Control

I loved this game very early on. It struck me as Fringe the video game. While admittedly I've only watched like maybe an episode total of that show, the sheer amount of style and eeriness in the game was enough to grip me immediately.

For starters the visual style and direction are top notch. The engine being unbelievably pretty really backs this up. The way they have the big bold text show up when you enter a new area. The design and style of the building.

Another thing I really liked was the world-building. I must have read every single little pick up of lore you find along the way. While a lot of it is kind of filler-y, there are some really choice bits that help flesh out the story. In addition I loved the FMV sequences of Darling. They really help connect everything together.

Plot-wise, while I really like how they spread everything out, I did find the ending to be a little weak. It ended really quickly at the end. I mean the other entity, Hedron, is introduced and then immediately destroyed. And then like 1 mission later you seal the Hiss off from the world. Every other part of the game was pretty drawn out so the fact that it ended so quickly was kind of lame.

I really liked that some of the most important main characters (Jesse and Emily) were both women. Also loved that Trench was voiced by Max Payne.

Gameplay-wise it was a real blast. It starts off with pretty fun gunplay in the 3rd person a la Uncharted/Last of Us but then they quickly start throwing abilities at you. They also have the system where you can equip different stat boosting slots on the weapons and on yourself. These actually were a little too RNG for my taste and turned into a inventory-hell where you're constantly picking up these meaningless like 5% increases to stats. They really should have spent the time to make each one placed specifically with some back story associated with it. And I suggest that because they did that really well with the abilities themselves. A bunch of them are hidden off in separate parts of the map and totally optional to grab. Only because I loved exploring the map did I go and hunt them all down. Each one has its own backstory of lore through the notes you find which is also really cool.

I'll give them big credit for designing a really entertaining map to explore. Especially as you start to unlock new keys and then eventually are able to fly. Really makes you want to go back and explore.

Overall I found it to be a delightful game. I'd say the things keeping it from a 10 are pretty minor. Namely the plot ending kind of blah, combat getting a little rote by the end....and that's about it. Loved the game!

And actually I'm going to play Alan Wake now because I want more lore to tie stuff together. I'm a little concerned I've spoiled large parts of the story but I'm going to do it anyway. And once I'm done with that? I want to come back and finish up the DLC content for this game because I'm excited to tie up a bow on parts of the story like where the fuck Marshall went.