Working to co-publish the project with 505 Games, the multiplayer experience is currently codenamed Condor, and while we don’t know a whole lot about it just yet, we do know it’s going to be a four-player PvE game. What’s most interesting of all, though, is that it will be set in the world of Control, which is exciting in more ways than one. The supernatural elements of Control and the shifting nature of The Oldest House are ripe for the picking when it comes to creating a multiplayer experience with a difference. And with Remedy trying to establish an expanded and connected universe through all of its games, Condor could also present a new and unique way of building on the foundations of the franchise in an experience that brings players together. 

It’s all about connection  

Ahead of the release of the AWE Control DLC last year, Mikael Kasurinen, the creative director of the Control franchise, explained that the team is building a “connected Remedy universe”. The surprise Alan Wake crossover demonstrated how the struggling writer existed in the same world as Jesse Faden, thanks to the strange nature of the Oceanview Motel. Quantum Break also contained several Alan Wake references, as well as allusions to the Federal Bureau of Control, helping to further solidify this idea that Remedy has spent the last 10 years quietly building out this wider world. With Control firmly setting the stage for Remedy’s connected universe, Condor is also set to fit into this interlinked worldbuilding and introduce more social aspects to the franchise that brings players together in a shared experience.  

In a recent blog post (opens in new tab) announcing the upcoming multiplayer experience, Kasurinen touched on the way Control has set the stage for all manner of stories, events, and characters. “Control is first and foremost a world, a place for multitudes of stories, events, and characters. A place where unexpected, strange, and extraordinary things occur,” he says. “We kicked it off with Jesse’s entry into the Oldest House, but there is more to this world. Oh, so much more. And Project Condor will be an expression of that.” 

Taking control  

Even though Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and Control are distinctly different, each has a signature supernatural edge that feeds into the idea that this interconnected universe behaves in many unexpected ways. The strange nature of the intertwining world opens up the door to endless possibilities, which is partly what makes the prospect of a multiplayer experience in this world so tantalizing. Condor could show us a new side to the universe, and go in any one direction outside of the Oldest House setting we got to see in Jesse’s shoes.

The added appeal of a four-player experience in Remedy’s connected universe also comes from imagining just how the combat and action of Control could lend itself to a co-operative game in interesting ways. The supernatural powers Jesse is outfitted with are endlessly fun to play around with in Oldest House. From hurling objects to throwing around enemies, and causing explosions, the abilities present a veritable playground of opportunities. 

At this early stage, it’s difficult to know just how well Control’s haptic action will translate to the realms of multiplayer, or how well Remedy’s in-house Northlight engine (an upgraded version was used to power Control) will scale to support so many players, but this is a studio that’s known for surpassing expectation – it deserves the benefit of the doubt. While it may be difficult to imagine the telekinetic powerset and destructible environments working between four players, studios have come up with creative ways to leverage unique combat systems in the past – just look at what Rockstar was able to achieve with Max Payne 3 after it took the reins from Remedy so many years ago, pushing its bullet-time shootouts into an online arena in style.

After 25 years of building single-player experiences, it’s good that Remedy is beginning to experiment. As Kasurinen went on to explain, the team is drawn to working on a multiplayer game because of the way it allows you to create a social, collective experience you can share with other people. The sense of shared participation that multiplayer games can bring to the table, as Kasurinen writes, can elevate it into something that’s impossible to achieve in the same way in a single-player format. 

While it’s exciting to think about the ways Condor could shape up and how it will likely offer something new and different in the universe of Control, you really get the sense from Kasurinen that it will still retain that Remedy feel that fans have come to know and love: “We are approaching this with a mix of excitement and respect,” he says, “We want to create something that is engaging, yet familiar, something any of our fans can jump into and feel at home in. Together.” 

For more multiplayer goodness, here are 30 of the best co-op games to play right now with friends and family. 

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Control walkthrough | Control Objects of Power | Control Easter eggs | Control punch card puzzle

Proceed deeper into the Bureau

Proceed deeper into the Bureau

The game starts with you inside the lobby of the Federal Bureau of Control. Walk to the right and go through the metal detectors, then up the stairs and along the corridor past the three portraits. Head right and run through the dark offices, then speak to the janitor. After the cutscene, head back out to the hallway and into the elevator.

After the cutscene, run to the end of the corridor then into the Director’s Office to investigate the sound. Pick up the Pistol and complete the tutorial in the alternate dimension, then when you’re back in the Federal Bureau of Control, leave the office and shoot the three Hiss Guards at the end of the corridor. Follow the signs to Central Executive, killing all the Hiss Guards along the way. There’ll be a few waves of them in the huge room, along with quite a few collectibles so make sure you explore everywhere. Don’t forget to open the Shelter door and grab your first weapon mod too.

Leave the shelter and enter the door on the right, then shoot one of the hanging guards to initiate the next fight. Kill the first few then jump down and a boss will spawn. He’s not tough to kill, just keep unloading your pistol into him and kill the other Hiss Guards that spawn, then interact with the Control Point to cleanse it.

Main Missions:

Control walkthrough: Welcome to the Oldest House
Control walkthrough: Unknown Caller
Control walkthrough: Directorial Override
Control walkthrough: Old Boys’ Club
Control walkthrough: Threshold
Control walkthrough: My Brother’s Keeper
Control walkthrough: The Face of the Enemy
Control walkthrough: Finnish Tango
Control walkthrough: Polaris
Control walkthrough: Take Control

Side Missions:

Control walkthrough: Old Friends
Control walkthrough: Fridge Duty
Control walkthrough: Self-Reflection
Control walkthrough: Mr Tommasi
Control walkthrough: Old Growth
Control walkthrough: A Matter of Time
Control walkthrough: Langston’s Runaways
Control walkthrough: The Enemy Within
Control walkthrough: Mold Removal
Control walkthrough: What a Mess (all missions)

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Current page:

Control Walkthrough: Welcome To The Oldest House

Next Page Control Walkthrough: Unknown Caller

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As you can see in the tweet below from the official Xbox Game Pass for PC Twitter account, Control will be made available for PC subscribers later this week on January 21. On Thursday you’ll be able to venture into the Oldest House for yourself and throw anything and everyone around to your heart’s content.

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/SfPGGqx18uJanuary 17, 2021

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This all comes after Control was made available for Xbox Game Pass on consoles last month. In fact, Control was made available for both Xbox consoles and Android devices that month through Xbox Game Pass streaming, so you could play it both on your couch and on the go.

There’s now less than a month to go until the Control: Ultimate Edition launches for PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. While the game is available on all three next-gen consoles, the next-gen features, such as support for 60 frames per second aren’t available yet, but will launch for all next-gen owners on February 2. That’s only for digital owners of the Ultimate Edition however, as owners of the physical version will have to wait another 30 days, until March 2, to take advantage of the upgraded edition’s features.

Control: Ultimate Edition bundles the game and both DLC packs – The Foundation and AWE – into one launch. The version of Control that’s available through Xbox Game Pass is the standard edition, so you’ll have to purchase both DLC expansion separately if you’re playing it through the subscription service.

If you’re at a loss for how developer Remedy is tying Control and Alan Wake into one extended universe, head over to our page on how the Control AWE DLC links to Alan Wake and the Remedy Extended Universe.

For our guide to all the intricate references and clues you might have missed during Remedy’s latest game, check out our full Control easter eggs guide for more.

The post Control is coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC on Thursday appeared first on Game News.

In a new mini-documentary (opens in new tab), Remedy communications director Thomas Puha briefly spoke on the studio’s next game, which ties into both Control and Alan Wake (opens in new tab).

“All of our games have been so dark and melancholy, so now we’re only going to use yellow, and red, and pink, like you’re literally walking into a candy store,” Puha joked. “No, it’s going to be really dark and serious.”

The whole three-minute documentary is worth a watch, with some interesting insights from the developers and neat behind-the-scenes footage of the studio recording ambient sounds like guns cocking and footsteps in running over dirt.

In an accompanying blog post (opens in new tab) from Epic, the publisher said it’s “too early to shed light on Remedy’s next games,” but said the studio has a “robust and exciting vision.” We already know we’re getting the long-awaited Control/Alan Wake crossover (opens in new tab) in the former’s next DLC – you can check out a whole 15 minutes of gameplay for the Control: AWE expansion (opens in new tab) – and it’s also been confirmed that Remedy is currently working two new games (opens in new tab) looking towards next-gen.

If you’ve yet to jump into the mind-bending world of Remedy’s latest, the Control Ultimate Edition (opens in new tab) bundle is available now and includes all DLC and, get this, free next-gen upgrades on PS5 (opens in new tab) and Xbox Series X (opens in new tab).

ICYMI: Control was our top pick for the best games of 2019 (opens in new tab).

The post Remedy mini-documentary includes brief teases for the studios next game appeared first on Game News.

The full list of game sales can be found here (opens in new tab), but here are some of the highlights from Epic Games’ big Summer Sale.

Maneater (opens in new tab) just came out a couple of months ago, and it’s already on sale for 25% off its usual list price. For a limited time, you can start your adventure as a vicious, nondiscriminating, and eventually bio-electric bull shark for just $30. Our own Rachel Weber lovingly deemed Maneater a “single-minded machine of delightful destruction.”

Better yet, our 2019 Game of the Year (opens in new tab) is currently half off its normal price. Control (opens in new tab) is a profoundly innovative, mind-bending adventure from Remedy, the minds behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, and Quantum Break. And with this year’s Foundation DLC (opens in new tab) adding a substantial amount of new story to the base game, now’s as good a time as ever to check out one of last year’s best titles.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (opens in new tab) is sitting at one of its lowest prices ever at $19.79, a 75% discount from list price. The sprawling, open-ended RPG set in ancient Greece is a culmination of everything that makes the Assassin’s Creed series great, and it’s the perfect time sink to get lost in while you wait for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (opens in new tab). Likewise, Assassin’s Creed Origins is on sale for just $12, an 80% discount.

Other goodies include Borderlands 3 (opens in new tab) for $30 (50% off), Red Dead Redemption 2 (opens in new tab) for $48 (20% off), and Far Cry 5 (opens in new tab) for $9 (85% off).

Looking for something 100% off to play? Here are the best free games (opens in new tab) we could find.

The post Epic Games Summer Sale discounts Maneater, Control, Assassins Creed Odyssey, and more by up to 85% appeared first on Game News.

Control DLC expansions and release date

So far, we’ve only had some minor Control DLC, and not the two major expansions that have been promised. Late last year saw the release of Photo Mode – a much-requested feature thanks to just how beautiful the game is – and Expeditions, which are high-difficulty challenges you can take on after beating the main narrative.

As for the two upcoming main expansions, the first one is called The Foundation and due to release on March 26. “The Foundation will delve into the history of the Oldest House,” reads the official Control blog post (opens in new tab). “At the request of the ever-mysterious Board, Jesse must explore what lies beneath the Bureau as she returns order to the Foundation and the Oldest House itself. Expect things to get weird.” Things in Control were already pretty weird, if we’re honest…

The second expansion is called AWE and there’s no confirmed release date other than “mid 2020”. It’ll take Jesse into a new section of The Oldest House called the Investigations Sector, where the Bureau “closely examines Altered World Events”. So we’ve narrowed down what AWE stands for, but how about this…

Control Alan Wake DLC?

One huge point of speculation surrounding the upcoming AWE expansion is that it might also stand for Alan Wake Expansion, one of Remedy’s biggest titles. Perhaps the biggest tell that it features Alan Wake is the fact that the artwork for the AWE expansion features the same background image as the Alan Wake box art. Whether that’s Jesse pictured or Alan Wake himself is yet to be seen, but there’s one other factor that connects the two.

Dr. Casper Darling – the eccentric doctor you regularly see on tapes during Control – is played by Matthew Porretta. Guess which other character Matthew Porretta plays? That’s right; Alan Wake. He’s the voice for Mr. Wake in both the self-titular game and Alan Wake’s American Nightmare… could Dr. Darling in fact be Alan Wake in the future? That’s… probably unlikely but there are Control Easter eggs for Alan Wake (opens in new tab) throughout the game that confirm the two exist in the same world. 

Control season pass

You can pick up the Control season pass right now from the PlayStation store (opens in new tab) but unfortunately, Xbox One and PC players will have to wait. Since The Foundation is a timed exclusive for PS4 players, the Control season pass will only be available for purchase once The Foundation has launched on PS4. Fortunately, the AWE expansion will launch on all platforms simultaneously.

The post Control DLC: When is the first Control expansion coming out and what comes after? appeared first on Game News.

Asked which game he thinks would make the best movie adaptation and whether he’d be willing to write the script, Whitta replied affirmatively, “Control.” A short while later, Remedy communications director Thomas Puha responded to Whitta; “Let’s talk.” Whitta then invited Puha into his DMs for further discussion.

CONTROL. And yes. https://t.co/bY78qxZmt3January 21, 2020

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Gary Whitta’s passion for video games isn’t anything new, having previously worked as a games journalist and editor-in-chief of our sister publication, PC Gamer. Earlier this month (opens in new tab), he pitched an idea to Twitter for an animated Star Fox movie based on fan art by God of War art director Raf Grassetti.

Of course, a casual Twitter exchange falls short of an official deal, but it’s exciting that Remedy publicly expressed interest in the idea. Control tells a wonderfully bizarre story in a gorgeous, interdimensional, shape-shifting setting. There’s no doubt a live-action adaptation would be a spectacle, at the very least.

GamesRadar+ placed Control in the top spot in our list of the 25 best games of 2019 (opens in new tab). In the wake of its awards season success, we were able to reflect on the game’s impact (opens in new tab) with director Mikael Kasurinen. The following quote from Kasurinen should tell you everything you need to know about how Control defied expectations: “There’s a purity to the experience. A sense of no compromises being made. We had an idea of what we wanted to achieve and just went for it, putting all unnecessary hesitations aside.”

If you’re just getting into Control, it can be a lot take in. Check out these essential Control tips (opens in new tab) to find your groove in the mayhem.

The post A Control movie by Rogue One writer Gary Whitta has Remedys approval appeared first on Game News.

I am around four hours into Control (opens in new tab), I have no idea what is going on, and I absolutely love it because of that. I have been picking up every note and file that I can – I’ve even been zooming in on the notice boards, which for the most part just has me reading book club announcements and guitar sales posters – all in the vague hope of trying to figure out what is going on. As happy as I am traversing the claustrophobic corridors of The Oldest House, it’s these little tidbits of information, and the chiming in of Jesse’s inner monologue, that is leaving me desperate to make sense of it all.

Similarly, now we have the Death Stranding release date looming over us like a beached thing, and everyone is scrambling to demystify the information being drip fed to us in the meantime. Whilst it seems the core objective in Death Stranding (opens in new tab) is straightforward enough – travel between the United Cities of America in an attempt to reconnect a disconnected society – it has the trademark Hideo Kojima twist of being elaborate, which is a nice way of saying, hard to follow. 

Though it seems that Kojima has recently gone out of his way to disprove my next point, which is that all of his games, which can often be confusing and full of particularly long cutscenes, are enjoyable. It’s difficult to say whether that’s because, or in spite of, how difficult to parse his games can so often be. 

Understanding a Metal Gear Solid storyline is like trying to tame a wild horse. It’s constantly trying to throw you off, and even when it succeeds in doing so, it just keeps going. However, when Snake (*cough* and Raiden) aren’t being betrayed by their comrades and country, they are fun characters to play as. Watching Raiden slip in seagull poo makes me forget that I only understood 5 minutes of the 5 hours and 24 minutes of cutscenes in Metal Gear Solid 2 alone. But much like the protagonists of Metal Gear that are blindly following orders, I too am just doing what the game tells me too – and having a good time because of it. 

It’s a mystery

We don’t play games to be in a constant state of confusion. Even if it isn’t conscious, our minds will always strive to make sense of even the most nonsensical. When I played Kingdom Hearts 2 in my early teens, I resigned myself to simply seeing it as a game where I got to visit different Disney worlds and fight a few enemies along the way. If I had attempted to understand the interweaving narratives, particularly as someone who hadn’t played the many spin offs, sequels, prequels, non canonical side stories and mobile games that the franchise has churned out, it would have seriously hindered my enjoyment of the game. At the time, I attributed my struggles to grasp the storyline to my youth and to being new to the franchise, but even now I don’t really know what it was I played through. I enjoyed it, sure, but I don’t feel any emotional connection to the Kingdom Hearts games outside of a childhood affection for it.

Whilst some games revel in confusing players with their labyrinthine plots, others are so ambiguous, they seem devoid of any storyline at all. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of a game that allows you to fill in the blanks and come to your own conclusions. Inside (opens in new tab), a game from the developers of Limbo (opens in new tab), is a mere three hours long and contains no dialogue. No written words; no explanations as to who you are, where you are or what you’re doing. It doesn’t force feed you story, in fact, you could probably play this puzzle platformer without identifying the existence of one. But therein lies the enjoyment. For those willing to spend time outside of those three hours deciphering and theorising, you can come to your own conclusions. Then, if you like, you can argue those conclusions with others, and ultimately conclude that you’re the only person who really got it.

Where games like Inside and Limbo present you with a blank canvas, games like The Witcher 3 (opens in new tab) are so rich and complex that it barely fits in the frame. The Witcher games present a narrative that almost seems to exist in spite of you. The core storyline is simple and the missions are easy to follow, but if you really want to understand the intricacies of The Witcher, you need to do your homework. 

When I first played The Witcher 3, I entered Novigrad with no previous knowledge of the franchise, and no real understanding of exactly what has the Nilgaardians and Redanians so angry. But the extra information you get from reading notes and talking to NPCs opens up a more complex world full of politics and betrayal. If it had all been laid bare in the main storyline, I probably wouldn’t be half way through the second book in The Witcher series right now. Plus, having a better understanding of the storyline than others makes the game in question feel special. 

Drawn in

Whether you’re being drawn in by the mystery of Control and Death Stranding, or the lore of The Witcher 3, games that aren’t quick to reveal their hand are undeniably intriguing. There’s a confidence that comes with a developer expecting you to put in the work to decode their messages. As though they’re promising you that in the end, it will all be worth it. So, can you really say you enjoyed a game if you never fully understood what you were experiencing? And does it matter, when trying to figure it out is half the fun?

I am curious to hear if there are any games you loved, but never fully understood. Alternatively, are there any games that you hated because they made no sense to you? Let us know in the comments below, I will see you there, and thanks for watching.

Check out more of our Dialogue Options, such as our discussion on the future of decision based games (opens in new tab) or our exploration of whether open-world games are really as open as they appear (opens in new tab)? 

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