Control Wiki – Everything You Need To Know About The Game

Control is a third person action adventure title developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games.

Development

Originally teased as Project7 (or P7) in 2017, Control was formally announced at Sony’s E3 press conference in June 2018 for a general 2019 release on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It was later confirmed in March of 2019 that the game would be releasing on August 27 of that year.

Remedy Entertainment partnered with publishers 505 Games for Control. 505 Games would provide support in marketing an publishing for a game, while Remedy would retain ownership of the intellectual property. The deal between the two was agreed upon for a sum of €7.75 million. Mikael Kasurinen and Sam Lake, who had been the creative leads on Remedy’s previous project, Quantum Break, would again return in the same roles, with Kasurinen taking on the role of game director, and Sam Lake once again acting as writer and creative director.

Development on Control had started prior to the release of Quantum Break, but it only entered full production in 2017. Remedy Entertainment intended to create a game that wasn’t as linear as their past games had been and was structured in a more open manner, thus allowing for greater replayability as well. However, while doing so, they also wanted to retain the focussed storytelling and narrative emphasis of their previous games.

The game’s main cast of characters was announced at a New York Comic-Con panel in 2018, where it was confirmed that several major actors from Remedy’s past games would be featured in Control as well. Courtney Hope, who had previously been confirmed to be playing protagonist Jesse Faden, would be joined by James McCaffrey (who had previously played Max Payne, as well as Thomas Zane in Alan Wake) to play Zachariah Trench, while Matthew Porretta (who had previously played Alan Wake) would be playing Dr. Casper Darling.

The soundtrack of the game is composed jointly by Martin Stig Andersen and Petri Alanko. Petri Alanko has previously composed the soundtracks for past Remedy titles, such as Alan Wake and Quantum Break, while Martin Stig Andersen composed the soundtracks for titles such as Limbo, Inside, and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus.

The development team took cues and inspiration from various sources during the development of Control, with their primary inspirations coming from works in the New Weird genre, including the likes of Christopher Nolan film Inception, Mark Z. Danielewski novel House of Leaves, and Jeff VanderMeer’s novel Annihilation. Other influences were films directed by Stanley Kubrick (especially 2001: A Space Odyssey), televesion shows like Legion and Mr. Robot, and FromSoftware’s Dark Souls games.

Story

Control is set in the backdrop of The Oldest House, the heaquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC). The FBC is a clandestine United States government organization, whose sole task is keep track of, study, and control supernatural powers and objects across the world that do not obey scientific law. These objects are called Altered Items, which the FBC keeps in its headquarters upon retrieval.

The Oldest House is a featureless skyscraper in New York, and considered to be a Place of Power. Much like the objects the FBC studies, the Oldest House itself also breaks the laws of reality, with interiors that are much larger than what its exterior structure suggests, is connected to various dimensions, and has halls and rooms on the inside that are constantly shifting and changing. The FBC also regularly combats the Hiss, an otherworldly supernatural force that acts as the game’s main antagonist and often leaks into the Oldest House.

In Control, players take on the role of Jesse Faden. After a traumatic event in her childhood, Faden mysteriously gains supernatural powers and abilities. Years later, looking to understand these powers, Faden heads to the Oldest House. Her arrival at the FBC’s headquarters, however, coincides with an attack from the Hiss, who take the FBC’s employees and slaves and kill the Bureau’s director, Zachariah Trench.

Upon dying, Trench drops the Service Weapon, an “Object of Power” that chooses its own wielder through a mysterious ritual- and it ends up choosing Faden as its new owner. The rules of the FBC also dictate that the owner of the Service Weapon should be the director of the Bureau. Thrust into her new role, Faden fights to fight back against the Hiss and retake control of the Oldest House, while also working to discover the origins of her supernatural abilities. Through her journey, she is aided by the phantom of Trench, as well as by the FBC’s Head of Research, Dr. Casper Darling.

Gameplay

Control is a third person shooter and action adventure title like previous games made by Remedy Entertainment, but unlike their previous titles, it is much less linear and allows greater freedom for exploration. The Oldest House can be explored in a non-linear order, and is based on the metroidvania design philosophy. Through the game, as Jesse gains new powers and upgrades her older ones, she gains the ability to access previously inaccessible areas, which can often house new abilities and items to find or new quests and side quests to tackle. There are also areas known as Control Points scattered throughout the Oldest House, which players can use o fast travel throughout the map from one point to another.

The Service Weapon serves as the primary weapon in Control’s combat. The Service Weapon, which is described as an Object of Power, has the ability to shift its shape and take on the form of several different kinds of weapons, which have unique properties and attributes in combat, such as burst firing, or long-range shooting, or close range power similar to shotguns.

In addition to the Service Weapon, Jesse also has numerous supernatural abilities that can use for combat in traversal, such as telekinesis, levitation, and being able to control her enemies’ minds. One of her abilities also allows her to pull debris and objects from her surroundings and form a makeshift shield in front of her to block incoming enemy fire. Throughout the game, Jesse can upgrade her abilities through skill trees. For these purposes, players must seek out other Objects of Power in the Oldest House.

FBC employees that have been enslaved and are being controller by the Hiss serve as primary enemies in the game, and can range from human-looking enemies to extremely mutated creatures who can have supernatural powers at their disposal as well. Control does not feature regenerating health, and to heal up Jesse, players must collect health dropped by enemies themselves. Using the Service Weapon and her abilities also both consume Jesse’s energy, requiring players to balance the usage of both during combat.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.