Game/Control

Control is a video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games.  The genre is third-person action/adventure with a few RPG mechanics sprinkled in.  The main character is a woman/female/character named Jesse Faden.  The game takes place almost entirely in a mysterious location called "The Oldest House".  A top secret government agency, The Federal Bureau of Control (or FBC for short), has established itself here since the 1960s.  Unfortunately, when Jesse arrives the agency is suffering from a crisis/takeover instigated by a invasive entity known only as the "Hiss".  It has subverted/possessed the majority of the agency's onsite employees, making the Oldest House a very dangerous place to be.  As is usually the case in these sorts of games, it is up to Jesse (and by extension the player) to make things right.  That might sound like an impossible task, but Jesse has a powerful ally she calls "Polaris".  While the nature of Polaris is never fully reveled Jesse can communicate with it via internal monologues.  There's also an interesting color contrast going on with the Hiss represented by harsh red light while Polaris is always a soft blue shimmer. 

Other story elements of the game include audio/video clips introduced/explained via an old telephone that has a black nob where the rotary dial should be.  So, no outgoing calls are possible and to boot it doesn't appear to have a receiver either because all calls made to Jesse are one-way phone conversations with the previous Director or the enigmatic "Board".  The latter of the two has a habit of using slash marks to denote alternate text interpretations/translations of its otherwise incomprehensibly muffled speech.  Also, it is visually depicted as an upside-down pyramid of otherworldly origin.  Face-to-face conversations with actual people/humans/NPCs can also occur (usually with multiple dialogue options).  However, the majority of the setting lore is conveyed via text documents found scattered throughout the game.  Many of these collectible text snippets have redacted words or phrases which gives the writing an overall vibe reminiscent of the SCP Foundation.  Unlike that collaborative writing website though there is an underlying reason for all the paranormal objects and events in the Oldest House.

From a technical perspective, Control takes what might seem to be boring office spaces and infuses them with a lot of Brutalist Architecture.  Adding to that are dynamic and highly destructible environments, plus little side places to discover/explore.  The icing on the cake is ray tracing, which completes the presentation with little lighting touches and reflections.  That said, Control has some performance issues (particularly on consoles).  The check point system can be frustrating at times too.  Design-wise, the boss battles are a bit oddly distributed in that the most interesting/unique/bizarre encounters are relegated to side missions.  Contrasting the optional content are rather bland mandatory foes in the form of Hiss subverted gunmen and the occasional telekinesis wizard.

Overall, Control is a game with an interesting setting and environments, but only average gameplay.  Still, I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the table-top RPG Delta Green or the X-files TV series.  For a more comprehensive look please refer to other online reviews and videos.