Control isn’t game of the year, but it’s still worth celebrating

Control is the game everyone has been talking about with bold claims of “game of the year!”, amid a strange inability to describe its premise. And I spent most of the first hour of play yelling ‘WHAT IS GOING ON’, writes Stephanie Bendixsen.

Everyone has been talking about Control. Bold claims of “Game of the year!” have been flying around, amid a strange inability to accurately describe the game’s premise.

Naturally, I was excited and intrigued. A sudden and blanket reaction to a game like this is rarely unfounded — even though I was struggling to get a clear grasp of what the game was actually about.

Developed by Remedy Entertainment (responsible for previous titles like Alan Wake and Quantum Break) Control is a deeply cinematic and stylish action-adventure set in within the walls of the Federal Bureau of Control.

You play as Jesse Faden, who arrives at the Bureau during a lot of cryptic internal dialogue as well as occasionally giving the impression she’s actually talking to someone in her mind.

The Bureau itself is … odd. It’s empty, for one. The same paintings can be seen on the walls over and over, redacted documents can be found alluding to some strange catastrophic event, and as Jesse wanders the halls of this facility she is beset by visions.

Control is unique and in today’s gaming landscape that’s hard to do.

The voiceover is beautifully written dialogue that certainly adds to the cinematic quality of this narrative — but it does little to explain what on earth is going on. It’s deliberately unsettling and strange — something I find infuriating but can’t help respect as a design choice. It’s certainly … unique.

To make matters even more strange — you’re randomly transported into some alternate dimension and tasked with fighting shadow figures in what I assumed was some kind of combat tutorial.

All the while Jesse talks to you in a way that suggests you should know what the hell she’s on about — but I certainly didn’t. I spent the majority of the first hour of this game yelling ‘WHAT IS GOING ON??!’ at my screen.

In a world of over-the-top exposition and formulaic set-up — Control sets itself apart by being deliberately vague.

I don’t want to delve too much further into the story since, as you might have guessed, this is really an experience you want to muddle through for yourself. But suffice to say some kind of “paranatural” event has occurred and sent the Bureau into a broken, altered state — suspended between worlds.

Jesse — who references the Bureau’s involvement with a similar event in her childhood and the loss of her brother — has come to investigate.

Piecing that much information together was hard work.

Piecing together the premise of Control is hard to do.

I understand the desire to create mystery through nonlinear storytelling, but the intro strays way too far into territory that is slow and confusing and I ended up feeling frustrated and annoyed.

At last — I encounter another character. We have a similarly poetic and confusing conversation — after which she gives me the opportunity to ask her anything I want! HALLELUJAH! At last. Some answers.

Literally the entire premise of the game is explained in this one moment by repeatedly asking this woman what the hell is going on.

Jesse forges ahead with some supernatural abilities of her own, “cleansing” each room of “paranatural” brokenness, fighting unfortunately possessed office workers and facing each bizarre encounter with a strange lucidity that I certainly would not have in the same situation. She wields a fancy gun which can be modded and upgraded and also obtains some telekinetic powers to use in fights. This is absolutely the best part of combat in the game — hurling random objects at people.

Not to mention that as someone who is not quite quick enough with a firearm to rely solely on gunplay — the extra skill set to cause damage is appreciated.

On the whole, the game is unexpected, it’s different and it’s enjoyable enough — but is it game of the year? Certainly not my first reaction.

Control is exciting, stylish and engaging.

So, what am I missing? Deep down, I know my less-than-enthusiastic feelings toward this game is because I’m boring and old-fashioned.

It’s true — and I’m big enough to recognise this in myself.

I’m the kind of gamer who likes a story to be complex because it’s nuanced and involves depth of character — not because it’s cryptic and confusing. And I think ultimately I don’t hate formula.

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I like games where I am “the chosen one” and someone gives me a magic sword and tells me I have to go and “kill the Dark Lord in order to free the land from tyranny”. Cheesy. And I suppose in some ways, that’s what Jesse is — only her ‘magic sword’ is a gun that breathes. This is a game about poking fun at classic FBI tropes and packaging them into a surrealist action experience.

Remedy should be applauded for creating a game that is stylish, exciting and engaging.

There is nothing out there quite like Control and that’s a hard feat to manage in this age of hungry, expectant consumers ready to destroy everything that doesn’t live up to expectations.

I do understand why this has generated so much enthusiasm, and it deserves every accolade. It’s clever and it subverts every expectation.

Is it my game of the year? I don’t think so. But it has achieved something quite remarkable in the gaming landscape in that it is wholly and utterly unique — and that certainly deserves celebrating.