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The X-Files Vibes

The main protagonist Jesse Faden arrives at the Federal Bureau of Control a.k.a. The Oldest House, which is situated in New York City, to find her brother Dylan, but there is something wrong with this building. She meets mysterious janitor Ahti, who sends her to the office of director Trench where her journey begins.
Gameplay
I won’t say more about the story, because I don’t want to spoil it, and it would be a long read because of its complexity. By playing the game, you will learn about lore, but at the beginning, you could feel lost. Main missions are well-made, and the same goes for side quests. Each of them offers unique experiences, and they are not repetitive. But there is one problem. It lacks enemy types. In the beginning, it was fine, but later, there were no new variants of Hiss. Hiss is the name for an entity that spread around The Oldest House. It can manipulate people's minds and change them into mutants. Some are normal guards that use regular weapons, but others can fly or blow you up with grenades. By clearing them in a specific location, you can unlock a Control Point that works as a save point and place where you can refill health or energy. Also, you can spend skill points obtained from completed missions here, and modify your Service Weapon. You can upgrade Jesse’s paranatural abilities like throwing objects, dashing, learn how to make a shield and more. They are awesome and helpful during heavy fights. So, I enjoyed the gameplay, but for some reason, this is the third game in a row that has respawning enemies (check my review for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Days Gone). It can be very annoying when you want to save the game at a control point, and suddenly Hiss appears in front of you.
Service Weapon
Control is not an ordinary action game, so your main weapon is way different compared to other games. It looks like a revolver, but it works very differently. You don’t need to reload it with ammo. It reloads itself after emptying the magazine and can transform into five different forms (four in the basic game). In the beginning, you have a pistol mode called Grip. Later, you can get a shotgun, submachine gun, sniper rifle, and even a grenade launcher. You can quickly switch between two forms that suit your playstyle and situation the most. My favourite combination was Spin (submachine gun) and Charger (grenade launcher). Each weapon form can have up to three mod slots, where you can place various boosts. For example, you can upgrade damage, reload speed, rate of fire and many more. Also, Jesse can have her own three slots to enhance personal stats. Mods can drop from dead enemies, or you can get them from crates spread around the FBC, and they are craftable in the inventory. I really liked Service Weapon because it's something different and makes the game unique.
The Oldest House
The whole game takes place in one building, but trust me, this isn't a common office skyscraper in New York City. There are a lot of secrets waiting to be revealed. The atmosphere is fascinating, and sometimes your brain will not know what to think. You will feel like in The X-Files. During combat, you can spot well-made destruction of objects. You can see how furniture falls apart, glass shatters, wood breaks and so on. If you think you are safe behind a thin railing, you are not. You must choose the right cover if you want to survive. Control is a nice example of how action games should look like. The only thing that spoils immersion is collectables. On the one hand, they can tell you a lot about lore, but on the other hand, there are too many of them. You walk a few steps and read a document, another few metres, the next piece of paper. Yes, you can skip reading, but you know. It would be better to tell about the lore in some different ways, than with 412 collectables. Some of them are videos or recordings, which is good, but others are texts. Maybe more cutscenes or conversations would be better.
DLCs
The Ultimate edition contains two story DLCs, Foundation and AWE. The first one will bring you to a secret cave, where you must stop a new threat, and fight of a few new enemies. It's a shame the devs didn't add more new Hiss, as killing the same ones repeatedly can get a little bit annoying. This also applies to the second expansion, AWE (Altered World Events), which spawns only one new enemy type. At least the new investigation sector of the Oldest House is awesome, along with the fifth form of the service weapon. It's a lot darker, and makes the game feel more like the X-Files. Both expansions are a nice addition to the game, and they will take you the mystery of the Control universe even deeper.
Conclusion
Control is a well-made game with nice physics of destruction, mystery lore, the unique Service Weapon and an atmosphere that will remind you of The Files-X series. If you want something different from ordinary action-adventure games, try it. I can recommend Control to you.




Control Ultimate Edition 8.5/10






🟢 Good atmosphere
🟢 The X-Files vibes

🟢 Service weapon

🟢 Destruction
🟢 Secrets

🔴 Complicated story
🔴 Too many documents to read
🔴 Only a few types of enemies
🔴 Respawn of enemies