Does Control get better?

[air_show]

I'm at a crossroads here. I'm a few hours in at most. I like the SCP Foundation inspirations, but so far it seems to only be leaning into the reality-warping and super powers aspects of it and I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to see any monsters or body horror, which are necessary for a complete Foundation experience in my book. Like, all the bad guys are just possessed security guards? That's really boring. Like unimaginably boring.
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Also like, immediately after getting the telekinesis power the difficulty spiked dramatically for me. As in literally every combat encounter the game has thrown at me has killed me. So I'm wondering if putting in the effort at this point is going to feel rewarding at all.

 

[ThornGhost]

There are a lot of cool things about Control, but I also dropped off of it at some point. I think it was a good deal past where you describe yourself to be, but it did happen.

I think for me, I just don't care much for the "shooty, long combat arena / explore a bit / repeat" model a lot of modern action games fall into. And boy howdy does Control do that.

 

[ShakeWell]

Control rules, but most of the non-bosses are just possessed security guards, yes. If that's a dealbreaker for you, then you should probably put it down.

 

[Juno]

After a couple of hours, Control largely is what it will be for the rest of the game. I personally loved it, but if what you've played so far isn't working for you, you might be better off dropping it.

 

[air_show]

I'm still giving it a chance for now. Got past the first boss, the flying guy. That took me quite a few tries but hopefully I'm past the dying over and over again phase for a while.

I'm compelled to keep at it for a little longer at least on account of I do enjoy the atmosphere at least an all the little files you can find scattered around with fun little world building details. And even though "it all takes place in one giant eldritch office building" seems boring it is a very well-designed office building that always looks nice.

I guess it's just a shame it falls victim to the videogamey combat thing. It's hard for that bizarro-horror theme to really make you feel oppressed and frightened when from pretty much the word go you are flinging superpowers around destroying hordes of disposable enemeies like it's a Saint's Row game.

 

[Fyonn]

Control is brutal as hell, the whole way through. Biggest problem with the game, though the fight with Tommassi is probably the worst single moment in the game. I played the game to completion and hated it, and then saw someone else's enthusiasm for the game, found it infectious, and adored the game the second time through. The difficulty feels tuned for someone who has already beaten the game. That said, the game has an assist mode in the options menu where you can adjust aspects of the gameplay into the realm of the reasonable. Also, telekinesis kicks ass - it can quickly hit the point where your energy bar is a "how many one-shot kills can I do right now?" more than anything else.

 

[zonetrope]

I don't remember the specifics of the skill tree in this game, but it is perfectly acceptable (and fun) to just make telekenesis as powerful as possible and ride that ability to the credits.

 

[Adrenaline]

There are some interesting weird bosses farther in the game but nothing grotesque or gory.

 

[lincolnic]

I don't remember the specifics of the skill tree in this game, but it is perfectly acceptable (and fun) to just make telekenesis as powerful as possible and ride that ability to the credits.

This is more or less how I played the game, and had a blast doing so. I like to describe Control as a "Jean Gray simulator" to people who haven't heard of it.

 

[MCBanjoMike]

Control is an excellent game IMO, but if you aren't having fun throwing forklifts at possessed security guards now, I'm not sure you'll be much happier by hour 15. To answer your question literally, yes: the game gets more fun when you get the flight power fairly late in the game. But it's not night and day or anything, so don't expect any major changes.

 

[Nodal]

Also, Controls goal is not to make you feel oppressed and frightened. If that's what you want you're going to be disappointed.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

You don't really fight monsters regularly (aside from people who are in various stages of...reconfiguration) but there are a few very cool non-human boss encounters in the game.

 

[ShakeWell]

Also, Controls goal is not to make you feel oppressed and frightened. If that's what you want you're going to be disappointed.

Yeah, I was going to mention that. It uses a very SCP-esque framing device, but it's definitely not generally-speaking a horror game.

 

[Ludendorkk]

The combat of the game is generally dire -- all the enemies look the same and you have 1.5 seconds to deduce which of these identically-silhouetted enemies is which or take a wipe as they chew instantly through your health. Same problem as Alan Wake where you keep getting taken out the more interesting parts of the game to get locked in endless monster closets to find swarms of the same 2 monsters over and over. Hope Remedy will wise up for the next game

 

[Paul le Fou]

I turned on immortality and couldn't have been happier with my decision. The combat was not the part of the game I wanted to spend my time with.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

I really enjoyed the combat as a furniture throwing simulator but I could see why someone wouldn't.

 

[air_show]

I haven't given up on the game, haven't played it lately either but I just haven't made time for gaming at all for the past day or two.

It's just like, you know how Half-Life was kind of an action game and a horror game? Control feels ripe for that. I'm not saying it has to be a gorefest but one or two sections where there's a genuine nightmare monster to deal with might really sweeten the pot.

I could be selling it short though, it does do a decent job at having a foreboding atmosphere often enough.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

It's a horror game but not a horror game, you know? As you say, it's about atmosphere, and the building itself (and the forces wrapped up in it) provide more of the horror than the enemies you fight, generally.

 

[Adrenaline]

The Alan Wake comparison is apt. It has the affectations of horror but is not really horror.

 

[madhair60]

I can’t imagine calling Alan Wake anything other than a horror game

Edit: I mean I get it. Kinda. I think it’s the weird way game genres are pigeonholed. Because it doesn’t play like what I guess you’d typically call a “horror game”, but it’s a game… in the horror genre…

 

[Adrenaline]

Genres are weird and kind of arbitrary, not just in games. Alan Wake is thematically horror but it plays like an action game.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Well horror itself has that range. Aliens, for example, is an action movie and also a horror movie, I'd say. So these can be action-horror games even if not pure horror games, you know?

 

[Nodal]

Right, stuff can be horror themed but not be scary. We call it spooky in this house.

 

[Fyonn]

Games have functional genres, not narrative or stylistic genres.
If you replace the "game" part of "horror game" with the functional genre, I think it gets the point across. In Alan Wake's case, we could call it a Horror Third Person Shooter. Unfortunately, that also leads to weird cases where we'd be calling Resident Evil 2 a Horror Survival Horror. Though maybe just inverting that to Horror Survival would work better?

Come for advice on Control, stay for utterly meaningless pedantry about categorization of video games that will not escape this thread.

 

[air_show]

I'm warming up to the game. I encountered a shit monster that actually served some grotesquery which I appreciate, even if it was little more than an easily removed obstacle. And the combat is coming dangerously close to being fun as I upgrade the shit out of Launch and get more gun modes to play around with.

I find the level design interesting. Because of all the brutalism it can be easy to get disoriented and have a hard time remembering what direction you're supposed to be going after a firefight or even a simple trip to the menu to read a file. In most game's that'd be like, bad design, but here it does actually contribute to a House of Leaves kind of feeling of getting lost in an overly complicated labyrinth. It feels almost like it encourages you to slow down, actually pay attention to the signs and other visual clues around you to navigate, and I like that. I'm glad there's not just a waypoint marker constantly leading me around by the nose.

 

[Fyonn]

I'm glad you're sticking with it because one of the late game segments is one of my favorite set pieces in video games.

 

[air_show]

You know I was really hoping that Fridge would pay off with something great, not a really shitty boss fight that's cost me about 30,000 resources in deaths.

 

[air_show]

Oh my god I'm so fucking angry. After dying dozens and dozens of times on the Former and losing basically an entire weapon's upgrade worth of resources I finally beat it by just spamming launch as aggressively as possible. And I STILL fell through the floor when I beat it completely ruining any sense of climax or payoff. God that sucked.

 

[Sarcasmorator]

Oh yeah, that happened to me once. Worst boss in the game.

 

[air_show]

It's a shame that was my experience because I thought it had a cool design and was a suitably "cosmic" experience out of the game in presentation. I at least appreciate what they were going for while frustrating the shit out of me.

I'll balance that negative anecdote with a positive one I had gotten about a week earlier, where I discovered the room at the bottom of the stairs that just leads to a giant pair of underground speakers where you can listen to a really awesome song. Literally did just kind of stand there and be enchanted by it. I haven't played Alan Wake myself but I have a vague gist of its plot and my friend LOVES it, and I'm enjoying all the little connections a lot. Also said friend made it aware to me that Remedy is not an American game studio and suddenly the tone makes a lot more sense.

Alan Wake is also a game I never gave a fair shot because "the monsters were boring" and probably should go back and give it another chance.