Control - Why I played this game 4 times

This blog post is transferred from my blog for final year project, written in Sep 2022

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Exactly What is Going On in this Bureau?

Control is something special to me. Maybe because I like stories with a lot of tension and mystery, maybe because I like the feeling of finding out the truth step-by-step. The supernatural side of the storytelling has an immense power, drawing me to want to know more, and this is what I wanted to analyse about the game: why does it attract me so much?

About the game

Control is a third person mystery action-adventure RPG developed by Remedy Entertainment and was released in August 2019. The game studio has been well-known for its interactive narrative and amazing storytelling in previous games such as Alan Wake and Quantum Break. Control inherited from the studio's experience and is highly focused on the storytelling aspect as well. It shares the same universe as Alan Wake, which tells a story of a writer's disappearance and his battle against otherworldly creatures. Control, on the other hand, takes place in a fictional Federal Bureau of Control which specializes in supernatural objects containment. The game draws inspiration from the popular internet fiction project SCP Foundation.

The game received overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its launch, nominated for many game awards and winning a few on Art & Design.

Game mechanics

This game doesn't have any unique combat/puzzle mechanics. It follows the common functions and systems of other action RPGs - having switchable weapon loadouts, skill trees, character armor, and so on. The game's focus is more on the narrative and combat and less on puzzles and other activities - there is limited character progression outside of unlocking the skill tree and getting better weapon/personal mods. I didn't feel the need to "grind" for better gear. The ones that I obtained through questing are fine.

The game only offers a limited set of skills that players can use with no switching of skills and quickslotting. Although some skills are preferred by the majority of the community (such as the launch skill), players will be able to uitlize almost every skill some point in their playthrough. Skill points are given so to enable playstyle variety in early-game.

Unlike most games where you need to drop your current weapon if you want to switch weapon types, Control offers a weapon form change function where players can choose between 5 gun types (accessible at any control point) and equipping 2 each time. Weapon switch is not necessary since I could beat the game with just my starting pistol form and abilities. This highly depends on your playstyle: whether you want to play upfront smashing and exploding stuff, or chill at a distance and slam objects into enemies. Control has avoided super long-range combat such as sniper rifles due to considerations.

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Storytelling

Story is the major selling point of this game and it has proven very successful (I replay it just to experience the story again and again). What did the narrative do to draw players into the Remedy Universe? Let's take a look.

The game is set in modern-day New York in the headquarters of a secret government organization known as the Federal Bureau of Control. Our protagonist, Jessi, has been looking for her brother Dylan who was taken away by the Bureau and tracked him down to this building. Upon entering, she witnessed an invasion of an unknown force in which she named "the Hiss", the Hiss were able to corrupt humans into obeying their command (for reasons unknown). Jessi also happened to encounter the death of the Bureau director Trench. She picked up the murder weapon and was transported to an unfamiliar plane, where she came into contact with a being (or beings) called The Board. The Board appointed her the new director of the Bureau, and she had to find out what happened to the Bureau together with finding Dylan.

The game's story viewed in a summary isn't much of a big deal - a lot of games write about finding an important person and venturing into unknown depths, defeating enemies and finding out the truth. What's special in Control is its use of cinematography and fragmented narrative to create and enhance a sense of mystery. It guides players to think and explore what the developers have prepared.

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Cinematic sets the vibe

The game's storytelling starts by presenting the introduction cinematic, where the camera panned down from the concrete walls of the Bureau and focused on Jessi the protagonist entering the front door, then it rotated to give a portrait shot of Jessi's face looking at the Bureau's front desk. This cutscene has had me shook - most narrative games would start by giving the players a sense of the in game environment - where the game takes place, who are the protagonists, what's their motives. The cutscene would be designed in such a way to clearly convey the background and the immediate objective of the player. Control does things somewhat differently. The entire cutscene can be summarized into one word - confusion. Jessi was talking to a certain person, and then mentioned a metaphor about a poster. The word choice combined with the camera shot of some important characters is highly suggestive. I immediate got the feeling that something was going on and it was related to the man in the suit and the janitor I saw in the cutscene.

The mysterious and almost alien atmosphere was further enhanced by the color choice. The whole cutscene was in a grey, monotone color theme which guides the viewer's emotions to thinking that the Bureau is cold, unhuman and eerie.

Character design and interaction is also a big part in shaping the narrative in the game. We don't get to talk to a lot of NPCs since the Hiss has been corrupting Bureau staff and most of them had been lost. Most of the known NPCs are rather eccentric in their own way and some were trying to hide something from us. Ahti the janitor for instance. The Finnish old man always rumbles about having to go on a vacation and "mistakes" Jessi as a new janitor, giving her "janitorial" tasks to do but those seem to be related to some otherworldly creatures, which suggests that Ahti might not be just a regular janitor.

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Fragmented narrative

The great thing in the story is the fact that the game never explains how something works. I was surprised at how "not explaining something" has given a positive effect in the narrative experience instead of making me annoyed. Using Ahti the janitor as an example again, he was presented to be able to bypass containment and appear in the deepest places in the building. When he was about to leave for vacation, he let Jessi into the Foundation which few people can access and showed her visions of nature in Finland. The game never explains who Ahti actually is, what abilities he has, and how he was able to do those amazing things.

Remedy was able to establish some character/concept for the sake of it being there, but make it feels like it has more lore to it. A prime example is the Hiss. The Hiss was an energy-based entity who can corrupt and take over the host. As the only antagonist in Control, it wrecked havoc in the Oldest House, killing most of the staff and corrupted its former director. There is currently no data in the game which explains its origin, purpose and nature. What we know is that it is dangerous and we have to shut it down. This sounds rather boring in a story, but it works in Control. Most people don't really doubt the story in terms of how something works. I think part of the reason is the fact that the lore is so captivating that players think the lack in explanation is okay.

Fragmented narrative is done by dividing main/side stories into multiple perspectives/segments and hide them in different objects that players can discover. They tease players about important plot/characters before they are officially introduced. They also foster curiosity (if players are attentive). The collectibles in the game (mainly documents) play a key part in providing information about various aspects of the lore. That includes objects in containment and what they do, the nature of the Bureau building, past events, and so on. One example is a document about a certain incident called Willow AWE. It doesn't seem important early on, but it is a tease to the DLC content which is about this incident.

Slide presentations and videos with real actors enhances realism and immersion. They are quite fun and engaging to watch. The speaker, Dr. Casper Darling, has an amazing personality and the way he presents just draws you to listen instead of making it feel like something you can't skip. The presentations are all on important lore topics and are not long in length, sometimes they fill you in with details of objects and enemies you will soon come into contact. The presentations feel like Dr. Darling's personal talk show and they get to express how charismatic he is, even though we will never see him in game. This is such an innovative way of introducing someone crucial to the story.

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Linking game mechanics with the lore

Everything in the game has its purpose, that means player skills and weapon all have proper explanation to why they exist. It is fascinating to see how Remedy implement the reasoning behind these things.

Player skills don't just come from simply clicking on the skill tree. Players have to discover and pass a series of trials in the Astral Plane, an alternate dimension dictated by the unknown entity known as The Board. The goal is to cleanse Objects of Power which are mundane objects which gained unique power through connecting with The Board. By cleansing them do Jessi channel the power within those objects.

That's a cool way of introducing skills, but why would Jessi encounter those objects in the first place? Doesn't the Bureau contain them? Well that's because of the Hiss invasion messing up the panopticon system. All the objects wandered off to different parts of the building, and one of Jessi's duty as a director is to contain them back. This gives a good reason to why the player has to go get those items, quite clever.

The sci-fi fantasy setting of the game allows Remedy to be truly creative in terms of the Object of Power's appearance, abilities, how Jessi will encounter them, and what kind of challenges players will face. An example is the player's gun called the Service Weapon. It was said to have fluid forms and can only be wielded by the director. That's why only the player is able to use it and why it has 5 forms.

Most of these Objects of Power are placed in routes in the main quest so that players will deviate and investigate. The Merry-Go-Round Horse is a good example. The player was given a task to find Ahti the janitor in the maintenance section. The object was placed in room not far from the destination and the room blinks in red when players look towards that direction. That visual cue sparkles curiosity and a new quest about investigating the room appears. It is a great way of intuitive guidance to explore instead of telling players "go here and do this"

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To Sum it Up

Control has surprised me with its lore and storytelling with attractive character designs and well-timed cutscenes. I don't mind playing the main game for a 5th time just to experience it all again. I'm mega hyped for Control 2 which was announced to be Control's sequel. It's interesting to see Remedy continue building and adding details to the universe and I'm looking forward to how they will present them to players.