The universe that The Oldest House and the Federal Bureau of Control presents is full of urban legends, crazy theories and a lot of strangely silly objects.
What Control does with all of this is a marvelous narrative that takes us through iconic and unique places, you can see the inspiration that drives Sam Lake to construct a universe with such an abstract narrative; a story that slowly makes us feel invested in the world around, and at the same time helps the player to slowly connect the dots of what's happening to them and around them masterfully. The game has a lot of backtracking, and it uses it to its advantage, giving you side-quests that help the player progress more quickly to gain better upgrades for each ability and stats, and also giving you amazing short storylines around altered objects, taking you to different places, and making you fight different bosses, which gives the game a pleasantly Metroid-Vania feel.
The combat is something that bothered me in the beginning, but as you begin to collect new power ups that even unlock new abilities by combining them, the combat starts to feel more complex, a big setup of tools to play with and tackle the situations the game gives. It's good enough to make every little encounter feel satisfying, all though it can get repetitive from time to time.
The universe that Remedy is slowly connecting between Control, Alan Wake and Quantum Break is something that is starting to get my attention thanks to games like this. Control was a pleasant surprise, and it makes a great addition to said universe. With a solid gameplay and a great story, Control stands out as a swing back after Quantum Break didn't make the cut.
What Control does with all of this is a marvelous narrative that takes us through iconic and unique places, you can see the inspiration that drives Sam Lake to construct a universe with such an abstract narrative; a story that slowly makes us feel invested in the world around, and at the same time helps the player to slowly connect the dots of what's happening to them and around them masterfully. The game has a lot of backtracking, and it uses it to its advantage, giving you side-quests that help the player progress more quickly to gain better upgrades for each ability and stats, and also giving you amazing short storylines around altered objects, taking you to different places, and making you fight different bosses, which gives the game a pleasantly Metroid-Vania feel.
The combat is something that bothered me in the beginning, but as you begin to collect new power ups that even unlock new abilities by combining them, the combat starts to feel more complex, a big setup of tools to play with and tackle the situations the game gives. It's good enough to make every little encounter feel satisfying, all though it can get repetitive from time to time.
The universe that Remedy is slowly connecting between Control, Alan Wake and Quantum Break is something that is starting to get my attention thanks to games like this. Control was a pleasant surprise, and it makes a great addition to said universe. With a solid gameplay and a great story, Control stands out as a swing back after Quantum Break didn't make the cut.