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Control - supernatural third person action-adventure from Remedy

ultimanecat

Arcane
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Mar 19, 2015
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575
I’m sure that everyone involved can’t wait to dump another $10 million toward a developer with games nobody buys.

Getting paid for a flop just means you can keep the lights on longer while everyone “reevaluates” their business relationship with you. Sucks because Remedy makes okay games but the kind of people who use EGS seem to be the type to play Fortnight, Borderlands, and console flavor-of-the-week stuff, and not Control.
 

DalekFlay

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"An amazing game on so many levels."

These people have low standards. This game's alright, but really nothing special at all outside of the cool X-Files vibe. I'm having a hard time going back and finishing it honestly, because it's so long and repetitive.
 

DemonKing

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Dec 5, 2003
Messages
5,958
This game's alright, but really nothing special at all outside of the cool X-Files vibe. I'm having a hard time going back and finishing it honestly, because it's so long and repetitive.

Pretty much my feelings - respawning enemies, repetitive combat, difficult navigation and long load times upon death with respawns at distant checkpoints are not ideal. Play this one for the story, quirky NPCs and atmosphere - the gameplay is nothing special.
 

Sentinel

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Ommadawn
I've struggled to enjoy Remedy games since Max Payne 2, which was their last game I finished.

At first I was very impressed with Control. It seemed like they learned lessons from Quantum Break. Straight to the point, no cutscenes, protagonist internal monologues, gameplay seemed great. But then the more I played it, I just lost all interest. The only thing to find exploring is copy pasted crafting materials like it's some free to play looter shooter, ability upgrades are mostly boring % changes, only one gun (no the gun changing forms doesnt make up for it), enemy variety is poor, the map is fucking useless, I haven't even heard a single song from the OST yet, characters are information dispensers with no personality with the exception of Ahti, Trench and Darling... the list goes on, but damn. Just a poor game overall.
 

DalekFlay

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Pretty much my feelings - respawning enemies, repetitive combat, difficult navigation and long load times upon death with respawns at distant checkpoints are not ideal.

Yeah that's a big part of it too, especially frustrating with the hard boss fights. I know on consoles that shit is normal, but as a 30 year PC dude it just irritates the fuck out of me.
 

Belegarsson

Think about hairy dwarfs all the time ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Anyone think they missed an opportunity with the setting?

The SCP influence is strong, so I kinda expected the game to delve into existential horror House of Leaves-style, but the whole thing remained pretty tame. I remember reading that book years ago and the entire thing frightened me, not in the plot but in its format, like there was a bunch of paragraphs suddenly colored in red with strikethrough, paragraphs that describe the effect of center being... centered, straight up blank pages or pages where text is replaced with sketches. I don't remember the plot quite well but the writing style filled me with dread just by how bizarre the format was. Control seemed to take that idea at first, with Jesse's portrait's sudden appearance throughout the building and the whole Astray Maze thingy, but the plot didn't go further than that and gameplay never fuck with you so hard you start questioning what the hell is wrong with it. Things got weird but never really impactful, and the fact that Jesse and other characters are way too aware of how weird the phenomenon is really downplayed the mystery behind the oldest house.
 

Dodo1610

Arcane
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May 3, 2018
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Germany
Finished it, definitely Remedy's best game since Max Payne 2. If the pacing was batter this could have been a real masterpiece but the devs couldn't really decide whether they wanted to make a linear Shooter or a more open "Shock" game. The game is worth it for the gameplay alone, running shooting and flying has never been more fun. Though I do not understand these weirdly difficult spike boss fights. The art design is phenomenal doubt 60s architecture and design have ever looked better. The story is interesting though I think they could have been slightly less vague on some things and maybe give the player more things to think about instead of repeating the same terms constantly like an astral plane without even bothering to try to explain how this could work.
Anyway, I really hope they can build upon this mystery world they have created because I want to know and see more from it. :4/5:
 
Last edited:

Cromwell

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Messages
5,443
Anyone think they missed an opportunity with the setting?

The SCP influence is strong, so I kinda expected the game to delve into existential horror House of Leaves-style, but the whole thing remained pretty tame. I remember reading that book years ago and the entire thing frightened me, not in the plot but in its format, like there was a bunch of paragraphs suddenly colored in red with strikethrough, paragraphs that describe the effect of center being... centered, straight up blank pages or pages where text is replaced with sketches. I don't remember the plot quite well but the writing style filled me with dread just by how bizarre the format was. Control seemed to take that idea at first, with Jesse's portrait's sudden appearance throughout the building and the whole Astray Maze thingy, but the plot didn't go further than that and gameplay never fuck with you so hard you start questioning what the hell is wrong with it. Things got weird but never really impactful, and the fact that Jesse and other characters are way too aware of how weird the phenomenon is really downplayed the mystery behind the oldest house.

The Problem with Control, if you play it for the settting athmosphere and writing is its "shit". The writing is definetly not very good even by Video Game standards but it also cant be carried by the atmosphere and ideas because these (the ones I saw) are all copied from somewhere else and they did it in a bad way. Which means if you are interested in media of this kind you have seen almost everything they did and you will notice how lazy they were when it came to "making it their own" i.e. blatantly copying but in a way that its creative enough so that you forgive them. But maybe I am wrong and it got better with time and I just have only seen the broing shit parts in the few beginning hours.
 

Adon

Arcane
Joined
May 8, 2015
Messages
667
Oh, the writing definitely gets better later on, but the real highlights were the documents and files and not the story itself. If you were to break it down, there's not much to it and ends being fairly straightforward and simplistic, but everything outside of that (mainly the world building) is where the really good parts are at and where the writing shines the most. Same thing with the combat. The last fight is extremely easy to go through, but in comparison, the Tommasi side quest is the harder than any encounter in the main story; although none of those is enough to stop the combat from getting repetitive towards the end.

I enjoyed my time with Control, but admittedly, there's nothing incredibly remarkable about it. Just a fun concept that doesn't get as weird as it wants to. I mean, it gets weird and there's some cool imagery and sequences, but it never gets ominous and (surprisingly) off-kilter enough to really stand out among its influences. There's no abstract concept its trying to portray to push it over the edge.
 

DalekFlay

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I don't think the writing is terrible or great, just kind of meh. I did read all the notes and stuff so and agree the best stuff is in there because of the mood they present. The whole game excels at mood but fails at plot, which is typical of video games really.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
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2,071
Location
Siberia
Fun concept, but gameplay gets old in about an hour, I just gave up halfway through and watched the rest of the game on youtubes, the ending was meh as expected. Liked the atmosphere and live action stuff the most, writing is a bit uneven, but as others said - case files and other bits and pieces of information is where it's at, akin to SCP and the like.

Really hope they'll do something with that world they built though, something akin to This is the police 2 would be great tbh (a management/tactics/adventure mix), just more fleshed out.
 

sullynathan

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Not Europe
https://thedeadbeatcritics.com/2019...y-but-its-also-incredibly-boring-and-tedious/

‘Control’ Sure Is Pretty, But It’s Also Incredibly Boring And Tedious
Posted by Dylan Chaundy | Oct 12, 2019 | Editorials, Fresh Topics, Hot, News, Popular, Video Games | 2 |

mayhem-1280x640.jpg


There are few games that I’ve played in my life that are as mind-numbingly boring and tedious as Remedy Entertainment’s latest cinematic action-horror title, Control. From its horrendously designed map and level design, to a complete lack of meaningful tension or atmosphere, to its sluggish performance on consoles, to the icing on the mouldy cake: A completely incomprehensible mess of a narrative with a profound lack of distinct flair or character, Control is one of the blandest experiences I’ve had in gaming for a long while, and one of my personal major disappointments of 2019.

“But it’s REALLY, REALLY PRETTY!” I hear you shouting. “And didn’t you know it’s got RAY TRACING? And all this AMAZING DESTRUCTION PHYSICS?”

So. Bloody. What?

When the vast majority of Control’s gameplay experience is marred by frustrating exploration and poor design choices, are shiny hyper-real visuals enough to paper over the cracks? In essence, playing through a large portion of Remedy’s latest felt more like a soporific chore than a fun, engaging experience.

And I can’t get any simpler than this: No. Game. Should. Ever. Feel. Like. That.

Indeed, the trial-and-error puzzles where you re-arrange random objects in the Oceanview Hotel are teeth-clenchingly annoying. Add to this, the confusing in-game map, which often makes me want to shoot myself with my own damn Service Weapon. Furthermore, its difficulty is pitched way too low. Speaking of which, why can’t I choose a harder difficulty mode? Come on, it’s 2019, folks!

Control-1-1024x576.jpg


I’m sorry, but whoever was in the meeting and thought these aforementioned things were great game design choices deserves to be paranormally exorcised. Seriously.

Another blunder that seems like an oversight is the game’s indistinctive and dull enemy design. The shadowy antagonistic darkness of “The Hiss” is only remarkable in how unremarkable it is. Trite, gamey and vanilla. I’m not sure about you, but whatever happened to creating eye-catching, compelling enemies that exhibit striking aesthetic designs or thought-provoking back stories?

Put simply, The Hiss are the beige dinner of the culinary world; the Birds Eye frozen chicken nuggets of gaming. We all deserve better.

Of course, I get what Remedy was going for: a blend of The X-Files, David Lynch with a dash of the du jour at the moment: modern superhero sensibilities. However, spoilers: just because Control homages great fiction, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s, you know, great.

For me personally, I just don’t feel like the world is compelling or cohesive enough. Instead, I confidently believe that Swery 65 and Access Games’ 2010 open world survival horror title, Deadly Premonition — which is ironically even clunkier than Remedy’s 2019 effort gameplay-wise — absolutely nails the David Lynch/X-Files’ tone and feel with much greater aplomb.

control-black-rock-lab-1024x576.jpg


Not only does Deadly Premonition boast an engrossing, well-written, endearingly bizarre narrative, but it brims with authentic tension, genuine character development and an interesting, atmospheric world. For me, all these elements are way more important and impactful, than the dull, hyper-real visuals and incomprehensible story of Jesse Faden’s ventures.

Granted, Swery 65’s magnum opus is one of my favourite games of all-time, but overall Control just never comes anywhere close — in any shape or form — to Deadly Premonition standards. This is legit surprising, as I know that the Finnish studio who crafted Control is an incredibly talented developer. (For the record, I absolutely adored Alan Wake.)

What’s also surprising, though, is how well it was reviewed by gaming press. Sitting happy at an 82 on Metacritic and 82.27 on GameRankings at the time of writing, I’m sure Remedy are pleased with how positively their game shook out with critics. Interestingly, though, Control did fail to crack the top 20 games of August, which hints at a rather lukewarm reception sales-wise.

The truth is, I don’t actually hate Control. There are some decent, well-meaning ideas hidden in there. At the heart of a good-looking game is a weird world with some solid action gameplay. However, about two thirds of the title is spent backtracking aimlessly around a lifeless, repetitive structure with very little authentic tension, atmosphere or agency. These issues really got in the way of my enjoyment of the game. And I know that Remedy have done better and can do better.

Ultimately, the overall execution of Control leaves a lot to be desired and left me feeling cold and disappointed. True, Remedy’s latest may not be an awful game per se, but it does make awful narrative and game design choices that relegate the frustrating experience to one of my personal disappointments of 2019.

“WHY WON’T IT END?!” Jesse Faden pleads with the player in the final stretch of Control’s bland and forgettable 12 hour campaign. It almost feels like Remedy was in on the joke. You seriously can’t get any more meta than that, right?
 

DalekFlay

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I don't think I'm gonna finish this one. Just went back to it after a long break and the repetitive combat and backtracking really drove me nuts. In less than an hour I said fuck it and uninstalled. I have shit I enjoy waaaaay more to play. It has a super cool vibe to it and the combat's okay, but as the article above says it just doesn't hold up for long because of repetition and annoyance. Also I don't know if a patch introduced it or what, but suddenly I had a lot of what felt like mouse lag. It just didn't feel good to play after a few weeks of playing other things. Oh well.

Also the patch added an Epic Client requirement for the game to launch. Adding DRM months after launch! Brilliant!
 

Dexter

Arcane
Joined
Mar 31, 2011
Messages
15,655
https://www.pcgamesn.com/control/drm
Control update adds new DRM in addition to photo mode
Control-580x334.jpg

The new patch for Control, version 1.04, has added a photo mode to the game, and removed offline play, and disables compatibility with the Steam controller.

The recent update for Remedy Entertainment’s paranormal action adventure forces players to be connected to the internet at all times and use the Epic Games Store to launch. Previously, you could just boot up through a separate .exe file on your computer if you wanted to play while offline. As a result, Steam controllers are no longer supported.

The discovery was posted in a Reddit thread, where a commenter below the first post further detailed the DRM. When you try to load the game when offline through the executable, an error now comes up stating you have to sign in to the Epic Games Store and start through there. Doing so disables the Steam controller. This change wasn’t listed in the patch notes, which had no mention of anything to do with launching, instead focusing on the addition of the Photo Mode and some minor bug fixes.

The lack of any word from Remedy suggests that it’s an error of some sort. The Epic Games Store has had some strange glitches appear, such as Hyper Light Drifter being incompatible with cloud saves, which Epic were unable to explain.

The important part is that if you want to play offline, or with a Steam controller, don’t download the latest update.

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DalekFlay

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They say it was an accident and a patch fixed it. True or not, at least they changed it quickly.

Still doubt I finish it...
 

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
So I played for about an hour. The game runs well, shooting and throwing shit at enemies is fun, and I can definitely see the potential here. I like the world that is presented to us, and I enjoy some elements of the atmosphere they're trying to create. The SCP vibe, and just getting into a vast world that is so secretive is certainly alluring, and I want to know everything I can about it.

What kind of kills it for me though, is the fact that the main actor chosen is so ridiculously bad. Why in God's name they chose a woman, I have no clue. If this is it how it feels for women when they have to play male protagonists all the time, I feel for them, but really. I can't relate to this broad, and all her reactions are so fucking feminine. Every second I spent playing the game in the first hour, I was thinking, "Damn this is fun. Too bad I'm playing some broad and not some badass who's on a quest to find his lost brother." Her reactions and inner monologues are pretty cringe, and it reminds me of the white valley girls I know all too well. A lost opportunity. Because they wanted to pander to some fucking broads, they hamstrung their game and isolated their main character from their core audience.

The game is really easy so far by the way, and it kind of hampers the scary and tense atmosphere they're going for. It's hard to feel like that when within an hour in and only having two powers, I already feel like I can take out anything they're going to send at me. That's not a problem, and I think I enjoy a game where I feel like I'm a total fucking badass, even more than the scary and tense games where I feel far more powerless. The problem is that the main character doesn't adequately embody this "badass" on a quest to find her brother and who is fascinated by the world she's found herself in.

An hour is obviously far too short to tell anything about the content of the game, as I've barely got a chance to see the level design, the difficulty scaling, and whether or not the combat will remain entertaining after more than an hour of play. That being said, my early prediction is that this game will be so close to being good, but fizzle out, and I'll lose interest about 5-20 hours in. Shame.
 

Urthor

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Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
The game runs well

Really wish I could understand these posts. This game is easily the most demanding I've put on my PC, and benchmark sites back that up. Weird.

It's not like one of those games that runs crap on a 2080ti because it is crap and they fucked up tessellation or some shit, it's just a beefy boi that requires a good PC.

These are two different things, but there are lot of Bulgarians on this Codex who think Solid State hard drives are newfangled nonsense developers shouldn't support, and there's not much you can say to these men and their toasters.

For the record I thought the woman was pretty cool if you modded her to have the attractive, preorder only costume. Playing with the default clothes which were super ugly felt bad.

Otherwise I don't mind a protagonist who is basically Ginger Lara Croft.
 

DalekFlay

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It's not like one of those games that runs crap on a 2080ti because it is crap and they fucked up tessellation or some shit, it's just a beefy boi that requires a good PC.

These are two different things, but there are lot of Bulgarians on this Codex who think Solid State hard drives are newfangled nonsense developers shouldn't support, and there's not much you can say to these men and their toasters.

A game running well on a 2080ti does not mean it runs well in general. The 2080ti is a fucking $1200 graphics card that probably half-a-percent of PC gamers own, if that. Also, from watching videos, I know even the 2080ti can't run the game that great at max settings.
 

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
The game runs well

Really wish I could understand these posts. This game is easily the most demanding I've put on my PC, and benchmark sites back that up. Weird.
I'm running it mostly on low. When I say it runs well, I mean that I'm getting consistently high FPS, the game looks pretty good, and it feels like butter to play. Playing TOW, a game that's much less graphically demanding than this, on mostly low and medium settings, it felt way worse and way more choppy.
So why was this game forgotten so quickly?
No idea, to be honest, I feel like this is the type of thing that grognards would eat up.
 

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