TL;DR This game looks great, plays fine, but is an above-mid experience. Not great, not awful, but the gameplay struggles to keep things interesting.

I'm not the biggest Remedy guy, but I really want to give them a shot. I really want to explore more of the Remedy connected universe, and was initially excited to hop into this game. I've heard great things from a few friends, and from some of the game I've seen, it fairly exciting.

I hopped into Control with no expectations, and was initially impressed with the combat and the environments. This game is GORGEOUS! But upon delving deeper into the bureau, the more bored and exhausted I became, for two reasons; The repetitive environments of the bureau, in combination with the combat.

The bureau looks great, it's really cool like I said, but... It looks very samey. Of course there's a reason for this, but sometimes the navigation through the bureau can get you lost easy, thankfully having a map and fast travel, but even that can get confusing at times. I HAVE NOT finished the game, but from what I've experienced, you'll see a lot of the same.

The combat in the beginning starts rather plain, but escalates as you gain more abilities and weapons. But once you unlock the core combat mechanics? It starts to get rather dull. It suffers from the same problem as the first Alan Wake, where each encounter begins to feel the same, with the only real difference being the quantity and spread of enemy types. I began to dread combat every time it came up. Some of the enemies can also take an annoying amount of damage, though that may just be the difficulty + setup of skills I have.

One thing I found peculiar about this game is the radiant events that will pop up around the bureau. To me, these felt out of place, and pulled away from the story at hand. We're trying to stop the Hiss, and we've got a clear objective, but now I'm being pulled somewhere that may have enemies way above my level? It isn't awful, it's a way to get more perks and crafting materials for progression, but it feels weird to have it in a singleplayer story game.

The story so far is fairly interesting. I like the Oldest House and all its quirks, along with the characters. Though I find a lot of the delivery in the voice acting/cutscenes to be dry. It's not as if emotion isn't being conveyed, but none of it seems to be convincing, save a few performances. The main protagonist sounds boring in every encounter, but that doesn't mean she's a bad character.

On a side note, this is one of the few games I tried to read collectible notes/etc for. I found it to be cool, especially in the Dead Letters department of this game, how well everything ties in and helps build the setting. This is Remedy we're talking about, so the mixed medium aspect is here, and it's great. Dr. Darling is charming, and Threshold Kids is a fun (especially if you know how it came about) addition to add needed flavor to the setting. The radio broadcasts return from Remedy's other games, but they're never interesting enough for me to stick around. I don't like sitting in the open world listening to a radio, it's a tad dull.

This is a game I really want to finish, but every time I think of playing it, or I'm bored of other titles, I hesitate to launch it. I know I'm going to hop in, navigate the winding and restricting corridors of the Oldest House for an hour or two, getting into repetitive fights, then logging off to do something else. I still have more to go of course, and I'm hoping this game will turn my opinion around, but so far it doesn't do much for me.

Overall, this game has an interesting setting, story, characters and world building, dragged down by combat and progression that gets old fast. 6/10

TL;DR This game looks great, plays fine, but is an above-mid experience. Not great, not awful, but the gameplay struggles to keep things interesting. I'm not the biggest Remedy guy, but I really want to give them a shot. I really want to explore more of the Remedy connected universe, and was initially excited to hop into this game. I've heard great things from a few friends, and from some of the game I've seen, it fairly exciting. I hopped into Control with no expectations, and was initially impressed with the combat and the environments. This game is GORGEOUS! But upon delving deeper into the bureau, the more bored and exhausted I became, for two reasons; The repetitive environments of the bureau, in combination with the combat. The bureau looks great, it's really cool like I said, but... It looks very samey. Of course there's a reason for this, but sometimes the navigation through the bureau can get you lost easy, thankfully having a map and fast travel, but even that can get confusing at times. I HAVE NOT finished the game, but from what I've experienced, you'll see a lot of the same. The combat in the beginning starts rather plain, but escalates as you gain more abilities and weapons. But once you unlock the core combat mechanics? It starts to get rather dull. It suffers from the same problem as the first Alan Wake, where each encounter begins to feel the same, with the only real difference being the quantity and spread of enemy types. I began to dread combat every time it came up. Some of the enemies can also take an annoying amount of damage, though that may just be the difficulty + setup of skills I have. One thing I found peculiar about this game is the radiant events that will pop up around the bureau. To me, these felt out of place, and pulled away from the story at hand. We're trying to stop the Hiss, and we've got a clear objective, but now I'm being pulled somewhere that may have enemies way above my level? It isn't awful, it's a way to get more perks and crafting materials for progression, but it feels weird to have it in a singleplayer story game. The story so far is fairly interesting. I like the Oldest House and all its quirks, along with the characters. Though I find a lot of the delivery in the voice acting/cutscenes to be dry. It's not as if emotion isn't being conveyed, but none of it seems to be convincing, save a few performances. The main protagonist sounds boring in every encounter, but that doesn't mean she's a bad character. On a side note, this is one of the few games I tried to read collectible notes/etc for. I found it to be cool, especially in the Dead Letters department of this game, how well everything ties in and helps build the setting. This is Remedy we're talking about, so the mixed medium aspect is here, and it's great. Dr. Darling is charming, and Threshold Kids is a fun (especially if you know how it came about) addition to add needed flavor to the setting. The radio broadcasts return from Remedy's other games, but they're never interesting enough for me to stick around. I don't like sitting in the open world listening to a radio, it's a tad dull. This is a game I really want to finish, but every time I think of playing it, or I'm bored of other titles, I hesitate to launch it. I know I'm going to hop in, navigate the winding and restricting corridors of the Oldest House for an hour or two, getting into repetitive fights, then logging off to do something else. I still have more to go of course, and I'm hoping this game will turn my opinion around, but so far it doesn't do much for me. Overall, this game has an interesting setting, story, characters and world building, dragged down by combat and progression that gets old fast. 6/10