is optional, it doesn’t get a free pass to be absolute dog shit in my book.
It should be clear by now that I have my fair share of criticisms towards Control. I didn’t like most side missions, I hated all of the boss fights and I felt like the entire experience was somewhat bloated. I would still recommend getting this game, especially if you’re a fan of Remedy’s previous work and have a fondness for games with strange and mystical worlds and a strong focus on storytelling and character writing. I played this in preparation to Alan Wake 2 and I don’t regret it. If you ignore most of the optional content and focus on the core game, you will probably have a good time in the Oldest House. For me though, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed by some of the design decisions that Remedy made here. It’s a fun ride, but a sometimes frustrating one.

If you're a fan of SCPs I HIGHLY recommend this game. Probably the best narrative for an SCP-like currently on the game market. If you're not lore-heavy you can just slam through this like any other third-person shooter, but you'll miss out on how much effort Remedy put into this game. The real treats are exploring and finding all the docs that flesh out everything about the world. Bit of a bonus they tie in Alan Wake into this, and I've heard recently they tied Alan Wake 2 back to Control as well. Anyway, I rate this game extremely high, possibly perfect score 10/10. Graphically it's impressive, game play is smooth and fun, and the story / lore is top class. At this point I'd say the game is still worth $60, but you can definitely find it out there on the cheap if you're on a budget.