Control Review – Remedy changes the landscape

Remedy Entertainment is one of those game studios that can be relied upon to release a solid game every few years or so. The last one was Quantum Break in 2016. Although it was a hit Remedy did try to coincide with releases on other media. There was an accompanying web-series as well as novel. This time Remedy focuses solely on their game. Read my Control Review below.

Jesse Faden

In Control you play as Jesse’s Faden. You arrive at The Oldest House – the HQ of the Federal Bureau of Control as it is under attack by the Hiss. Control is played in game-world that is inspired by Metrovania. Just like Metroid sections of the world open as you progress requiring you to backtrack. To make things more complicated the game-world dynamically changes.

With this Control review I feel the producers took liberal inspiration from franchises such as The X-Files, Warehouse 13, Haven, Portal, Mirror’s Edge. That said, Control outgrows them all. Remedy games have always been famous for their cinematic effect – ever since Max Payne introduced bullet time. Initially Control is about shooting aliens and exploration. But Control quickly becomes bigger as Jesse’s powers and personal weapon are upgraded. Control also boasts a reactive gameplay element. Enemy NPCs supposedly adjust their skills and tactics to your.

That cinematic feel

The game is divided into chapters with each beginning with a cinematic scene. Control makes ample use of its gorgeous interior settings to suck the player into the story. In fact, at times I was so engrossed in the cinematic scenes I forgot the game had transitioned to player control.

That said, these scenes can at times be too lengthy and the player may have to click through a dialogue option menu just to start playing again. Remedy allows the player to question NPCs so they can uncover what Control is all about. You will learn about the backstory, the characters and Jesse’s reason’s for going to The Oldest House. But only hardcore players will uncover all the dialogue options. The same goes for the myriad of files, recordings and artifacts lying throughout the game.

20 hours of Control

It takes about 20 hours to beat the game, which is solid for a story driven shooter. Control has been made to be replayed but I have yet to try that. I was pleasantly surprised by how solid Control is. Often this type of game, with experimental elements such as time travel, destructive and changing environments can be buggy. This is not the case here. Remedy uses the same engine as with Quantum Break (with upgrades) and this feels truly like a Triple A title.

That said there a small number technical issues. There have been a number of framerate drops and screen freezes. I played control with a new GeForce RTX 2060 and so that may be just a driver issue. Also there are at times very long loading times. As you do get killed often this becomes a bore. Maybe a patch might fix that, but for now it is what it is.

Control may well be the game I have been looking forward to the most this year. I think it is just shy of greatness. But if you think you forgive some small technical issues and lengthy dialogue than Control may well be the best game you can buy right now. I purchased Control for 60 euros on Epic Game Store. I hope you enjoyed my Control Review.