Control

[NANO]

Control - New update incoming?

• It looks like Remedy could be due to introducing some new information about Control soon.
• A tweet from yesterday seems to suggest that the studio will release some new information about the game at 5pm EDT today (that's about 10pm UK time).
• The content of what will be revealed remains to be seen, but we're expecting a new trailer, a new ad campaign or... something.

We'll see what happens at 10pm tonight - in Remedy's own words, it's going to be 'massive'.

About Game

Control By far and away the most exciting game I encountered at this years Gamescom. Remedy are back with a jaw-dropping thriller that, whilst grounded in their typical third-person style, leans heavily into the surreal in a novel and boundary-breaking way.

You play as Jesse Faden, the new director of the Federal Bureau of Control, a shadowy organization which has become overrun by some kind of supernatural threat.

The plot is Remedy at their strongest, and it takes cues from some of the finest works of visual art known to man.

Twin Peaks, True Detective… it’s influence can be found in visionary cinematic projects, and it looks to bring a whole new revolution to the video game medium.

First, we must talk about the visuals. The game is outrageously beautiful. It contains all of the recurring motifs of Americana. Bureaucracy reigns in the Federal Bureau of Control, and old, middle-of-the-century technology litters the environment.

The detail is astounding down to the knobs on television sets and the carefully designed desks. It really works to create this intense, photorealistic cinematic effect unseen beyond the realm of TV or Cinema.

You feel like you’re exploring a world, yet you’re trapped inside of a location. It's a wonderful and inspiring feeling, and the world of Control is one that instantly put its hooks into me.

The lighting effects in Control are beyond words, and will most definitely utilize Nvidia’s new ray-tracing technology to its full potential. Floating bodies are basked in warped shadows thanks to rays of sunlight shining through blinds.

It is a jaw-dropping sight as they sway peculiarly above the player-character, making you ponder their origin and marvel at the surreal, curious environment.

Trails are another environmental highlight, from dust in the air to bits of rock and gunpowder, parts of the environment simply explode and revert back to their natural elements. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the eerie, gasoline-esque rainbow trail left behind by the supernatural entities you face in Control.

It's a very quiet game when it needs to be too, which helps to engage this overwhelming and oppressive bureaucratic tone. Footsteps on hard floors are heard as you approach a lone blue-collar worker strolling through the level.

They act erratically and appear non-hostile before bursting into combat with the player. Control knows exactly when to engage its spellbinding sound design to make you feel trapped and full of fear within its encroaching and ever-changing walls.

Levitating and using Telekinesis is another crucial part of gameplay and something that looks absolutely divine in motion.

Instead of focusing on what would be the best or most explosive thing to mani[CENSORED]te, the game is grounded in that it lets you throw whatever surrounds you towards your enemy to fend them off.

The levels aren't designed with red barrels in mind. You are locked in a carefully designed museum of bureaucracy, and the items left behind are your arsenal.

In our session we stumbled across human experiments and countless vaults most likely containing entities that reside in the darkest parts of your imagination.

It reminded me of the SCP foundation but Remedy’s own, and the prospect of exploring this beautifully realized place and walking further into the miasma of madness had my heart racing all the way throughout the demo.

When it was over, all I wanted to do was continue and work my way deeper into this enrapturing, claustrophobic organization to figure out the mysteries hiding deep within it.

This is a Remedy game through and through, and perhaps the most exciting one yet. By far and away my game of the show - yes, well above the hype machine of Cyberpunk 2077 - put simply, Control is the game you need on your radar if you’re a fan of boundary-pushing video games.