Remedy Entertainment's Control sort of came out of nowhere, announced unexpectedly at E3 2018. Now the game's release is right around the corner, and fans of Remedy may be interested to learn more about the game before they commit to picking it up. What may be of particular interest to those who plan on buying Control is the game's length, which Remedy communications director Thomas Puha has now touched on.
According to Puha, it's difficult to provide an exact number when determining how long Control will take to beat. Apparently the average playthrough lasts between 10 and 15 hours, but it could be beaten "a lot faster" by someone who knows what they're doing. It could also take longer for someone who decides to thoroughly explore the environment, complete side missions, find collectibles, etc., wtih Puha estimating that a more thorough playthrough will last about 20 hours.
20 hours to fully complete a game may seem a little on the short side to some, but for an action-focused, story-driven game like Control, it does seem like the sweet spot. It's also more or less in line with Remedy's previous work, with the well-received Alan Wake lasting about as long. The Max Payne games and the TV/video game hybrid Quantum Break have similar lengths as well, according to playtime aggregate site How Long to Beat.
However, in an industry where some games offer 10 times the amount of content as Control, it will be interesting to see if its sales suffer as a result of its relatively short playtime. Then again, if Control is able to live up to Remedy's standards and releases to strong reviews, it's easy to see how it could become the sleeper hit of the year.
The game may actually be of particular interest for fans of the horror genre. Control has horror elements, and it is directly inspired by Stanley Kubrick films like The Shining. Mixing horror and action doesn't always work, but the trailers we've seen so far show plenty of promise.
Whether or not Control ultimately lives up to the hype remains to be seen. Luckily, there's no shortage of horror games releasing in August for fans of the genre to try out, with Blair Witch and The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan joining Control near the end of the month. Perhaps the horror games will end up cannibalizing each other's sales in the long run, but that too remains to be seen.
Control launches on August 27 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: IGN