Control

Okay, just picked up this game and it is fantastic.

Why is it not more popular!

https://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2022/07/control-ultimate-edition-2020-review.html

Here's my review of the game. I really liked it.

2 years later lol.

I have Control sitting in my collection but the first bit where the enemies started popping in Inception-like spooked me out of playing it. Have to get back to it.

The Hiss Incantation, read by different characters:

Threshhold Kids should be a Netflix series.

Some random thoughts, good and bad.

1. AWE and Foundation are basically inverses for me. I loved the gameplay for the Foundation but really hated the setting as well as world-building. I really enjoyed the setting as well as world-building for AWE but didn't much care for the gameplay.

2. The Foundation setting is something that I just couldn't get into because a bunch of caves feels way too removed from what I enjoyed about Control. I enjoyed the bureaucracy, Oldest House, and urban feel but a bunch of white spaces as well as tunnels didn't really do it for me. On the other hand, the new enemy variety really worked well as did the additional gameplay mechanics. I can't say I much cared for the development in certain "mysteries" either. I like the Board and don't think making them evil adds anything to the setting while Theodore Ash Junior is so incredibly obnoxious that I really wish we could have killed him as a HISS.

3. I actually did like the twist that, like Trench, Marshall's paranoia got the best of her and she blew up the Nail believing she could take out both the Hiss and the Board. Which, of course, just results in the possibility of the world ending because she didn't believe the Board were doing anything decent.

4. I also like the idea FORMER may not be as evil as he appeared in the main game. I still don't trust him but it's interesting to see him this way even if I don't want the Board to be evil. I also think people read things in the worst way possible. The Board's "healthcare package" some people read as a threat while I read as it them offering immortality since they apparently tried to make Northmoor into a being like them.

5. The biggest appeal of AWE is definitely its setting and worldbuilding. I am a HUGE Alan Wake fan and this was just like concentrated joy in an IV to me. The Investigations section is a lot more like the kind of environment I enjoy exploring and I very much liked the moon landing set, the first (and only the first) light puzzle, and the Hartman thing is genuinely terrifying that reminded me of the Jersey Devil or Slenderman.

6. I really HATE the power generator puzzles, though. They're done just too many times and each time, Hartman gets less intimidating. I think they needed some lesser monsters to slay so Hartman only is fought maybe two. Having your villain run away from you twice really sucks the terror out of the fight.

7. I understand why they did it but really, they should have substituted Taken for HISS. Do a color pallete swap on them and have Jesse have to flashlight them. The fact you fight regular HISS in the Investigations bureau versus the Darkness is a real loss. They should have been a third enemy type like the Molded.

8. I absolutely love the idea of Alan Wake being the guy who created the FBC, Jesse, and HSS. That the world wasn't NEARLY as weird as it was before Alan altered time and space retroactively. I remember posting this and getting an "No, no, Alan can't do that" and my eyes just rolled back in my head. I HATE the idea that he's not fully responsible. Mind you, I'm also one of those fans who believes Alan Wake is a fictional character because Thomas Zane wrote him into existence after writing himself out of existence. Thomas writes Alan into existence and then Alan writes Jesse into existence. I LOVE the idea the Dark Presence is omnipotent but powerless without a writer. Alan in his attempt to get himself free is slowly making the world terrifying and dark, which is a very interesting idea.

9. I feel like the side quests of AWE wasn't very good, though. The train doesn't even feel like it's finished and I was waiting for something else to happen. The chain letter is also kind of lame and really needed a boss fight. I was pretty okay with the Spaceman sidequest, though, and loved the lunar landing bit.

10. I miss Mr. Scratch and his overthetop performance. Him versus Jesse given he's a misogynist serial killer would have been awesome. I hope they fight in Control 2.

I don't like the idea of Alan outright creating the FBC because... It feels like it prioritizes Alan's story in the setting over Jesse's and the FBC. Jesse is supplemental to his end-game. It also shrinks the world to me; Jesse and the FBC are just props and objects for Alan's war against the darkness. They might have their own adventures but Alan Wake and his narrative control just looms over everything.

Conversely, Alan's story of war vs. the light and darkness just being a Tuesday event in the larger insane cosmos of the world makes everything feel *larger*. Especially in light of "It's not a Lake, it's an Ocean". The Dark Presence is even larger than Alan could ever have imagined and *yet* still not the biggest fish in the pond.

I also just hated AWE for how little it felt like it wanted to move anything forward. You could take the opening 5-ish minutes with Alan and then jump to the last scene and not really miss much. It felt... too afraid to actually move any of the plot forward. It just sets up a future for Alan Wake 2 really.

I suspect a lot of AWE's issues; both gameplay and plot related, might have been early impacts of COVID as the DLC didn't release until August of 2020. The lack of a lot of major NP Cs to interact with and a lot of things being done behind scenes like, say, NP Cs only talking over radios and intercoms... I genuinely think something larger was planned and cut back from because I otherwise cannot explain how the DLC just does so little with such a cool idea.

While you could view it that way, I actually see it as Alan slowly failing.

Alan's sacrifice was meant to save the world from the Darkness and protect his wife. However, Alan can't let go of his desire to escape and be with her again. So by transforming the world with the Darkness, he's basically making the world a darker and more terrible place with every one of his adventures.

He's become the Monster Progenitor of his world and unleashed the HISS and while he's also created people to fight them, that doesn't change the world is now increasingly weirder and weirder.

The Darkness doesn't care if Alan is also creating good as well as bad, it's still warping the world with every keystroke.

I think it was affected by Covid but I don't think it was affected as much as people think. Langstrom may have been on a intercom because they couldn't motion cap him and the side quests a little underdone but I suspect the majority of what they planned to do was still intact.

It was always going to be a big Monster Fight with light vs. Dark and Alan Wake nostalgia.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jul 18th 2022 at 1:58:55 AM

But that's exactly my problem. It's then *not* a world full of eldritch horrors and beings beyond Earth to which we are but a puddle they step through on the way through their existences or an ant hill they toy with for their own amusement. The world isn't a darker place. It's just an illusion of it being darker.

It is literally a guy *writing* it to be that with little purpose beyond what its function is to his goals. I think we often forget how paper thin Alan's writing could get in the first place to serve function. Something that was also explicitly a plot point even; the thinner the narrative the more the dark could influence.

It's no longer Jesse going to clear up an AWE disaster and wanting to protect the world from whatever horror objects created by it. It's now Alan just writing in the next tool he needs for *his* adventure. It takes away Jesse's agency and choices and accomplishments even.

And that's fundamentally a weaker story.

And I do not want to have a Control sequel where we now have to consider "But what is Alan's purpose in writing this? Hmmmmm". It's distracting. I'd rather they be stories that are friendly to each other, have a handshake, but know when they are strongest together and when they are strongest apart.

Also, if we get to the point of Alan's reality warping writing abilities that he can just whole-cloth fabricate an entire branch of government, its decades of history, its agents, its magical objects, etc possibly even to the degree of writing in his own eldritch beings like Polaris and the Hiss... and then in Alan Wake 2 he has trouble opening a door... we might have some, uh, problems to put it simply.

I'd further point out that Alan tended not to create from nothing in his stories and pulled from the pieces already on the chessboard. He didn't create Rose or Stucky or Bird-Leg Cabin or etc. Part of the explicit horror of that game is that these were real people who were forced to play their roles and became traumatized by the experience. It's why Deer Fest is such a celebration at the end-game only to be followed by weeks and weeks of funerals by the time The Alan Wake Files come up.

Him creating the FBC and everything within Control would be out of his wheelhouse and MO compared to... simply momentarily using what was already on the stage. Plucking a few strings rather than creating the full instrument.

Edited by InkDagger on Jul 18th 2022 at 4:47:20 AM

Eh, I suppose my only rebuttal to that is that it's awesome for me because Alan is ALSO fictional. Alan Wake only exists because he was written into existence by Thomas Zane in the Seventies after he wrote himself out of existence.

So Alan Wake is a fictional character unleashed.

And now Jesse is.

Jesse has every bit as much fictional freedom as Alan does.

But Jesse's story isn't about being fiction or the conflict and power of fiction vs. reality. Alan's is.

It's entirely debatable as to how "fictional" Alan Wake is in-universe. My interpretation was that Zane wrote that particular aspect of Alan's childhood but not, like, his entire life or anything. Heck, he might not have even written that memory but the scene of Alan talking with Alice about the memory.

Particularly because "It was all foretold and there was never any choice or consequence anywhere and Zane wrote this all out" just kinda robs the stakes of any value. It creates a lack of agency and a flatter narrative.

Which was also my interpretation of Agent Nightingale; Alan didn't create him from nothing. There was already an Agent Nightingale mourning the loss of his partner and Alan/Dark Presence merely co-opt'd that grief and turned it against Alan himself to create an antagonist. Namely in how vaguely defined Nightingale's motivation is; he doesn't explain how his partner died in any of the supplementary material but just that he somehow blames Alan for it.

Which sounds a lot more to me like very bad writing tropes (which the Darkness preys on) used to blind a man to what actually happened and weaponize him against Alan.

If Alan created him from nothing, why didn't he give him clearer motivation?

And that's what a lot of the conflict in the game is; Alan's choices in cutting corners in his writing giving the dark presence access to make everything worse. If he isn't specific or clear enough, the Darkness will use it to their advantage.

It's also... just significantly less tragic or meaningful if we just go "Eh. He wasn't a real person anyway." Anyone who is "fiction" is just canon fodder?

Well that's your preference and I understand it.

However, I feel the story becomes better and much more entertaining, the more the universe is subject to massive rewrites and insane world changing weirdness thanks to Alan breaking down the barrier between fiction and reality.

Mind you, this may be due to my love of Stephen King and Twin Peaks.

Roland eventually met Stephen King after all.

I mean Alan and Jesse are living, breathing, three dimensional fictional people.

And OOC, they're all fictional.

But that doesn't make them less interesting or tragic. Mr. Scratch in American Nightmare actually struggles with the fact he's written as a Card-Carrying Villain and wants to make peace with Alan but he can't because he's written to be a one-dimensional evil for Alan to defeat and knows it.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Jul 20th 2022 at 11:55:49 AM

Sequel to Control has been announced.

Crap. I really got to pick up the first. I've had it sitting for months.

I got the game for my housemate for Christmas and he finally got around to playing it. I've been trying to view it again from the lens of "This is a commentary on women facing a toxic workplace from sexist and incompetent men and confronting levels of Toxic Masculinity in this workplace environment" and I really am convinced that this is a fully intentional theme to the game even if it's never really discussed explicitly. There's no way this isn't intentional, at least. Can't remember if I ever discussed the idea here but I've had it running through my head as he played.

Let's look at Trench; a paranoid and self-destructive man who did not want the highest position of power he got. He does not trust ANYONE under him except one guy, Darling, who also is not actually great at his job but is really good at being charming and empathetic. Trench even actively sabotages his own organization from letting Investigations crumble when they began investigating him and later when he himself is the reason the Hiss invade the FBC. Heck, he even deflects his own incompetence back onto Kirkland when feeling attacked. The only reason he is in power is because someone higher up deemed it, not through actually being qualified for the job. Trench further *insists* that "there's no one good enough" for his position as Director, much like irl persons of power refusing to vacate positions because they see no suitable candidates as a means to hold onto power, even if they're seemingly miserable and toxic for the position. He's arguably a distant and separate leader from the rest of his organization; giving orders and commands but never really in the trenches with his workforce and understanding the operations of his organization.

Let's look at Darling; He's charming and a sweet-talker. But he's not actually that great at his job as we can see through how he treats Pope. He keeps her at arm's length despite hand picking her to be his assistant and refuses to tell her anything useful about his projects despite the absolute danger it puts everyone in when shit hits the fan. Yet, despite this, Pope seems to still respect and speak highly of him. He also later describes regretting keeping Pope away... but does nothing about this. He also describes a fondness and protectiveness for her, something that isn't actually too uncommon for a lot of men in work environments; they promote and keep women they like so they stick around but feel "protective" of them and don't actually give them anything to do. Pope's actual achievements and aptitude for the job mean nothing.

We can also see this in how Trench and Darling raise and treat Dylan. Jesse is the "Control Subject" compared to Dylan being raised by Trench, Darling, and the FBC as a whole (i.e. The Toxic Workplace). Trench, seeing no one to replace him, decides to *build someone up* to be his replacement. This is something actually extremely common in toxic work environments; bosses won't just look for worthy candidates but specifically groom people *like them* for the position and simply perpetuate the problems of the workplace via instilling the exact same faults and failings into their replacements. It's why it's so hard to make institutional changes in a lot of workplaces; the people in charge will never allow someone who wants to make changes (and thus threaten their power) into their "club", as it were. And considering the FBC is a branch of the government here...

Back to Dylan and his "grooming", Trench is hands-off. Uncaring. He doesn't want to be a father figure or have any meaningful emotional involvement in the well-being of a child. He is a distant and neglectful father figure. Darling, on the other hand, is the opposite. Empathetic. Caring. But in so far that Dylan is a *darling* experiment to him. Darling dotes on Dylan and encourages him but never reprimands him. Dylan even kills someone and Darling's reaction is PR acknowledgement of a workplace death and then, word for word, "Boys will be boys".

Dylan becomes a brat. He learns how to manipulate the system to his wants. He demands- no, ORDERS that he will have Pizza for dinner in an interview where he refuses all questions asked of him. Darling also further manipulates Dylan and lies to him repeatedly to keep Dylan under his control and committed to the experiment and development. For example, he tells Dylan that Jesse could join him at the FBC despite all of that being untrue and does so as a means to dismiss Dylan's needs and concerns. This lie and manipulation just festers as anger and rage towards the FBC. Yet, still, Dylan is NEVER not considered a Prime Candidate.

And look at what Dylan ultimately does with that power when he's given control at the end; The best he envisions for his loving adoring sister is... a desk jockey and pencil pusher. A woman with no power who is belittled and demeaned and gets the honor of "interacting" with the male authority figures around her but never being of any meaningful value. The office is full of *actual office zombies* and no one can see anything wrong.

The Hiss dream could also have easily been presented as a comfort by the writers; bliss in a menial task and heaping praise onto Jesse. Jesse has already expressed associating herself more with the janitors of an organization than the leadership so this would totally fit and be something she needs to break from to take control of herself. Instead, it's a workplace that hates her. "I can't feel anything" and "I don't want to be alone here". The men are demeaning and dismissive of her as an office girl to get them coffee. Pope is brought as little as "Female competition" in this work environment. Arish sees her as a potential threat and a "spy" for Trench; a femme fatal one might put. Underhill sounds an awful lot like an older woman who has experienced the workplace harassment and sees it as a rite of passage to gaining power. They chose that the ultimate endgame the Hiss represent is a toxic and combative work environment.

So, if Dylan is the subject and Jesse is the "Control", what is the actual variable between them? Really, it's the toxic environment. Dylan is shaped by every toxic behavior of the world he was trapped in. Meanwhile Jesse never lost her love and empathy for her brother. She spent over a decade trying to find him again and every action there is backed by love and kindness. She is entirely in-tune with her emotions, mental health, and moral compass and those dictate her goals and accomplishments.

Jesse gets put into a position of power. Now, what does she do with it? I think it's worth noting that she responds, initially, to being uncomfortable with this power until the end of the game where she "takes control". Jesse finds herself not giving orders from afar like Trench did but but working together with each of her departments to right the FBC (even if it can feel a bit menial, but let's let it slide as the gameplay expressing the story as it can). Not only does she lead from the ground but she also does so via kindness and empathy; she actively listens to her subordinates and their opinions. She also listens to their problems and needs and actively does something about it. I don't think we think about it too critically because "Video game = side-quests = complete goals", but in the world of the story, Jesse is actively supporting what her employees need to accomplish their jobs.

Decided to pick this up after... two years? Probably two years of not getting around to it after playing it for a bit.

It's actually hilarious how fast you can run through the Oceanview Motel if you read the notes and it clicks. Rule of 3 is on the sign outside, black pyramid. just do every action 3 times, grab the key, open the door back to the oldest house

Honestly, I think you get several facts wrong that put the characters in a terrible light that misses some of their redeeming qualities and more of the moral ambiguity at play here.

• Trench was named the Director because he survived the picking up of the Service Weapon. It's literally probably Excalibur and it forces him to kill himself when he becomes unworthy of it. He never wanted to be Director but was "worthy" when he picked up the gun, so he became the director. This despite wanting to be a field agent. A lot of his corruption is also due to fear of the Board and belief they are Ambiguously Evil versus the Big Good, which may be true.
• Darling is correct to keep Pope at arms length because he's running a secret project to protect everyone from the Hiss while Trench is actually working with the Hiss. He doesn't know who he can trust. He also ascends to become a god.
• Dylan isn't a brat. He was KIDNAPPED and has been imprisoned for decades by a government paramilitary organization holding him hostage and experimenting on him. There's no reason he should cooperate with them in any way. The fact he comes to hate his sister out of jealousy for her being free and the poisoning of his mind by the FBC is understandable. I'd want to burn down the FBC too.
• I'm pretty sure Jesse is going to turn out to be the only good person, though. Even the directors of the Oldest House are not great people. All of them are flawed, though, and unscrupulous.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on May 8th 2023 at 12:19:10 PM

The amount of really blatant colour banding in this game is just baffling. Go into any dark scene, boom; looks like a badly compressed video. <_>

Seriously, wtf is with the balance? The game's fine when there's light, but they didn't account for dark areas at all?◊ Or this face closeup.◊

Edited by RainehDaze on May 8th 2023 at 12:37:01 PM

Today in visual bugs, invisible Jesse◊ who returns to visibility against a wall with a hole in her.◊

Picked this up because I heard it was in the same universe as Alan Wake. That's all I knew going into it.

The beginning raises a lot of questions and I'm pretty sure none of them are the ones meant to be asked.

Also, The Bureau is basically the SCP Foundation. Which is nice. And less obnoxious. Which is extra nice.

What questions?

Mostly just "Why isn't anyone acting like, normal?"

Jesse finds a gun next to a dead guy and is told to shoot herself. So she does.

Jesse shows no reaction to any of the supernatural phenomena, even though she only knew Polaris exists beforehand.

Jesse straight up admits she only cares to find her brother, but doesn't bat an eye at helping the people who kidnapped him. Not even in a "Okay, help them first, then call in a favor", she only thinks that later.

Jesse is randomly declared Director of the organization and doesn't find it strange at all. She doesn't even think "Okay this will help me find Dylan". It's just "Okay now I'm in charge. Neat."

Everyone doesn't bat an eye to knowing their former director is dead and already replaced.

Everyone is very calm about how everyone else is dead and now glowing zombies.

Jesse and Hope sees Jesse fail to "cure" one of the floating employees and instead rips them apart. They both just shrug at the fact that Jesse basically killed a person and that there is no cure.

Jesse has anti-Hiss powers. She knowing it's because of Polaris is fine, her not reacting to the Hiss being a thing isn't. Hope not reacting to Jesse being an anti-Hiss isn't.

Basically the entire first 2 hours or so feels like the game is missing a prologue that gets, well, everyone in an out of game up to speed. It's almost like the game is supposed to take place In Medias Res, but forgot that there's supposed to be continuity that implicitly takes place before the point where the audience jumps in.

Edited by Spirit on Aug 1st 2023 at 7:15:09 AM

This game about to be a Mind Screw when I go home and play it, innit it.

All the Mind Screw is restricted to within the 4th wall. It's a nice psychological thriller, but none of it is directed at the player so far, if that makes sense.

Honestly Alan Wake was more meta than Control so far.

To be fair, that's part of the game's charm.

All of the people in the Bureau of Control are NOT NORMAL.

Or they wouldn't be working there.

Though their "There's no cure for the Hiss" thing and "You killed it" really answer each other. I also like that they try to make an attempt to save the victims of the Hiss before treating them like the zombies they are.