Control is the best Remedy game I've played thus far, because it's the only Remedy game I've played that lets the gameplay speak for itself. Alan Wake 1's RE4 imitation has certainly not aged as badly as a lot of people say, but it didn't always feel like it suited the game, and Alan Wake 2's mixture of survival and action horror was certainly ambitious but it wasn't exactly good either.
Meanwhile Control has a different problem: it's too fun but doesn't shake it up. Control definitely gets pretty repetitive at times, the enemy variety is low even when accounting for how short the game is, and the telekinesis power is just so OP that you'll rarely want to use any other strategy than spamming it in between gunfire. While the repetition definitely wore me down in some play sessions, overall I have a hard time being too critical of it when this is some of the most pure fun you can have with a third person shooter. What you're basically getting here is InFamous: but the rest of the game is good now too, flaws and all.
One area that really surprised me in the game is the setting. I absolutely loved it. If you asked me in 2019 what I thought of Control's setting, I would have told you it looked like one of the most boring ever conceived for a game. Every video was just about running through some offices or some random shapes, with not a lot else. Once you actually play the game, it becomes an entirely different experience. That can be said about a lot of Control, honestly, as I found my expectations were positively outdone pretty consistently throughout playing it. But it's especially true for the setting, as the Brutalist architecture combined with the fantastic lore logs make for some of the best atmosphere in gaming. Seriously, Remedy is uniquely great at collectibles.
By now saying that Remedy has good stories is pretty cliche but yes, the story in this game is good. I was surprised by how much I liked Jesse considering the marketing made her look like a pretty flat character. The narrative conceits of having her own internal voice, and also struggling to find where she stands during the course of the game ended up winning me over. I don't think this game stands up to Alan Wake in the character department though, and notably there's some odd things about the way it handles characters. Mainly that the supporting cast rarely feels important despite the fact that the game is always trying to make them seem important, even when they show up a lot and move to your base, they never have much impact in the story or major events and it's bizarre considering how much emphasis each individual character gets in their own chapters.
Unfortunately I feel like I kind of ruined the ending for myself, because I stopped playing the game 30 minutes before the end thinking I had at least another hour or two left, so I sort of experienced all the mini-climaxes before the finale. The actual finale itself is a bit lame, it really shows that this game could use more bosses when you're fighting the same trash mobs in the last two hours, but also I don't think it entirely works thematically. One of the things that really endeared me to Jesse was that it becomes clear that the game is more about Jesse overcoming her doubts and becoming the Director, and reappropriating the grooming into the role the FBC has been doing in the process by finally making a stance and taking the leadership role. This is more or less just hinted at in the final few hours of the game, but it isn't treated like a twist into the final hour. Even as someone who understood the theme very well long before the game had to reveal it, the fact that it's only really touched upon in detail right at the end of the game felt really sloppy. Or maybe it's more like the fact that Faden's transformation into letting go of her insecurities and taking up the role felt really sloppy, considering the office sequence is only like thirty minutes before the end of the game. The internal conflict itself is done really well, and the leadup to the finale is amazing, but it doesn't quite stick the landing.
I've been pretty critical of Control but overall I loved my time with it. It has a lot of flaws, and I mostly wish the gameplay was given a bit more attention so that the player would have to use more than one strategy, but it's one of the best games I've played in the last few years.
Meanwhile Control has a different problem: it's too fun but doesn't shake it up. Control definitely gets pretty repetitive at times, the enemy variety is low even when accounting for how short the game is, and the telekinesis power is just so OP that you'll rarely want to use any other strategy than spamming it in between gunfire. While the repetition definitely wore me down in some play sessions, overall I have a hard time being too critical of it when this is some of the most pure fun you can have with a third person shooter. What you're basically getting here is InFamous: but the rest of the game is good now too, flaws and all.
One area that really surprised me in the game is the setting. I absolutely loved it. If you asked me in 2019 what I thought of Control's setting, I would have told you it looked like one of the most boring ever conceived for a game. Every video was just about running through some offices or some random shapes, with not a lot else. Once you actually play the game, it becomes an entirely different experience. That can be said about a lot of Control, honestly, as I found my expectations were positively outdone pretty consistently throughout playing it. But it's especially true for the setting, as the Brutalist architecture combined with the fantastic lore logs make for some of the best atmosphere in gaming. Seriously, Remedy is uniquely great at collectibles.
By now saying that Remedy has good stories is pretty cliche but yes, the story in this game is good. I was surprised by how much I liked Jesse considering the marketing made her look like a pretty flat character. The narrative conceits of having her own internal voice, and also struggling to find where she stands during the course of the game ended up winning me over. I don't think this game stands up to Alan Wake in the character department though, and notably there's some odd things about the way it handles characters. Mainly that the supporting cast rarely feels important despite the fact that the game is always trying to make them seem important, even when they show up a lot and move to your base, they never have much impact in the story or major events and it's bizarre considering how much emphasis each individual character gets in their own chapters.
Unfortunately I feel like I kind of ruined the ending for myself, because I stopped playing the game 30 minutes before the end thinking I had at least another hour or two left, so I sort of experienced all the mini-climaxes before the finale. The actual finale itself is a bit lame, it really shows that this game could use more bosses when you're fighting the same trash mobs in the last two hours, but also I don't think it entirely works thematically. One of the things that really endeared me to Jesse was that it becomes clear that the game is more about Jesse overcoming her doubts and becoming the Director, and reappropriating the grooming into the role the FBC has been doing in the process by finally making a stance and taking the leadership role. This is more or less just hinted at in the final few hours of the game, but it isn't treated like a twist into the final hour. Even as someone who understood the theme very well long before the game had to reveal it, the fact that it's only really touched upon in detail right at the end of the game felt really sloppy. Or maybe it's more like the fact that Faden's transformation into letting go of her insecurities and taking up the role felt really sloppy, considering the office sequence is only like thirty minutes before the end of the game. The internal conflict itself is done really well, and the leadup to the finale is amazing, but it doesn't quite stick the landing.
I've been pretty critical of Control but overall I loved my time with it. It has a lot of flaws, and I mostly wish the gameplay was given a bit more attention so that the player would have to use more than one strategy, but it's one of the best games I've played in the last few years.