Control has been a surprising hit in 2019 and has set the stage for a promising future for developer Remedy Entertainment. The game takes place in a location known as the Oldest House, which has players traversing its many corridors and locations.
With any building that has connections to alternate dimensions and the astral plane, it's smart to be cautious of your surroundings and plan accordingly. Despite being powerful, you still need to be prepared. Here are 10 tips for traversing the unpredictable and uneasy Oldest House in Remedy Entertainment's Control.
10 Enemies Will Respawn
Games handle enemies and how they respawn in the world differently. Some make it so once you clear an area it's clear forever, whereas the Souls games make it so non-boss enemies respawn when a player engages with a savepoint/replenish spot. Control will simply have enemies respawn in areas you've been before and it's likely tied to creating interesting gameplay encounters. Luckily, the game has fast-travel for those players who are simply trying to experience the mainline story with little to no interruptions.
9 Reload, Reload, Reload
Firefights in Control seem manageable and straightforward at first, but they can quickly turn into frantic and unmanageable situations. Knowing the limitations of the Service Weapon can often be the difference between dominating and surviving.
The Service Weapon has a particularly long reload time once the entire magazine is emptied which means it's better to manually reload before running out. Often players will reload after every kill in a shooter, but in Control it may be a welcoming habit.
8 Use Your Materials
7 Don't Scare Yourself
Most of the time Control trades in jump scares for unnerving audio and uncomfortable environments. It's the type of game that will make you uncomfortable over time as opposed to trying to scare you every 5-to-10 minutes. Throughout the game, some rooms feature normal people floating in mid-air. The first time you see it you'll likely scare yourself, for your own sake though try and take mental notes of where things are so the next time you enter that location you don't give yourself a heart attack.
6 Experiment
Games like Control may look to be structured on the surface, but developers provide players with tons of tools and areas to make them feel comfortable experimenting. The Oldest House is a sandbox that Jesse has the fortune of playing in and it's up to you as a player to feel free enough to try everything at your disposal.
Mess around with the Service Weapon and the powers you acquire and see how much fun you can have in combat by mixing and matching everything available to you.
5 Find Your Weapon
The Service Weapon is assigned to Jess Faden when she finds the bureau's previous director dead from what seems to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The gun has 5 different forms that are all acquirable via upgrades to the weapon and each provides a unique gameplay experience. Instead of getting comfortable and fixated on the early-game forms of the weapon, commit to experimenting and finding what works best for you in a given situation. Be as versatile as the weapon itself is.
4 Beware Of The Hiss
At the beginning of the game, the Hiss seems like a weird paranormal and abstract thing that's more mysterious than it is dangerous. As Jesse Faden, you quickly come to realize that the Hiss could be the end of the world as we know it. Noise may be annoying but it won't always register as dangerous, but the first time you come across the red-tinted infestation you'll quickly find out how deadly it is. You, as the player, must understand and respect the Hiss for what it is and take precautions to stay on the side of the living.
3 Explore Every Room
Exploration in video games is an elemental of level and game design that isn't often talked about but can make a good game great. In Control the game rewards players for searching every nook and cranny for collectibles and crafting materials.
You'll never know what you're going to find and spending extra time combing over every room could lead to some remarkable gameplay advantages down the road. Also, don't forget about the access doors you can go back and unlock as the higher levels become available to you.
2 Cover Is Your Friend
When playing a game that gives players superpowers, sometimes the power fantasy fogs a player's judgment and they forget that they're susceptible to damage. You'll realize early on that you can't just use blunt force and aggression to succeed. You must be willing to use cover and take your shots at enemies when the timing feels right. Jesse Faden may by a Director with the world at her fingertips, but she takes damage and will perish like any other human being. Don't be full of yourself and use cover to your advantage.
1 It's A Metroidvania
The term Metroidvania refers to games that feature a system in which certain locations are off-limits until you acquire a certain item to access them. Games designed this way will have players returning to previously visited locations and can provide a real sense of accomplishment and often include additional rewards. With Control there are two ways you acquire access to additional areas. One is through the powers you acquire via Objects of Power, and the other is the access level cards you acquire mostly through the game's narrative.