More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 053the importance of characters and so on.
Maybe, like looking back on Quantum Break,
we told a really elaborate story, there was
a lot of exposition, people explaining what
was happening, and sometimes it’s better
to allow the players to figure things out
for themselves. You will see a big shift in
Control in that regard, we want to take a step
back and have all the clues and story and
the lore there in the world, but it’s up to the
players to really piece it together and figure
it out. I think that’s one of the things that I
took from Quantum Break, that we needed
to rethink a bit and see different ways of
achieving that.
Remedy has always liked to include unusual
and groundbreaking mechanics in its games,
bullet time in Max Payne, the use of light
in Alan Wake, time-bending in Quantum
Break, and now you are altering reality itself
with Control...
Absolutely. There’s more risk-taking with
these type of things. You look back on our
previous games, Alan [Wake] had a flashlight,
and that’s all he did; with Quantum Break we
went a step further with the time mechanics...
but there was also a little bit of a limit to
how far we could go. Essentially, there are
no limits in Control – we don’t say that it’s
just time, or it’s just light and shadows, we
open up possibilities. Which allows us to
manoeuvre and find what’s fun without being
limited by the context we set ourselves. We
like strong themes. ‘Okay, this is all about
bullet time or this is all about light,’ it helps
us to have a focus on the game, which
is always healthy and good, but it maybe
also comes from a different age and time.
It was a common philosophy in the early
’00s: perfect that 30-second loop. Like
what Halo did, perfect that one loop, make
headshots feel good, and then you repeat
that endlessly. It was a common strategy, and
it was a good strategy, but I don’t think that’s
enough any more. You have to have that, but
then you have to have other layers to the
experience – progression, strong characters,
an interesting world to explore. Even when
they don’t play the game we want people to
think about it, ‘Okay what will I do when I get
back in the evening and return to playing
Control? Will I tackle a side-mission?’ It’s a
different age, I think. Our philosophy looking
at game design needs to change as well, so
it can’t be just fight with light, it needs to be
more than that and that’s what we are doing
with Control.How far did you have to rein in some of
the ideas to make them accessible to the
average gamer?
There had to be context to what you’re
doing. So when I’m saying ‘no limits’, it just
means there are no conceptual limits, but
when we actually design and think about
stuff it’s still there. Like telekinesis – what
does that mean and how powerful are you?
There needs to be a natural limit to it so
it’s balanced and understandable and it
feels physical and right and intuitive for the
player. It’s good to know where the sandbox
borders are. My philosophy towards even
balancing in games has shifted. I usually
was a more careful person regarding
combat, like ‘let’s do small things and then
improve’, but I think in Control it’s fun to go
a bit crazy with the action, then counter-
balance that by having crazier enemies and
see where that conflict leads, so a bit of
unpredictability is fun! Q“We don’t say that it’s just time,
or it’s just light and shadows,
we open up possibilities”
CONTROL