Control

Control is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games. It follows Jesse Faden, who enters the Federal Bureau of Control in New York seeking her missing brother Dylan. The Bureau's headquarters, the Oldest House, is a shifting brutalist building concealed behind an ordinary Manhattan exterior. Inside, Jesse discovers that Director Zachariah Trench is dead and the building has been invaded by the Hiss, a hostile resonance that possesses staff and distorts reality. She becomes the Bureau's new Director after recovering the Service Weapon, a supernatural shape-changing firearm linked to the mysterious Board. Remedy built Control around its fictional agency's attempts to contain Altered World Events and Objects of Power, ordinary things changed by paranormal forces. Jesse acquires telekinesis from the Floppy Disk, levitation from the Benicoff TV, and other abilities through ritualistic encounters in the Astral Plane. Her search leads to research director Dr. Casper Darling, janitor Ahti, head of security Simon Arish, and Emily Pope, who studies the House and its phenomena. Jesse learns that a childhood event in Ordinary, Maine exposed her and Dylan to an Object of Power called the Slide Projector. Polaris, an entity associated with a slide from the projector, protected Jesse but became entangled with the Hiss. The main campaign sends Jesse through areas including Executive, Maintenance, Research, Containment, and the Black Rock Quarry, while she purges Hiss control points and confronts corrupted Bureau personnel. Its distinctive presentation includes live-action films featuring Matthew Porretta as Darling and James McCaffrey as Trench, plus an in-game Threshold Kids television program. Courtnee Draper plays Jesse, and Sean Durrie plays Dylan. Control uses Remedy's Northlight engine and combines third-person shooting with telekinetic combat, allowing Jesse to throw debris, raise shields, seize enemies, and use the Service Weapon's configurable forms in battle. At launch, Control received critical praise for its art direction, atmosphere, and supernatural world-building. It won the Game Critics Awards' Best Action/Adventure Game at E3 2019 and earned nominations at The Game Awards 2019, including Game of the Year. Remedy later expanded the story with The Foundation and AWE downloadable expansions. The Foundation takes Jesse beneath the Oldest House to address damage to its foundation and centers on the Board and former Head of Research Helen Marshall. AWE brings Control into direct contact with Remedy's Alan Wake universe, as Jesse investigates the Investigations Sector and encounters material related to Alan Wake.