Remedy Entertainment has been a big player in the video game industry for decades, but 2019's Control was a truly break-out success that spawned a lot of interest in the studio's burgeoning interconnected universe. Alan Wake 2 being announced at The Game Awards 2021 is a big deal following Control's AWE expansion, which brought the Alan Wake character back for the first time since his original game in 2010. Now Remedy seems intent to give people a chance to catch up on prior titles building its expanded universe.
Alan Wake Remastered released exclusively for the Epic Games Store this October, and the storefront's eleventh free mystery game for December 2021 is Control. While Control is also available as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription, another avenue to play it for free this holiday season is welcome. Anyone taking advantage of that will also get the chance to play with one of the best weapons in recent video game history: Jesse Faden's Service Weapon.
How Control's Service Weapon Ties Into its Narrative
The Service Weapon is one of Control's primary Objects of Power. These are like the typical paranatural-influenced Altered Items investigated by the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), but have the ability to confer powers to anyone strong enough to wield them. Unlike many Objects of Power Jesse interacts with to save the FBC from an otherworldly threat called the Hiss, such as a Floppy Disk that lets her throw objects or a Benicoff TV that lets her levitate, the Service Weapon is more integral to both narrative and gameplay.
Jesse only becomes Director of the FBC by virtue of the Service Weapon, which is a conduit of the Board that rules over the Astral Plane where Altered Items draw their unnatural powers. The Service Weapon chooses its wielder with a Russian Roulette-styled test, and Jesse bonds with it after former Director Trench ends his own life. From then on it becomes her primary weapon to fight off Hiss-infected agents, and it's an incredibly versatile tool.
How Control's Service Weapon Stands Out in Combat
At the core of Control's surreal worldbuilding, which draws heavy parallels to the popular online collaborative creepypasta project SCP Foundation, is a third-person shooter that seems standard at first glance. The Service Weapon begins as a standard sidearm pistol that Jesse can use to chip away at Hiss entities. However, unlike in series such as Call of Duty or Halo, Jesse doesn't pick up any new weapons throughout her various stops in the Oldest House.
Instead the Service Weapon has multiple forms beyond its basic "Grip" setting. It also has a shotgun-like "Shatter" form, a rapid-fire "Spin" form, a charging sniper round in "Pierce" form, and an explosive "Charge" form that can launch up to three bursts at once. The AWE expansion also introduces a "Surge" form that launches sticky grenades. What stands out about this jack-of-all-trades approach is that players get to choose which direction they'd like to take the Service Weapon. Unlocking and upgrading each form is optional, similar to powering up the Object of Power abilities that Jesse collects.
The freedom this provides is great because all of the Service Weapon's forms are useful in different circumstances, but some may work better than others for each player. In a way, this also reflects the idea that the Service Weapon is imprinted to Jesse, and Jesse's approach as FBC Director may be completely different than any of her predecessors. On the whole, using a gun may not be as exciting as launching chunks of every wall at the Hiss, but it's more than worth exploring the ways the Service Weapon can be handled for anyone picking up Control on the Epic Games Store - or any platform, for that matter.
Control is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.