Reality-bending thriller Control hits another plane

Excelling as an exhilaratingly bizarre metaphysical thriller, and also as a satisfying shooter with an emphasis on aggression and creative locomotion, Control's brilliant narrative and versatile gunplay are bound together by one of the most interesting settings in recent gaming history.

The story centres on the shadowy US Department of Control, a government agency that manages and obscures connections between ordinary reality and other planes of existence. Archetypal objects with strong symbolic meanings (like a rubber ducky, a slide projector, or a fridge with a kid's drawing magnetted to it) have a tendency to develop supernatural and dangerous powers, which the department studies and exploits.

Much of Control revolves around reality-changing 'altered objects', which Jesse can draw upon to learn new abilities.

Protagonist Jesse arrives at Control HQ in unclear circumstances, and is promptly named its new director after she stumbles across the previous boss's corpse and inherits his shape-shifting gun. She soon discovers the building itself has a strong and unpredictable connection to the astral plane, the staff are under attack from a mind-controlling extra-dimensional hissing noise, and it only gets weirder from there.

Given how complex and esoteric some of the themes here are, it's a wonder the story is intelligible at all. But while the game would still definitely be enjoyable if you ignored the narrative, I was struck by how successful the story was at drawing me into it's insane world of parascience and conspiracy theories. I especially love that the labyrinth of offices, labs and warehouses is filled with completely optional reading material that gives insight into the work the department does, and reveals ghost stories about the various objects of power housed within its headquarters.

Like previous works from developer Remedy and writer Sam Lake, this is a surreal game that melds a strong Twin Peaks vibe and light Finnish flavour with cutting edge tech and graphics, but Control feels like the best of what's come before with few of the compromises. It's also potentially the weirdest, with highlights including the recurring motel hallway that seemingly exists outside reality and can only be traversed by solving obtuse logic puzzles, and the extremely Finnish janitor with a penchant for unintelligible cluse and heavy metal music.

The very literary psychological thriller motif returns from Alan Wake, this time influenced less by Stephen King and more by recent neo-Lovecraftian or "new weird" novels which makes for more spectacle. Meanwhile the combat feels like a hyperactive and modern extension of Max Payne, where Jesse's health is only replenished when she kills bad guys so moving fast and aggressively using superpowers will get you killed less than taking cover. There's even a shade of Quantum Break with the live action sequences (this time much better integrated as optional in-world videos that give exposition and background).

The shifting brutalist architecture of the building is a sight to behold, but it also provides a highly destructible physics playground for the game's reality-defying shooting. One of the earliest and best abilities Jesse learns is called Launch, which lets you pull any object from the environment (or, if there's nothing around, tear off a chunk of wall or floor) and fling it at enemies. Wood splinters and cement explodes to reveal steel supports underneath as you run, shoot, fly and blast, and it never stops being impressive.

It's worth noting that all that technological wonder does come at a cost, and Control can be a bit choppy in the performance department depending on your hardware. On a maxed-out PC you obviously get the smoothest experience and even benefit from incredible reflections and shadows if you have ray tracing compatible gear. Meanwhile the game runs mostly well with a few hiccups in the most taxing battles on Xbox One X, and suffers a bit more noticeably on other consoles.

This office had a bit of an issue with a self-replicating post-it note.

Some spotty performance aside, Control is near bottomless well of intrigue that's hard to fault in terms of its ability to keep you glued to your seat. From the depth of its world-building and its gratifying combat to the unexpected twists of its story and a handful of truly unforgettable kaleidoscopic fighting sequences, this is an inspired game that manages to match its crazy, beautiful, otherworldly storytelling with action that's every bit as good.

Outside of the main path Control is littered with things to see and do, from side missions that take you to strange alternate planes (like an abandoned version of the office building that's inexplicably filling with old-fashioned clocks), to one-off challenges that reward you with materials you can use to upgrade your abilities and weapons. And even once I'd seen the story through to the end, I couldn't wait to dive back in to mop up every last secret and collectible, even if it was partly an excuse to keep getting into room-destroying firefights.

Control is out now for Xbox (reviewed), PC and PlayStation.