So I've Finally Played... Control

Yes

“Isn’t reusing assets bad?”
Yakuza series: “not if you do it right and build on top of it”

Games shouldn't shy away from being enjoyed once and being "done". My memories of games that I can play once and be satisfied are far fonder than the games I have to play multiple times to justify my feelings for it. The difference between playing a game again because you want to and because the game tells you to is staggering.

Jesse's character defining characteristics is that she's not reckless or a power hungry maniac or anything like that. That was kind of the whole point. The previous directors were like that and they're the reason the oldest house is in the state its in. Jesse feels more comfortable in the role of a janitor and as a result she's what the oldest house needs, not only to fight off the hiss but to maintain the oldest house itself.

I only realized how truly beautiful control was the first time I looked up. The ceilings are almost never on the camera during combat or exploration, just high enough to be out of sight. But the moment you first look at a ceiling in control, you will look at every ceiling you ever come across thereafter.

The Oldest House is honestly one of my favorite settings in a video game. It's just so fitting for the surrealism of the game

11:32 it's amazing how easily and effectively you were able to drive home the importance of having unique mundane sounds just by playing an alarm from Star Wars. Well done.

the sound of her launch ability is legendary. i specifically loved it so much.

I love your ending statements. Remedy didn’t set out with the intention of making a game that could please everyone; they made a game they loved and hoped people would love. It takes courage to do that. I’m playing through control now and while yeah, I can see the faults in the combat/story but I love the fact that this game doesn’t feel like it’s pandering to everyone.

25:27 Remedy and Poets of The Fall intentionally did not add "Take Control" into Content ID. You can't get copyright claims for the song. They knew that people would be making videos and streaming the game and there's no reason to punish them for enjoying a product.

oh god yes

man, you got a real talent for getting me hyped for a game to the point that im about to click the checkout button only to immediately destroy my enthusiasm just before I do

Dr. Casper Darling may have been my favorite thing about this game. Sinking myself into his video logs scattered throughout the adventure was just a great experience. That and the altered item text logs, which shocked me with how much they sucked me in.

No, you're not Ahti. You're his assistant ;)

I too have finally played Control!
The game consistently blew me away just with the sheer amount of interactivity with the environment.
I remember one time I was wandering around and one of those projectors started playing. I accidentally grabbed it with the launch button, and it starts floating in the air, still playing the video!
I start walking back and forth, and the thing acts like a real projector, the image getting bigger and smaller, spinning around and up and down.
Totally blew my mind. Like the game’s great, the basic loop is fun as hell, but it’s these little moments where any other game wouldn’t have taken the time to model how the projector works as it spins around and moves back and forth with your telekinesis that made me have so much fun with it.

How many people are going to find that? But fuck when they do? You have a moment like that that sucks you in. So cool.

I feel like, similar to Control's inspiration SCP, I had more fun playing in Control's sandbox than playing with the sand itself. I let the gameplay take a back seat to the sheer joy of taking part in a bizarre world with its own rules, and I adored thinking about all those new rules as I explored the Oldest House.
Combat was just a tool to move on to more exploration.

I honestly, I don't know that I ever cared about the story in this game. I was just so in love with exploring this building and this world that the story was entirely secondary to me. I had a huge phase of reading through all the SCP stuff and this was just like walking around in their world and I loved every second of it.

Control is now one of my favorite games of all time. The world was so immersive and The Oldest House is such a compelling location for me to explore, and The Board and Former were such fascinating entities to learn about.

The Board: You/We wield the gun/you.

Everything about that came tickles me just the right way.

The story is about you becoming the janitor’s assistant so yeah your job is to clean up messes on cosmic scale. Best thing about Control? It hints at Alan Wake sequel!

This game is an absolute masterpiece. I haven't been as invested in a game's world in ages. I loved it so much I HAD to read every piece of lore.