Sam Lake is one of the creative powerhouses behind the eclectic masterpieces released by Remedy. If you're trying to make sense of the Finnish artist's incredi??ble imagination, it would be a great idea to start by having a look? at his recommended reading list, which he has recently shared.

Lake reveals that these were the books he grabbed off his bookshelf when a friend asked for recommen??dations. In case ??you're having trouble seeing all the books, here's the list:

• As She Climbed Across the Table - Jonathan Lethem
• Blood: A Southern Fantasy - Michael Moorcock
• Falling Out of Cars - Jeff Noon
• House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Murakami
• Imperial Bedroom - Bret Easton Ellis
• Lighthousekeeping - Jeanette Winterson
• Lunar Park - Bret Easton Ellis
• Motherless Brooklyn - Jonathan Lethem
• Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Buried Giant - Kazuo Ishiguro
• The City - China Mieville
• The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
• The Etched City - KJ Bishop
• The Magus - John Fowles
• The Secret History - Donna Tartt
• Vurt - Jeff Noon
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

There are also a few books by?? a personal favorite of? mine, Paul Auster:

• Leviathan
• Moon Palace
• Oracle Night

This is far from the first time we've gotten a glimpse at Lake's reading list. In past interviews, he has spoken at length about the books that have inspired him and influenced his current creative style. A Tweet from Remedy Entertainment revea??led the books on Lake's desk, and plenty of them are video game adaptations.

There are other texts, and though I struggled to figure ?out all the titles, the following do appear in the pile.

• Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
• Magnolia: The Shooting Script - Thomas Anderson
• On Writing - Stephen King
• The Witcher: Ronin - Rafal Jaki

Analyzing Sam Lake's reading list

Anyone familiar with Lake and Remedy won't be shocked to see Stephen King's works. I like his books because once you reach the last page the horror is over unlike in real life where you can close all the books in your local library but the harrowing horror of the human condition will continue un??abated.

King, with both his personal life and his writing, pretty much forms the backbone of the Alan Wake franc?hise. Several parallels can be found between King and the fictional Wake, including excessive drug use and an unkillable fascination with the horror genre.

If you're interested in improving your writing skills, On Writing is a stupendously good text. It won't revolutionize your artistic abilities overnight, but it does give some insight into the grueling dedication needed to master the craft. You also get a slice of some of Kin??g's most visceral writing, and the description of him getting his eardrum pierced ha??s never left my mind.

It would be impossible to not see Paul Auster appear multiple times. His influence on Lake's work is massive, and the New York Trilogy, which contains City of Glass, features many of the metafictional elements found in Alan Wake 2. When it comes to detective themes, an interrogation of identity, and a mind-bending dive into postmodern narrative storytelling, Lake i??s essentially the Auster of gaming.

Understandably, some replies on Twitter express shock that Conrad's Heart of Darkness is on the list. It doesn't alarm me at all. Inasmuch as it is plagued by its exoticization of Africa and ignorance regarding pre-colonial African civilization, it's still a tale that manages to capture the intertwined excitement and anxiety that comes with the exploration of a new land. This is a constant in both Control and Alan Wake 2.

The Crying of Lot 49 is another text that would find it impossible to not sneak onto Lake's bookshelf. It's a book with detective themes that refuses to give you any definitive answers. In an interview with The Ringer, he discusses how he studied the novel in college and most of his peers did not like the fact that they could not make head-to-toe of it. Lake, on the other hand, loved the sense of the unknown Pynchon creates, which is something we also get to explore in Remedy games.

A few more books to consider

In many ways, Alan Wake is the ultimate gaming franchise for bibliophiles and writers alike. There's no true required reading list needed to enjoy the series or any of Remedy's other games, but there are ce??rtainly books available to condition your mind for some of the wackiness the Finnish studio brings.

• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - I'm shocked that this isn't one of the first books Lake has recommended, considering it features a woman named Alice falling into an alternate, logic-bending world.
• Create Dangerously by Albert Camus - Camus' entire bibliography would be relevant but Create Dangerously is particularly noteworthy in its interrogation of art and its creation, a topic Alan Wake 2 is beautifully obsessed with.
• How to be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis - Some of the rhetoric I've read around Saga Anderson as a co-protagonist has been pretty disgusting, and a book like How to be a Heroine shines a light on why strong female protagonists are vital.
• Michelle Remembers by Lawrence Pazder - It's an old text that found most of its popularity during the Satanic Panic, but I was surprised at how much the protagonist shares parallels with Alan Wake, as they both clash with the forces of evil in ways that leave them feeling like their identities are fragmented.
• The Neverending Story by Michael Ende - The fantasy tale features a boy named Bastion who gets lost in a book that begins to influence reality in strange ways.

Stephen King is a given, and once you're done with On Writing, then you should hit up The Shining, Misery, and the Dark Tower series next. H.P. Lovecraft's texts are a must as well, as they feature cosmic forces beyond our comprehension, with horro?rs nigh indescribable, much like the Dark Presence.

It'd also be wise to immerse yourself in the fantastically weird world of the SCP Foundation. It's collectively made by fans, so a lot of the entries are hit or miss, but the good ones present some of the most mind-melting sci-fi concepts I've ever come across. The Remedy Connected Universe also borrows heavily from Twin Peaks and other? works by David Lynch, but I lack the expertise to adequately dive into? the connections.

Despite all these inspirations, games from the Finnish studio are like nothing you'll find in any bookshop or gaming storefront. Though mimicry can get you quite far, games like Alan Wake 2 demonstrate that true artistic achievement comes from treating these influences like rocket ships to propel you to ne??w creative heights.

The post Remedy’s Sam Lake shares some book recommendations appeared first on Destructoid.

Alan Wake is the cornerstone upon which Remedy Entertainment's magnum opus rests. This magnum opus is, however, not any specific game, but their interrelationship, resulting in the creation of the Remedy Connected Universe.

And, though Control established RCU in concrete terms, understanding ?how it?? all began is crucial.

Naturally, it all began with Alan Wake proper. As Remedy's Sam Lake will attest, neither Quantum Break nor Max Payne are a part of the official RCU, and they will therefore be left aside for the purposes of recapping and explaining the full story of Alan Wake. We will, however, need to take a look at Control and American Nightmare to make sense of what's been going on, and how it all sets the stage for Alan Wake 2.

Oh, before we begin, it might be good to set the stage properly: Twin Peaks is one of the core inspirations for Remedy's Alan Wake and, as such, the Remedy-verse as a whole. Expect Lynchian logic here and there, then, with a dash of SCP slathered on top. Do expect plenty of spoilers below, for the previous Alan Wake games and Control.

Full recap and explanation of what happens in Alan Wake

As one might expect from a piece of media inspired by Twin Peaks, there are layers upon layers of narrative development present in Alan Wake, and there's no feasible way for us to cover all of them in a sensible manner. The story, as it were, begins with Alan himself and his wife, Alice, entering the Americana-core town of Bright Falls, Washington for a vacation. They rent out a small, lonely cabin at the Cauldron Lake, and intend to rest up for a little while.

However, while unpacking, Alice reveals to Alan that she has an ulterior motive for going to Bright Falls, specifically. As Alan had been struggling with severe writer's block for years at the time, Alice worked out a plan to get him to meet Dr. Emil Hartman, a famo?us psychologist. Revealing this twist to Alan does not go according to plan, however, and the pair get into a huge fight that wraps up with Alice disappearing into the lake.

Cauldron Lake is no ordinary body of water, as Wake slowly realizes. Instead, it is something that Control would later define as a threshold: a connection between Earth and some other paranatural location. Cauldron Lake, specifically, connects to the Dark Place, a strange and malleable plane of existence that houses the aptly named Dark Presence, the main antagonist of Alan Wake. Thus begins the story!

Departure

The core of Alan Wake's gameplay loop is centred around? the titular character's attempts at figuring out what on earth is going on in Bright Falls, who kidnapped Alice, and how to save her. The reveals are dished out in a bit of a meandering way, in typical Lynchian fashion, but the very gist of the tale is simpler than it seems at a glance.

Bas?ically, the Dark?? Presence needs a talented and prolific artist to write it into existence on Earth, and Cauldron Lake is a powerful threshold where creative works can be turned into reality. Dr. Hartman, specifically, has been angling for artists like Alan Wake to come to Bright Falls, so that he could use them as vessels for the Dark Presence, and that's precisely what happens here.

Though the Dark Presence only has a limited amount of power on Earth at the start of the game, it is a formidable paranatural force that can affect living beings by a huge margin. The humans and animals that attempt to capture or kill Alan in the game, ?for example, are Taken by the Dark Presence to do its bidding. Yet, if it could leverage the writings of Alan Wake at Cauldron Lake, the Dark Presence would become far more "real" on Earth, giving it more power.

Initiation

It doesn't take long for Alan to come across his agent, Bar?ry, and to recruit him as he looks for Alice. All manner of hell breaks loose along the way, including a fight with a Darkness-possessed mammoth skeleton, only for Hartman to eventually trap Wake and try to gaslight him into thi??nking he's simply having a mental breakdown caused by Alice's drowning.

Thankfully, Barry helps Alan escape from Hartman's psychiatric hospital, and the pair eventually end up getting drunk on moonshine distilled from Cauldron Lake water. This, in turn, gives Alan the ability to remember writing the mysterious Departure manuscript, the pages of which he had been collecting throughout the story. Aping the meta-myth of the Hero's Journey, Wake's Departure is, once completed?, going to allow the Dark Presence to pour onto ??Earth and do whatever it wants, which is obviously not a good thing.

While Wake couldn't put a stop to the madness, he figured that there might be a way for him to save Alice at least. To do so, he dives into Cauldron Lake to enter the Dark Place, and completes Departure. Doi??ng so meant that Alice would be free to go away, but Wake had to stay and navigate the Dark Place all on his own. The main story's narrative wraps up with the words: "It's not?? a lake, it's an ocean."

Return

Alan Wake received two addi?tional "episodes" to continu?e its main narrative. Titled 'The Signal' and 'The Writer,' they're not outright crucial for our understanding of the Remedyverse lore, but they give valuable context and deal with Wake's adventures in the Dark Place.

The implications posed by these two stories are numerous, but the most important of them all comes in the end, after Wake had already battled it out with his own frenzied mind. Wake, now having grown accustomed to the logic of the Dark Place, begins writing the final third of the meta-myth, Return, which sets the stage for Alan Wake 2 way before American Nightmare and Control were even announced.

One notable tidbit of lore here is that the artists affected by Dark Presence cannot write whatever they want into being. Some sense of balance must be maintained, which is why Alan had to stay behind in the Dark Place, in orde??r for Alice to escape.

The events of American Nightmare

While there's some discussion about whether American Nightmare is canon, as it wasn't included in the remaster of Alan Wake, everything points to it being quite crucial for Remedyv?erse as a whole. Firstly, it features Mr. Scratch, the evil doppelganger of Alan Wake who'd go on to haunt Alice Wake later on. Secondly, its ending poses the implication that Wake cannot make anything and everything into reality just by virtue of writing it down from the Dark Place, and might instead simply be able to nudge certain events into reality.

Since Wake wrote the events of the American Nightmare as if they were an episode of an in-universe TV show, they only ever happened in the Dark Place, rather than on Earth. He never did reunite with Alice, and he didn't take down Mr.? Scratch, either. Instead, the events played out as a nightmare that Wake's buddy, Barry, woke up screaming from.

The events of Control

Finally, there's Control. More so than any other Remedy Entertainment game, Control provided a wealth of context as to what's actually been going on in the background. Thresholds, Places of Power, Objects of Power, all of Alan Wake makes perfect sense when considered from the perspective provided by Control. In fact, many of the anomalies that the protagonist, Jesse Faden, deals with over the course of Control are extremely similar to what Wake has been dealing with all along, except from a slightly m?ore scientific perspective.

After Wake disappears into Cauldron Lake and the Dark Place, Dr. Hartman decides to follow him, only to immediately get overtaken by the Dark Presence. This eventually led the Federal Bureau of Control to investigate and capture the infected, mutated Hartman, and take him back to the Oldest House. The bit that complicates things is that, during the events of Control, Hartman got infested by the Hiss as well, stacking one paranatural meme/parasite on top of another. Jesse, of course, kills Hartman in the end, but the ending of the AWE expansion pack suggests that a new Altered World Event will be taking place in Bright Falls - severa??l years in the future.

As both Alan Wake and the standalone American Nightmare DLC explain Wake cannot outright change the real world, but might only be able to piece events together in a somewhat desirable way, it is unlikely that Wake wrote the entirety of Control into existence from scratch. Instead, the alternative theory is that Wake set the stage for the Hiss, the FBC, and Je??sse herself to cross paths, so as to hopefully?? turn Jesse into the saviour that Wake needs to finally escape from the Dark Place.

Will Jesse Faden appear in Alan Wake 2? We don't know yet, but Entity A-001 sure seems to be making itself at home ?in Bright Falls.

The post What you need to know about Alan Wake’s story, before jumping into the sequel appeared first on Destructoid.

Regaining Control

In something of a subdued revelation, Remedy Entertainment has announced that it is to begin work on a sequel to its mind-warping 2019 action-adventure, Control �em> Control 2 will be developed as a joint project ??between Remedy and?? developer/publisher 505 Games.

"With Control, we leaped into the unknown. We wanted to create something new. Something different and unexpected. A world like no other. Thank you, the audience, for making Control such a success for us," writes game director Mikael Kasurinen on the Remedy Entertainment website.

"With Control 2, we’ll take anothe??r leap into the unknown. It’ll be an unexpected journey. It’ll take a while, but to put it mildly, this is the?? most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. It’s still early days, but it will be worth the wait."

505 Ga?mes also spoke of its excitement to work on the reality-breaking new project.

"We are excited to deepen our cooperation with Remedy and continue the success story of Control together. Since its launch in 2019, Control has sold over three million copies," said 505 Games co-CEOs Rami and Raffi Galante. "Control is the biggest investment 505 Games has ever made, so it has a special place in our hearts. We are grateful to the whole player community that has made Control such a long-lasting and loved game, and are even more excited to bring out Control 2."

While details are non-existent regarding the sequel's narrative, the companies announced that the sequel would be developed for PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X, utilizing Remedy’s "Northlight" engine to create its dimension-splitting worlds. Remedy will be charged with publishing duties on console platforms, while 505 Games will handle marketing/release on PC. Control 2 is clearly in its very early con??cept stages, so it is unlikel??y that we'll be seeing anything of the project within the coming year.

Control 2 is currently in devel??opment at Remedy Entertainment and 505 Games.

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It's been three years already?

It seems like Control didn't come out all that long ago, but I learned today that it's been three years since the game's release. Man, time flies when you enter the black hole that is a global pandemic. Seems on theme for Control, I guess. It's one of the best shooter experiences to come out of games in quite a while, in my opinion, so it's only fitting that Control developer Remedy Entertainment?? has put together an event so that fans can celebrate the anniversary in?? style.

Arguably the most exciting part of the Control anniversary event is something Remedy is calling "Fans Ask the Fadens," where fans will have an opportunity to submit video questions to Courtney Hope and Sean Durrie, who play Jesse and Dylan Faden in the game. The videos need to be 20 seconds or under, quality of at least 1080p, and filmed horizontally. You can submit them here before the deadline on September 1st 20:00 EEST ?/ 18:00 BST / 13:00 ET / 10:00 PT.

Last week, the studio held a photo mode and fan art contest, and they've compiled their favorites under the community tab on their website. It's not too late to get involved, though �if you have some Control art that you're just dying to share, you can head to this website to upload it. You could have your art featured on their website or socials?? in the future!

Of course, they're also having a 25% off sale on all Control merch on the Remedy Store, so you can snag some cool shirt?s, po?sters, tote bags, or journals if you've been in the market for 'em. However, that sale does end today (Aug. 29) so make sure to get on it if you're interested.

Usually a game is released and that's about it, so it's cool to see Remedy keeping the community alive. They made a great game that has a bunch of fans, and giving us all a place to come together and celebrat??e one of our favorite games is something I wish other studi?os would take on as well.

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AT&T customers can stream it right to their phone or computer

As cloud gaming continues to build out, one service provider is now bundling streaming games in for its customers. AT&T announced today that Control Ultimate Edition is free to stream in its entirety to a?? phone, tablet, or co??mputer for AT&T customers.

According to AT&T's site, you just need a postpaid mobility plan. Then you can head to its Play Now site using a mobile device or computer. Enter your phone number and zip code for your account, and bam, Control Ultimate Edition.

It's available for a limited time, and powered by Google's Immersive Stream for Games. That program is a spin-off of Stadia, where companies can license Google's Stadia streaming tech for their own streaming purpos??es.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UISRDU_mzaw

This isn't the only game available, either. Batman: Arkham Knight is also on the program, as it launched last fall.

Cloudy future

Cloud gaming has been an interesting technology to watch develop over the years. Stadia itself went through some woes, shuttering its internal studios and looking to expand in other ways.

A report in February indicated Google might be pivoting and adapting the technology, bringing the tech to services looking for streaming options. It certainly seems like this Control offer falls under that.

Other companies have tried out their cloud tech, too. Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming has made Xbox One and Series X|S games open f?or streaming through the clou?d.

For AT&T, it's a very specific subset of users able to take advantage of this. But it is interesting, as a microcosm of where these options could go: mobile. Cloud options already feel largely targeted towards phones, as they make for capable and widely available streaming platforms. With a pack-in like Control Ultimate Edition, i??t's certainly a step to watch for?? future streaming developments.

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Remedy is going for full-on survival horror

Remedy's ill-fated writer is returning for another terror-filled night. Alan Wake 2 is on its way, currently targeting a 2023 launch.

Announced during The Game Awards 2021, Remedy Entertainment will be continuing the story of the first Alan Wake. Which, hey, works out pretty well considering that remastered version came out earlier t??????????????????????????his year.

Here's the teaser shown during the Game Awards:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=crQobuzpVps

In a chat on-air after the reveal, Remedy's Sam Lake said this will be the studio's "first survival horror" game. While the previous game definitely had horror elements, sounds like things are going to get even more dicey for our beloved writer in Alan Wake 2.

Considering the Alan Wake universe is also tied into Remedy's Control universe, it'll be interesting to see where things go for a new entry. Could it cross over onto itself, the way that Ubisoft's universes link together? I know I'd be down for a cameo from Control protagonist Jesse Faden, though that might be a bit much. But if you needed another reason to finally get around to playing the first Alan Wake, here it is.

Alan Wake 2 will be coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Epic? Games Sto??re in 2023.

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The Control developer continues to grow

Remedy has several projects in the works, and it's also continuing to expand. Today, Remedy announced a new subsidiary i??n Sweden, offering another workspace for its developers.

Over the last 12 months, Remedy says i?t has embraced a more "hybrid" model of working, between in-office and remote. Multiple Sweden-based senior game developers have joined the?? studio, working fully remote.

As Vanguard project general manager Johnny Mang said in Remedy's announcement, the s??hift to location-agnostic work in the wake of COVID opened up new ideas for what Remedy could be—a "state of mind, rather than a place in Finland," as he put it.

So the studio is looking to hire up to 25 developers in Sweden by the end of 2022. Remedy also plans to open a workspace in central Stockholm for Sweden-based developers to be able to get together and work in an office when needed too, with its doors set to? open in the first half of 2022.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT5yMfC9LQM

"We understand that everyone is different, and has different needs, on different ?days," said James Salt, one of Remedy's game directors, in the announcement. "Some days are best spent focused, headphones on, working on something cool, whereas other days, such as when teams are working on planning, perhaps would benefit from in-person facetime. The hybrid model is about letting people choose the method that works best for them, on any given day.?"

Remedy Entertainment has a few projects in the pipeline at the moment. Its multiplayer project, Condor, was announced earlier this year as a four-player cooperative PvE game. It's also working on a "bigger-budget Control game," though the specifics haven't been laid out for that yet. And it's also collaborating with Smilegate on the campaign for CrossfireX.

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This Ol' House was home and comfort

Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment has posted its financial results for the most recent quarter, revealing that �among other releases �its reality-bending 2019 adventure Control continues ?to pull in new sales and players two years after its original release, essentially becoming the strongest and most enduring release in Remedy's storied oeuvre.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGgEoIVi7A

Control has reached somewhere in the region of 10 million players, a number which was substantially boosted earlier in 2021 by the PS5 and Xbox Series X editions of the mysterious third-person title, which sees a federal agent combat frightening otherworldly phenomenon threatening to invade her physical reality. Control was also made available to PlayStation Plus subscribers back in February, which no doubt led to further interest in the game's DLC expansions The Foundation and AWE. This "free" release was potentially something of a "make-good" for the controversy at the end of 2020, where Remedy revealed that only select Control owners would receive free next-gen upgrades.

Despite not releasing any new titles, 2020 proved to be a record year for Remedy. The studio is now confident that its steady growth since Control's launch puts the team in a more comfortable and secure position to start working with other developers and publishers on new projects. Remedy is already in cahoots with Epic Games on two separate titles, one of which is expected to be the studio's next big-budget, AAA release �with the rumor mill whispering Alan Wake 2.

As for Control, Remedy has unsurprisingly already laid out its plans for a sequel, though it might be some years before we hear more from this. The current-generation consoles are renown for their high-speed load times and ability to shift numerous game planes in the blink of an eye, which sounds absolutely perfect for Control's dimension-hopping ways.

Agent Jesse Faden better s?tock up on travel sickness tablets, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

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A community blog by Flegma

_{[Destructoid reader Flegma is here to talk about the navigation tools developers give players in video games. They aren’t trying to tell folks what works best, they just want to take the time to highlight an aspect of the medium that often gets overlooked. I think that’s pretty dang rad. �Kevin]}

I've been orienteering a few times this spring. The control points ??are in the forest for one week, I can buy a copy of the map with the cont?rol points' locations, and with that, I can go find them when I want (within that week) at my own pace. The next week the points are moved to a different place and the map is different as well. This left me thinking about directions, locations, and maps in games.

I admit I haven't playe?d many open-world games, let alone ??recent ones, so I might be talking about something that has been a reality for you for years now.

In the games I have played, mapping and placing yourself there has been mostly an automatic ?process. I see a minimap in the corner of the screen, properly oriented to show where the north is, which way I'm facing, and a point where I am on the map. Even when my character is lost, I know where they are on the minimap. It's also pretty common to have an arrow pointing directly where I'm supposed to be going.

How many of us use compass orientations when telling where something s?omewhat nearby is?? In real life, I mean.

One of the things I remember from the reviews of Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (Troika Games/Sierra, 2001) was that the locations of building??s in there were given as street addresses. It wasn't "third house from the north end", but something like Steamvent Street 59 (very unlikely to be an address in that game). That this was made a point in a review was eye-opening. In many text adventures, your movement commands are compass directions �or just one-letter abbreviations of them.

[I didn't feel like playing all the way to a village, but looks like we got compass directions here too. Well, this game looks like a flat plane anyway, so "down" doesn't really mean anything.]

In a sense, when NPCs tell the player directions as compass orientations, they may be addressing the player rather than the player character. To be honest, though,?? I?? do not know how people gave directions to others in the Middle Ages.

Although, I remember the frustration when I had to find a specific tomb in an area of Vvardenfell in The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (Bethesda/Ubisoft, 2002). (If you wonder why I mentioned Ubisoft there??, they were the publisher in Europe.) The instructions I was given, if I remember correctly, used environmental cues like "over the hill." In none of the playthroughs of that game did I ever find that tomb easily. And, when the goal is to find a needle in a Gaur Plains-sized haystack... I think I can unders??tand the benefit of having pins on the map telling where to go when you're in a bit of a hurry.

But, if you're not? Having the game ref??er to the world and have the player navigate by using the set pieces as route markers would, I believe, bring the world more to the forefront. These don't even need to be massive set pieces -- say, a boulder with carved runes.

This is n??ot to say there haven't been interesting implementations of maps in games. Here are a few that I know of.

Miasmata (IonFX, 2012) sounded like an interesting concept, enough for me to look forward to buying it, but I never ended up truly playing it. The survival aspect put me off too much, and today I cannot see the text in the menu options. However, that game had the player actually triangulate landmarks to update their maps. Plus, as something more "realistic," if the player is running down a pile of rocks, they may stumble and fall, and even drop what they were carrying. Of course, if you're stumbling down a pile of rocks, you're likely already running for your life and cannot stay back to collect what you just dropped. (Eurogamer review.)

[Miasmata, very soon after the start of the game. You really, really don't want to be lost in the forest when the sun has set.]

You thought I wouldn't mention the Etrian Odyssey series (Atlus/NIS America/Deep Silver, 2006-2018), did you? Well, you draw your map in it, but I believe you still see where you are on the map, even when you're outside it? I'm not sure if FOEs always mov??e on predetermine??d routes, but I'm imagining getting lost, running my team into a dead end, and then FOE blocking the only exit.

I'm not a fan of prefilled quest markers. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017) allowed me to mark goals on the w??orld map (and in the world), but did that still make it too easy to find the way to?? those shrines and whatnot when I began moving in the marks' direction?

In terms of games I haven't played -- Control (Remedy/505 Games, 2019) was called out for having a bad map. But... that may have been intentional. In an interview in Helsingin Sanomat (27.8.2019), the di??rector of the game, Mikael Kasurinen, says (as translated by me):

Getting lost can be fun. In earlier games our goal has been that t??he player has to always know what's happening, where th??ey're going and why. In one sense this is a good approach, but it reduces the suspense from the experience.

Later, he says:

I think it's fun to go on a walk in a new town: I go where I want to, I may get lost and that's OK. And this way I may find the most interesting things of them a??ll.

The article also states that the player has to read signs, check the map, and find the right route themselves. The article's author even suggests that the director might want the player to get lost in the Oldest Building.

I don't like shooters, so I don't think I'll be playing that game, but I can see Kasurinen's point. Going back to Morrowind, I remember checking the road signs when I was walking from Balmora to Caldera. Later, I installed a mod that added road signs with custom textures for each sign in the game, so the player didn't need to use the "tooltip" to see what the sign said. In this sense, having the path signposted isn't a bad thing.?? While I don't believe games like Control with a third-person camera are particularly immersive, pulling out a map on top of the screen doesn't help, and I'd rather read the signs present in the building than a map that unerringly tells me where I am, wherever I am.

In orienteering, choosing which path to take is important. Whether to go through the bog, follow the easy-to-traverse path, go around the hill rather than over it. In a similar fashion, it's important to choose a path that doesn't cross t?he Territorial Rotbart, even if the shortest path to the minimap icon would take ?you right in front of them.

[Should've turned left at Albuquerque.]

Of course, then you have games like Dead Space (EA Redwood Shores/EA, 2008), where you're shown the full route where to go next. To be fair, I've seen the easy courses in orienteering that have a clear line going from one control point to anoth?er, like Ariadne's red thread Theseus used in the maze to find his way back. Those just aren't the courses I'd take.

Finally, which games do you know wher?e you can actually get truly lost?

Zork: Grand Inquisitor (Ac?tivision, 1997) and its infinite c?orridor do not count.

The post ??Putting yourself on the map: Findin??g your way through video game worlds appeared first on Destructoid.

A future, bigger-budget "Control game" is also lined up

Remedy Entertainment's Control universe will continue to expand. The studio has announced it's signed a co-publishing and developing agreement with publisher 505 Games for a multiplayer spin-off of Control, as well as future plans for a bigger-budget "Control-game."

The multiplayer project, currently codenamed Condo??r, will be a four-player cooperative PvE game. It?'s being developed using Remedy's Northlight engine, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

A letter from Mikael Kasurinen, game director of the Control franchise, expanded a little bit on Remedy's aims for Condor. He says the Vanguard team has already been working on the concept, and that he believes Remedy can "create shared experiences without compromising the unique DNA of who we are, or the stories we want to tell." Included in the letter was a piece of concept art, that Kasurinen said the team feels "tells pretty?? well what Condor is about."

Also mentioned is the "bigger-budget Control game.??" Remedy and 505 aren't saying more about it right now, but Kasurinen does say th?ey have more, "something ambitious."

It looks like Remedy's set to build Control from a single game and some DLC—which coincidentally ties in another Remedy property—into a much larger world? and franchise. From concept art alone, I already dig the idea of the punch-card bureaucracy-meets-cosmic unknowable horrors of the Federal Bureau of Control being turned into a PvE game.

The post Multiplayer Control spin-off coming from Remedy and?? 505 Games appeared first on Destructoid.

Take Control (literally)

A quick heads-up for PC owners who are yet to send their brains spinning into the mind-melting world of Agent Jesse Faden and The Old House. Remedy Entertainment's acclaimed 2019 adventure Control is currently available to download gratis on Epic Games Store as this week's free PC game.

All you need do is sign into the dashboard and lock in your purchase, and then the reality-busting third-person adventure will then be good to go whenever you find the time to squeeze it into your already far too lengthy backlog. (Yes, you, I'm talking about you.) Control will remain free until exactly one week from today, with the promotion ending on Thursday, June 17, so move fast. Control will be replaced by Kongregate Inc.'s Hell is Other Demons, and Team17's Overcooked! 2.

If you need any further convincing, be sure to check out this sparkling Control review from our old pal, Brett Makedonski.

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It would've been the sickest demo on the disc

Today is April 1, also known as April Fools' Da??y. Some companies make fake game announcements, others make real ones, and every piec?e of information is treated with incredible scrutiny.

The fake game announcement has been a classic in the games industry, and today, Remedy Entertainment joined in the fun by posting a trailer for a theoretical PlayStation demake of its 2019 game Control. These are fairly common, but Control is a really interesting game to choose—with lots of unique physics concepts to get around, and a style that's still fairly ??recognizable, even at the low poly-count.

I'd definitely play this version of Control for at least a little while; PlayStation aesthetic nostalgia aside, it's really neat to see the spaces of Control reimagined in this old look. Even without the ray tracing, the brutalist architecture of the Oldest House is imposing, and the idea of ??Jesse's supernatural powers like telekinetic tossing and flight in an older engine is pretty novel?.

That's actually maybe the most bizarre part of this, is noticing some of the modern gameplay conventions that have evolved after the PlayStation's lifespan, demade into this era's visual space. The camera zooming in when the player aims down the sights, for example, or even just how the twin-stick aiming feels so different from other third-person shooters at the time. Watching this side-by-side with Syphon Filter or WinBack is wild.

Anyways, it's a nice, fun, not-mean April Fools' Day video. Remedy, if you're not too busy working on some other projects, I'd definitely play this version of Control.

The post Remedy’s Control demake for April Fools’ is rad appeared first on Destructoid.

But it's largely the same on current-gen consoles

Control&nbs?p;left a mark on 2019: I still think about it.

It's hard to believe that it came out roughly a year and a half ago, but here we are, a console generation later, and we're still talking about Control. With the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S ed??itions out today, that's not going ??to change.

So let's break down what the Ultimate Edition actually is. On PS5 and Series X, you're getting ray tracing, enhanced framerates (there's the option to go with performance or visual fidelity, as usual), better load times, all the free updates (duh), and the previous DLC (that's exactly two add-ons: The Foundation and AWE).

First up: load times. They're good! In my tests, loads took around four seconds or less to hit their mark, and cutscenes, after skipping, basically load the next section instantly. Yes, you can skip cutscenes here, so if you've already ?played through any portion of the game, you don't ?have to watch it all over again.

I was only able to test out the PS5 version of Control: Ultimate Edition, and found it to be on par with a number of other cross-gen ports I've tried out. Again, loads are quick, the DualSense is up to the task (and feels great with the heavy emphasis on gunplay in Control), and the game itself runs extremely smooth: especially on perf??ormance m??ode.

Speaking of, performance mode aims to hit 60FPS at 1440p, which is accurate based on my tests. "Graphics mode" (the aforementioned visual fidelity focus toggle) is 30FPS, but adds in ray tracing at 1440p. You do have to pick one or the other, but given how good performance looks (it looked great on previous consoles too, mostly due to stylistic aesthetic choices), I can live with it. One note: Remedy points out that the Xbox Series S can only support perfo??rmance mode. 

As a reminder, you can upgrade to the Ultimate Edition on PS5 and Series X/S if you own the Ultimate Edition on the applicable prior generation console. Remedy was "unable" to create an upgrade path for base game + DLC owners, so just keep that in mind. Also, this edition is still using the "much newer version of the Northlight Engine," so save files from non-Ultimate Edition versions are incompatible as well. It's hitting PlayStation Plus today.

If you're on the fence about the Ultimate Edition of Control, give Brett's fantastic reviews for the base game, the AWE DLC, and The Foundation add-on a read. This one was on ?a lot of Game of the Year lists for a reason.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail code provided by the publisher.]}

The post Control is still stunning on PS5 appeared first on Destructoid.

You take my self...

Remedy's reality-warping adventure Control ?will join the Xbox Game Pass for PC service o?n Thursday, January 21, offering desktop players the opportunity to dive into the weird and twisted adventures of Jesse Faden and her odd place of employment, The Federal Bureau of Control.

Available on PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch via cloud, Control is the story of special agent Faden's warped journey through an altered reality known as The Oldest House, an adaptive, brutalist tower block where the natural laws of physics take a well-deserved vacation. Control received critical acclaim and several awards for its art direction, ??bizarre narrative, and use of visuals and audio to envelop the player in its disturbing atmosphere.

Control will be receiving a next-gen upgrade on next-gen platforms PS5 and Xbox Series X on February 2. This upgrade has, however, caused some degree of controversy as it will only be made available as a free upgrade to players who own 2020 release Control: Ultimate Edition, and not players who purchased the launch e??dition and its DLC add-ons separately.

Things you can control in Control: see below​

Things you can’t control: your hype until it’s available in 4 days. pic.twitter.com/SfPGGqx18u

— Xbox Game Pass For PC (@XboxGamePassPC) January 17, 2021

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Remedy's mind-bending thriller returns

505 Games, alongside developer Remedy Entertainment, has announced that Control: Ultimate Edition will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X in a digital capacity on February 2, it will then be followed by a physical re??lease a month later on March 2.

A short teaser video showcases the 2019 physics-defying adventure running on PlayStation 5, where the release will offer a 60 FPS "Performance Mode" and a 30 FPS "Graphics Mode" - the latter of which features ray-tracing support and heightened textures, lighting, and other visual effects. Control Ultimate Edition will include the base title alon??g with its two expansion packs, photo m??ode, and endgame content "Expeditions".

Control: Ultimate Edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X will be offered as a free upgrade for players who already own Control: Ultimate Edition on PS4 or Xbox One. In a notable controversy, it will not be offered to those who purchased the original release of Control and/or its DLC expansions separately.

The post Cont?rol: Ultimate Edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X?? launches February 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Exciting but also expected

Based on your perspective, this news tidbit kind of shifts around -- much like The Oldest House in a sense. In a year since launch, Control ?;has gone on? to become Remedy's fastest-growing property to-date.

This comes out of Remedy's first Capital Markets Day presentation, as reported by GamesIndustry.biz. That's nothing but good, as Control joins the ranks of Max Payne in terms of games that were quickly adopted. However, it's less exceptional and more expected when framed with the context that Control is Remedy's first game in a lon??g time that had a true multi-platform launch.&??nbsp;

For instance, Alan Wake was an Xbox 360 exclusive and then launched on Windows PC a couple years later. Quantum Break released simultaneously on Xbox One and PC. Control is the first since 2003's Max Payne 2 that launched on a Sony platform alongside PC and Microsoft's c?onsole.

If you're the hard data type, maybe this will be more useful: Control has racked up two million sales thus far. The player count is probably far higher, though. Control was added to Xbox Game Pass last week, meaning that subscribers can play it for free. And, as a very related side note, get crackin' if you're a Game Pass subscriber who hasn't checked out Control yet. It was my very favorite game of 2019.

Control has sold more than 2m units [GamesIndustry.biz]

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Another delay in the lead-up to next-gen

There's more fuel on the fire of Remedy and 505 Games' Control: Ultimate Edition controversy. Originally, it was early adopters who were incensed that it'd require an entirely new Game of the Year-type edition of Control to access the upgraded versions for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Now it's the Ultimate Edition adopters' turn to be annoyed.

Remedy has revealed that Control's next-gen upgrades have been delayed until early 2021. Anyone who's itching to play the enhanced version on th??eir shiny new consoles will be left waiting.

An update from the development team: Co?ntrol Ultimate Edition will arrive on next generation p??latforms early 2021.

We want the final quality of the game to be awesome, and so we need ?a bit more time to work on it. Thank you for your ??understanding and patience!

— Control 🔦🔻 (@ControlRemedy) November 6, 2020

Delays happen all the time but this one feels like a tougher pill to swallow considering everything else surrounding Control: Ultimate Edition. There's no way to simply upgrade the base game to access the PS5 and Xbox Series X features (even though 505 accidentally enabled them at one point). You have to buy the Ultimate Edition, and now that str?ict path has suffered a setback. It's a?? great game marred by overbearing business decisions.

However, PC isn't the only place to get Control with ray-tracing and higher frame rate options. The cloud-based Switch version of Control: Ultimate Edition offers all of that, albeit while requiring a constant internet connection. Still, for at least a few months, Switch is the only console where you'll be able to check out Control with the features expected in the PS5?? and Xbox Series X versions. Crazy how things shake out sometimes.

The post Control’s next-gen versions won’t launch until 2021 appeared first on Destructoid.

'Every avenue we pursued, there was some form of blocker'

505 Games has confirmed its stance regarding Remedy's Control and its selective next-gen upgrade offer. In a statement posted on the Control website, the publisher apologised to customers, saying they?? had explored every avenue to please all players to no avail.

To recap, 505 Games will release Control Ultimate Edition on September 10 for PS4 and Xbox One. This GOTY-style compilation will feature the base game and its two DLC expansions. Players who purchase the Ultimate Edition will also receive a free upgrade to the next-gen edition of Control when the new platforms launch later in 2020. However, those who already own Control and its expansion packs do not qualify for the free upgrade. This news has upset some Control players who feel their loyalty has been "punish??ed."

"We spent several months exploring all of our launch options for Control Ultimate Edition and no decision was taken lightly," said 505 Games in the statement. "While it is challenging bringing any game to next gen platforms, we quickly realised it was even more difficult to upgrade our current user base to next gen with full parity across platforms with our year-old game."
 
"Every avenue we pursued, there was some form of blocker and those blockers meant that at least one group of players ended u??p being left out of the upgrade for various reasons. As of today, we can’t offer an upgrade to everyone, and leaving any one group out feels unfair. We understand that i?s not what you want to hear."

So, as it stands, purchasing Control Ultimate Edition is the only way to receive the next-gen upgrade. The vanilla edition of Control, along with its expansions, will not be sold separately on the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Control will be playable via backward compatibility, so players can carry over the current edition in s?ome form, but the only way to pl??ay the "enhanced" edition will be to double-dip.

"To bring Control to next generation consoles in any form, we had to make some difficult decisions," continues the statement. "Those came in the form of creating the simplified Control Ultimate Edition product plan we have today... That we took a while in responding does not mean we have not been listening. We are sorry we couldn't meet everyone's expectations and we hope you will continue to support Control. We thank you for your support thus far."

Control Ultimate Edition launches digitally on PC via Steam August? 27 and on PS4 and Xbox One Septe?mber 10.

Control publishe??r refuses to budge despite next-gen upgrade backlash [Eurogamer]

The post 505 Games apologise but hold firm on Control next??-gen controversy appeared first on Destructoid.

Expansion arrives August 27

Publisher 505 Games has released a lengthy preview video for AWE, the incoming expansion for Remedy Entertainment's world-warping adventure, Control. The 15-minute video gives fans the c??han??ce to check out the DLC ahead of its official launch on August 27.

AWE will continue the bizarre adventures of SBC special agent Jesse Faden, as she investigates a new division of The Ol??dest House, on a mission that will take her beyond the walls of the bureau and into the ?mysterious backwater town of Bright Falls - a locale that may seem strangely familiar to many video game fans. Bring a torch.

Control, an excellent title that secured a solid fanbase, is currently mired in a little controversy, following the announcement that a free next-gen upgrade of the adventure would only be offered to those who pu?rchase the upcoming "Ultimate Edition." This news has left some long-term Control fans - who might have previously purchased both the base game and its expansions, but will not qualify for the upgrade - feeling pu??nished for their lo?yalty.

Control is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. The AWE expansion launches August 27. Control Ultimate Edition launches on PC August 27, and on PS4 and Xbox ?One September 10??.

Control DLC 'AWE' first 15 minutes of gameplay [Gematsu]

The post Check out 15 minutes of Control’s AWE DLC right here appeared first on Destructoid.

Have it your way

Control is about to get easier for everyone, and much easier for anyone who wants it. The highly-anticipated Alan Wake-themed AWE expansion releases in les?s than two weeks, and it'll be accompanied by a free update that makes the game much more accessible.

One of the most rampant complaints about Control was the p??unitive checkpointing. Long, difficult boss encounters have to be one-shotted, as there are no mid??-fight saves. Adding insult to injury, dying and retrying often requires a protracted jaunt all the way back to the boss.

Remedy's addressing that specific complaint in the August update. During yesterday's AWE livestream, the developer detailed how it's making Control a breezier experience. One example is that new cont??rol points are being added in the game's toughest story missions and closer to certain boss fights. There are also "soft checkpoints" in some missions, although Remedy stopped short of confirming they're a way of breaking up boss fights.

That's the stuff that will affect everybody. However, there's a new suite of accessibility options called "Assist Mode" which is a set of game features that can be enabled or disabled separate from one another in the options menu. Remedy says "Assist mode lets you modify the rules of the game to suit your specific needs. It's important to us that as many people as possible get to experience Control the way they want."

Assist mode can be tweaked to your heart's content. Remedy gives you control over how much damage Jesse deals, how much damage she takes, and how quickly energy and ammo reload. If you really don't feel like dealing with any difficulty at all, you can just turn off dying altogether. That's right -- Remedy has taken Control?? from a reasonably difficult game (that some people bounced off of because the learning curve is a bit steep) to one where failure is a toggle butto??n.

As for new abilities, Jesse's getting her Launch souped-up. Now,?? she has Multi-Launch which can throw three objects at once. It sounds pretty powerful, but nowhere near as powerful as Alan Wake's bright-ass flashlight.

The post Control’s free August update lets you turn off dying appeared first on Destructoid.

Regain Control

Publisher 505 Games has announced Control Ultimate Edition, a GOTY-style a??ll-in-one package for Remedy's 2019 reality-bending action-adventure. The "Ultimate Edition" will launch on PC via Steam August 27, and on PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Epi??c Games Store on September 10.

Control Ultimate Edition will contain the base game, along with its first DLC expansion The Foundation, (which launched back in March), and upcoming second expansion AWE, also launching on all platforms August 27. Control Ultimate Edition will receive a physical release on PS4 and Xbox One, as?? well as a digital release on PS5 and Xbox Series X, later in 20?20.

Players who purchase Control Ultimate Edition on current-gen consoles will also be eligible for a free upgrade to the respective next-gen platform. It appears, at this time, that the upgrade will not be extended to owners of the original release of Control, even if they have purchased the season pass.

Launching on PC and consoles back in the summer of 2019, Control is a mind-melting story of mystery and intrigue, as special agent Jesse Faden investigates the disappearance of her brother within The Oldest House, the clandestine headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, who are tasked with investigating strange behaviour? and physical phenomena around the globe. What follows is a weird mystery that tears at the very fab?ric of reality itself.

Control Ultimate Edition launches digitally on PC via Steam August 27 and on P??S4 and Xbox One Se?ptember 10.

The post C?ontrol Ultimate Edition com?ing to PC August 27, consoles September 10 appeared first on Destructoid.

Or maybe just levitating there

Control, one of the very best games of 2019, isn't done yet. There's still the highly-anticipated AWE add-on which is due sometime in the coming months. But, we've just learned that Control is also moving to the next dimension console generation. Sorry, force of habit.

Remedy Entertainment has confirmed that Control will go next-gen, appearing on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox S??eries X.

We're glad to be able to share that @ControlRemedy will be coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. More details coming at a later date. #PlayStation5 #XboxSeriesX

— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) June 11, 2020

However, Remedy didn't bother to elaborate on any of the details. We don't know if Control ;will a part of Xbox's Smart Delivery program, granting free next-gen upgrades for anyone who already o??wns the game on Xbox One (or as a part of PlayStation's similar program that presumptively exists but hasn't been anno??unced yet). Or, it could just be an entirely new SKU, a definitive edition of sorts that bundles all the DLC.

Whatever's going on, how wonderfully Control that it has to be shrouded in mystery.

The post Control is making the leap?? to PS5 and Xb??ox Series X appeared first on Destructoid.

Reality Bites

Remedy has released both a new trailer and further details regarding The Foundation, the first DLC expansion for its stylish and weird adventure Control. The Foundation will launch on PS4 and PC March 26, but unfortunately Xbox One players will have to wait until June 25 to ge?t i??n on the action.

The Foundation takes place immediately following the events of special agent Jesse Faden trippy day at the office. Still on the case, Faden continues the search ?for Helen Marshall, the M.I.A. Control Head of Operations. As she pushes through this weird new bridge to the Astral Plane, Jesse will encounter new threats such as the terrifying Sharpened Hiss, utilise brand new skills such as the Shape and Shield Rush abilities, a??nd seek out further answers to the wild events that plague The Oldest House.

The Foundation will include new main m??issions and side-quests, and is expected to contain "four to five hours" of gameplay content. Alongside the expansion, a new update will drop in March, adding gameplay tweaks, "quality of life improvements" and? stamping out a few bugs en route.

The Foundation??? launches on PS4 and PC March 26 and Xbox One June 25.

Venture deeper in Control with first expansion [PlayStation blog]

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You take my self, you take my self, Control

Remedy has released a short and suitably weird clip teasing the first DLC expansion for its sci-fi thriller, Control. The next chapter in the reality-defying adventure will arrive on PS4 a?nd PC March 26.

Titled "The Foundation," Remedy is not offering too much in the way of detail - which is, to be fair, the best way to go about matters concerning the weird and wonderful. The narration in the clip does imply that The Foundation will see the return of badass agent Jesse Faden, as she continues her search for the?? Federal Bureau of Control's Helen Marshall, who has apparently vanished into the ether.

Whether Jesse Faden, Alan Wake, or even Max Payne, Remedy sure likes putting its protagonists through the wringer physically, mentally, even spiritually. Fortunately, these heroes are almost always up to the task, and it will be great to step into the rule-breaking realms of Control once again.

Control is available now on PS4, PC, and Xbox One

pic.twitter.com/7hw0DQkByt

— Control (@ControlRemedy) March 12, 2020

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Plus, vague details about new projects

We're due a pair of Control expansions in 2020, but that might not be the extent to which we see the game supported in the future. A curious line from Remedy Entertainment's 2019 fiscal report suggests that it might see a wider release on other system??s.

Speaking to future sales prospects, Remedy says "Control's high quality, uniqueness and technical innovation provide opportunities to bring the game to new platforms." It's already on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Given its shaky launch on consoles, it seems as though some technical wizardry would be in order for a Switch port to be feasible. (Although, Saber Interactive managed it for The Witcher 3 on Switch, so nothing is outside the realm of possibility.) A more realistic reading might indicate that Remedy plans to re-release Control on PS5 and Xbox Series X at some point.

As for Control's commercial performance, it seems to have done okay but not great. Without mentioning numbers, Remedy mentions that "post-launch sales have settled on a good level" while also admitting that a light marketing budget probably hamstrung launch numbers. Remedy's cash flow for the year was slightly negative -- about $430,000 or so -- but that appears to be largely because the first wave of Control's revenue was contractually dedicated to paying back publisher 505 Games' marketing budgets, and then the timing of royalty paymen??ts works out in a way wh?ere they'll mostly trigger in 2020.

Remedy's plans stretch far beyond Control, though. Remedy has a goal of "launching at least one game or game expansion annually." Right now, there are four projects in the pipeline: the aforementioned Control expansions; the singleplayer component to popular first-person shooter CrossfireX, which is supposed to arrive on Xbox later this year; a third game that's unannounced as of right now; and a project that's codenamed "Remedy Vanguard," which is some sort of ongoing mult??iplayer game, possibly within t??he games-as-a-service sphere.

Those latter two are a long? ways off -- which is probably evident given that they're still unannounced and codenamed. They're both entering pre-production soon, as small teams have been prototyping. The third game has a dedicated staff of 20 people, and Vanguard has a team of 15 people, but those will surely increase soon as Remedy ramps up development.

Financial Statements? Release 1.1. – ??31.12.2019 [Remedy Entertainment]

The post Control might be coming to next-gen consoles appeared first on Destructoid.

Could we see Jesse Faden on the silver screen?

Control was one of the mo??st intriguing new IPs among 2019's releases. Remedy's weird tale of reality-bending phenomena met with a positive re??sponse from critics and fans upon release, drawing praise for its rule-breaking atmosphere, shifting story design and lead character, Jesse Faden.

It seems that Gary Whitta was also bewitched by Control, as the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story screenwriter has expressed interest in writing a movie adaptation of the obtuse adventure. During an informal AMA on their Twitter, Whitta (who has previously worked in game design and game journalism) referenced Control as a game they'd love to adapt for the big screen. This brought Remedy's Head of Communication Thomas Puha into the conversation, who replied with a tantalising "Let's talk."

Of course, this isn't a confirmation of anything at all. The road to cinematic adaptations is long and arduous, filled with studios, suits, meetings and licences. Regardless, it's very cool to see that there is a clear interest from both parties, and given Remedy's love of making "movie-style" games, (Max Payne and Alan Wake spring to mind), it would be excitin?g to see a collaboration come to pass. For now, however, it remains a dream floating in the dark corridors of The Oldest House...

...Still, can someone see if Courtney Hope is busy?

Rogue One writer wants to make a movie based on Con??trol [VG247]

The post Star Wars: Rogue One writer would be up f??or penning a Control mo?vie appeared first on Destructoid.

PS4, Xbox One, and PC

We've got some PS4, Xbox One, and PC copies of GOTY nominee Control in today's contest!

There are simply too many video games to play! Wanna know the newest game I've played this year? Mortal Kombat 11. Hell, it? might actually be the only game released this year I've played at all. Hell of a resume for a games writer, yeah?

Don't wind up like me. Play some new games, already! I'll give you a head's start by offering up some copies of a Game of the Year contender Control. Game of the year, y'all! A contende?r, that is. Whatever. It's allegedly pretty dope, so just win a copy, already.

Just read our review and spare me having to summarize a game I haven't yet played. Yet being the operative word. It's not that I don't want to play it! I swear! I just don't play many games, is all. What with work and this gig and other things, it's hard to find time to play a 30+-hour game! Y'all know how it is, right? I'm sorry, Remedy. I want to play Control. And I probably will someday. It's just yeah, a year isn't nearly enough time to be able to play something. I blame the economy, or so?mething. I don't know, it's just someone else's fault.

Oh, I was supposed to actually talk about t??he game. Well a supernatural threat invades a paranormal bureau and you take over as the new director. How timely! Some stuff happens and a bunch of people float and you get powers. Th?at pretty much sums it up, I think! Just friggin' win a copy for yourself and ignore me.

To enter, comment below telling us your preferre?d platform (PC, PS4, Xbox One) and what upcoming game(s) you're excited about! That pending release could wind up being your GOTY in 2020. Or it could wind up being a total bust. Hard to tell with this sort of ?thing, yeah?

We've got three keys each for PS4 (NA accounts, only), Xbox One, and PC (through Epic Games Store). Winners will be drawn Monday, December 30. Make sure to comment using a Destructoid account with your current email address on file. New to Dtoid? Sign up for an account here to hype somethi??ng u??p. Just don't get disappointed!

Control is available now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

The post Contest: Snag a free ?copy of GOTY contender Control appeared first on Destructoid.

Premature or flat-out wrong?

[Update: Microsoft sent along the following message: "We're aware that Control was mentioned as coming to the Xbox Game Pass library and can confirm this was in error. While we are always updating the library and looking for new ways to provide our members with value and choice in their games, we do not have plans to bring Control to the library at this time."]

Xbox head Phil Spencer appeared on an Extra Life charity stream earlier this week. The guest spot was technically in honor of Halo: Reach's PC port, but the conversation was broad and touched on many Xbox topics. When Remedy's Control came up, Spencer said two?? things -- one correct, one incorrect.

On the subject of some of his favorite games of the year, Spencer gave Control a shoutout: "I thought Control was really good," he said. "It didn't reach enough people so I'm glad to see it's coming into Game Pass. Ho?pefully more people will play it because it's a game that should be played."

Spencer is absolutely right in stating that more people should play Control. It's Remedy's finest work yet because it's another example of the studio's mastery over suspenseful narrative, but beautifully blended with captiv?ating action. It's the type of game that needs to be seen to be believed. Once you see it firsthand, it'll leave a lasting ?impression.

However, Spencer was wrong in saying Control is coming to Xbox Game Pass. Remedy, Microsoft, and publisher 505 Games?? have all released s??tatements denying this inclusion. Here's Remedy's:

The information about Control coming to Xbox Game Pass as reported?? on a recent Mixer stream is incorrect. We have no news or announcements regarding Xbox Game Pass at this time.

— Control (@ControlRemedy) December 5, 2019

Spencer was inaccurate -- or, in a best-case scenario, premature -- in offhandedly mentioning Control as part of Game Pass. His heart was in the right place, though. Completely ignoring the business side of things (just suspend your disbelief for a second), services like Xbox Game Pass provide value by exposing people to games that they otherwise wouldn't have played. That's exactly what could happen with Control, and it's exactly what Spencer wants to happen with Control.

We're in a "never say never"-type situation here. Everyone's refuting Spencer's remarks, but did the executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft really just come up with something so specific yet false? We're exactly one week away from The Game Awards, and that's the most likely candidate for a Game Pass announcement -- especially considering that it got a ton of nominations. Whatever happens, one thing's still true: "[Control] is a game that should be played."

The post (Update) Control isn’t coming to Xbox Game Pass (but it should) appeared first on Destructoid.

Capture the madness

A lot of bonkers shit happens in Control, and everyone's free to document it all. Record some gameplay as Former tries to murder you??. Snap off a sc?reenshot as Jesse finds the Hotline for the first time.

Tomorrow, that documentation gets a hefty dose of artistic flair. Remedy's adding a free photo mode to Control, complete with an impressive suite of creative options. As described on the PlayStation Blog, photo mode has features for: tilting the camera, broadening or tightening ??the field of view, changing the focus distance, adjus?ting the aperture for determining depth of field, and hiding characters (only Jesse, only other characters, or everyone). There are also 10 other visual filters that weren't described.

Control is a game that lends itself perfectly to a photo mode. From the oversaturation of deep colors to the weird SCP Foundation-like creations to the beautiful Brutalist design of The Oldest House -- everything about it was meant to be captured. No game really looks like Control, and now the aesthetic can be? s??tretched even further.

It's far from the end for Control, though. Remedy has a roadmap of DLC planned, although none of it has been exhaustively detailed yet. One thing is set in stone, however. An new mode called "Expeditions" ??will introduce a gauntlet of combat challenges where Jesse has to complete different objectives while subject to unique gameplay modifiers. "This add-on is free and Remedy expects it to release before the end of the year. Then, two premium story add-ons will launch sometime in 2020.

Co??ntrol Gets Photo Mod?e Tomorrow, New Info on Expeditions Update [PlayStation Blog]

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