And uh, if that’s not enough? Well, it just looks damn cool. It’s an additional and subtle bit of realism though which increases the contrast between The Oldest House’s boring government office facade and the supernatural elements at war within.
(Check out the video up top for real-time back-and-forth testing.) Notice the lack of reflections on the glass wall, and less detailed reflections on the floor in the outer room. The pacing is excellent, aside from a few half-hearted side missions. Through the end, you’re still accessing new areas and uncovering deeper and darker secrets about the Bureau’s operations. Core story information is generally conveyed in ways the player can’t miss, through conversations and cutscenes, and I didn’t feel like I was going out of my way to find collectibles-but then again, they’re so well-executed I would’ve hunted them down regardless.Īnyway, exploring The Oldest House sustains the vast majority of the game. It’s not a perfect solution, but it feels far less distracting than it has in past Remedy games. They’re research that could conceivably be left out, or in the case of Darling’s presentations, film reels that play on in-game projectors and TVs in appropriate locations. They’re not scattered around in weird places, nor do they tend to take the form of ultra-convenient documents that happened to get left out. Control’s collectibles feel more justified though. I said as much when reviewing Quantum Break, and it’d be wrong not to reiterate the same here. And to that end, Control is filled with collectibles.Īre collectibles a crutch? Yeah, sure. Some locations are essential, but many exist only to flesh out the Bureau’s background, to give the player more window onto this world. IDG / Hayden DingmanĬontrol begs you to wander. Maybe it’ll be an endless void, bookended by thick concrete doors. Maybe it’ll be a soundproof room filled with dozens of static-filled TVs.
Maybe it’ll be a boring office full of filing cabinets and some potted plants. You never really know what the hell you’ll find around the next corner. These and other locations make exploring The Oldest House a joy in itself. There was a weird mold-ridden basement, site of an experiment seemingly gone catastrophic. There was Audio Lab #2, the existence of which implied an Audio Lab #1 if only I looked hard enough. There was the Ashtray Maze, a labyrinth that reshaped itself as I wandered through it, inevitably leading back to the beginning each time. We took a look at Control’s Research Level back at GDC, and I fell in love with the odd details. And for a long time The Oldest House is the star.