Control (video game)

Control is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Remedy Entertainment. It follows Jesse Faden, the new Director of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), a secret U.S. government agency that investigates and contains phenomena that violate the normal laws of reality. As Jesse, the player explores the Oldest House–the FBC's headquarters–and uses paranormal abilities and a shapeshifting gun known as the "Service Weapon" to combat the Hiss, a hostile, otherworldly entity that has invaded and corrupted the FBC. Players unlock new powers by locating Objects of Power, mundane objects imbued with energies from another dimension. The Oldest House has four sectors that can be explored at a nonlinear pace, and players are free to complete side quests and explore hidden areas.

Control was completed within three years with a €30 million budget. Its gameplay is significantly more open than Remedy's past games; the developers drew inspiration from role-playing and Metroidvania games. The game was written by Sam Lake and was inspired by paranormal stories about the fictional SCP Foundation, based on the new weird genre. To demonstrate the game's destructible environmental systems, the Oldest House is designed in the brutalist style common in Cold-War-era government buildings. The game's voice cast includes Courtney Hope as Faden, and James McCaffrey, Matthew Porretta, and Martti Suosalo. The music was composed by Petri Alanko and Martin Stig Andersen. Control uses Remedy's in-house Northlight Engine and was among the first games to use real-time ray tracing built into the hardware of modern video cards.

505 Games published Control for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in August 2019 and for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in February 2021. Remedy Entertainment began self-publishing the game in 2025. Control received generally positive reviews; critics praised its setting, art direction, gameplay, and characters, although its main story received mixed responses. The game sold over five million copies and was nominated for several end-of-year accolades, including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2019 and the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Two expansion packs were released, the second of which, AWE, being a crossover between Control and Alan Wake, forming part of a shared universe named the "Remedy Connected Universe". A sequel, Control Resonant, is set to be released in 2026, and a multiplayer spin-off, FBC: Firebreak, was released in 2025.

Control is an action-adventure video game that is played from a third-person perspective. The player assumes control of Jesse Faden, who is searching for her missing brother, as she arrives at the Oldest House, a featureless Brutalist skyscraper in New York City that houses the headquarters of the fictional Federal Bureau of Control (FBC). Most enemies in Control are human FBC agents who are possessed by the Hiss, an otherworldly force that is attempting to cross through a dimensional barrier into this reality. Enemies range from firearm-carrying humans to heavily mutated variants with superpowers.

To combat these threats, Jesse is equipped with the "Service Weapon", a modular firearm that can shapeshift into five forms: Grip, Spin, Shatter, Pierce, and Charge. Each form has unique gameplay properties, ranging from a close-range, shotgun-like blast to a long-range, sniper-like form. Players can equip and swap between two weapon forms at any given time. Jesse also interacts with Objects of Power to gain psychokinetic abilities. These abilities include "Launch", which allows her to telepathically hurl environmental objects as projectiles at enemies; "Evade", a quick dash to avoid attacks; "Shield", which pulls rubble from the ground to block incoming attacks; "Seize", used to briefly turn enemies into allies; and "Levitate", which enables Jesse to fly. Outside of combat and transportation, the powers are essential for solving environmental puzzles. Three of the five base powers are optional, and may only be obtained through exploration or completion of side quests. The use of the Service Weapon and Jesse's psychokinetic powers is governed by two cooldown systems, allowing players to alternate between these combat options. The game lacks a traditional cover system; players must remain mobile because defeated enemies drop health that is necessary for Jesse's survival.

The Oldest House has an interior far larger than its exterior; the building is an enormous, constantly shifting supernatural realm that defies the laws of physics. Control is built in the Metroidvania format; the Oldest House has four sectors that can be explored at a nonlinear pace. Throughout the building, players encounter Control Points, which are unlocked by clearing enemies and serve as hubs for fast travel, skill upgrades, weapon modifications, and outfit changes. Reaching a Control Point will heal Jesse without resetting the level. As players progress, Jesse's security-clearance level will increase and players will gain new skills, allowing them to access previously locked rooms or reach hidden areas. The game's campaign is divided into 10 acts that are supplemented with 18 side quests. There are also "Board Countermeasures" quests, which are challenge activities that task players with eliminating Hiss under certain conditions, and timed challenges named "Bureau Alerts". The Oldest House is filled with hidden documents, audio recordings, full-motion video (FMV) and television shows that provide context about the game's world and its backstory. An artificial intelligence (AI) system known as the Encounter Director controls interactions with enemies based on the player's level and their location in the Oldest House.

Players can further strengthen the Service Weapon and Jesse's attributes by equipping mods, with a maximum of three Weapon and three Personal mods allowed at once. Players can also craft their own mods through the Astral Construct system using materials and Source Energy, the latter of which is collected through killing the Hiss or decommissioning unwanted mods. Mods are divided into levels of rarity; more-rare mods offer greater power but require more resources to produce. Source Energy is essential for upgrading the forms of the Service Weapons. Completion of quests rewards players with Ability Points, which can be spent to upgrade Jesse's psychokinetic powers, increasing its damage, adjust its properties, and widen its use. They can also increase Jesse's maximum health, Energy, which dictates how frequently she can use her powers, and the strength of her melee attacks. Spending sufficient Ability Points grants players additional Milestone Rewards, which typically unlock additional mod slots for further customization.

Control revolves around the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), a clandestine U.S. government agency that investigates supernatural Altered World Events (AWEs). These AWEs affect the human collective unconscious and have "paranatural" effects, including the creation of Objects of Power, archetypal items that grant special abilities to their wielders. Objects of Power are connected to the Board, a black, pyramid-shaped entity that exists within the Astral Plane, an alternate dimension. The individual chosen by the Board to wield the Service Weapon, an Object of Power, is considered by default to be the director of the FBC. Control takes place within the Oldest House, a Brutalist skyscraper in New York City that houses the headquarters of the FBC. The Oldest House is a Place of Power with several paranatural characteristics: it resists being noticed by anyone other than FBC members and individuals with an innate sensitivity to the paranatural, its interior is larger than its exterior, and its internal architecture is prone to shifting and rearranging in unpredictable ways. The FBC can stabilize portions of the Oldest House for its use by harnessing nexuses of resonance called Control Points.