Object Of Power, which essentially
serves as a character mod.
These Objects are what the Bureau
Of Control was set up to investigate,
collect and control. Once the Hiss
invade, we see just what a mistake
this was – like putting all your
supernatural eggs in one basket.
These paranormal artifacts could
well be why the Hiss invasion is
centred on the Bureau in the first
place... or not. What we do know
is that some of these dangerous
items of unspeakable power and
incomprehensible origin have gotten
loose – and for Jesse, collecting the
objects binds a new power to her
each time.You’re so ’vania
Progress through the main game- which Remedy refers to as “open-
ended”, rather than open world – is
via a Metroidvania approach. In other
words, areas that may have been
inaccessible, although visible when
you passed through an area once, will
be unlocked with game progression,
meaning you’ll be revisiting areas
of the Oldest House – as well as
the Astral Plane, basically another
dimension that you travel to when you
style weapon that can shoot enemies
through cover.
Jesse’s added telekinetic powers
provide variety and some nice
flourishes to firefights. It reminds us
a little of the combat in Mass Effect.
Jesse crouches instinctively when
you go near cover, but since we can
levitate, most of our time is spent
off the ground – well, why wouldn’t
we? Jesse also has the power to
repossess enemies and make them
fight on her side against the Hiss,
demonstrating that even in the
straight-up wave-based mob fights,
the game provides any number of
ways in which you can do battle.
Our hosts have given us a printed
map of the area we’re playing in,
providing clues as to where we can
go and what to look out for during
our limited time in it, and there are
a set of tasks to achieve, such as
locating a maze-like room with walls
that shift as you walk around it,
and investigating some toilets that
evidently haven’t been cleaned in
a while, certainly not since a bunch
of transdimensional beings clogged
up the U-bends with... whatever it is
transdimensional beings ate the night
before. It’s in here that we locate an
“The combat feels
extremely pleasing, being
intuitive, fluid and fast”
ABOVE Reality as
you know it has
been warped.
Don’t be
surprised
if your
surroundings
start to look
like an Escher
painting.‘cleanse’ an Object Of Power, like the
naughty fridge, and need to collect
its power. It’s in the Astral Plane
where you’ll see the game’s inverted
pyramid motif, as the central point to
that other dimension and an evident
source of all power.
So with all of time, space and
alternate dimensions to play with,
why did the team opt for a traditionally
Metroidvania approach with Control?
“For me it starts in a place of what
do I think is cool as an experience,”
says Paul Ehreth, “and then using
that as our foundation and allowing
the weird to grow from there. So
there’s infinite different ways you
can do Metroidvania design, and the
way it functions in this game is going
to feel quite different I think from
most other games. It still has to do
with interconnectivity and revisiting
spaces that you’ve already been to
before and getting to places that you
could see but couldn’t get to yet, butMore Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 049CONTROL