In the lead up to playing the AWE expansion for Control, I did a full playthrough of 2010’s Alan Wake so I could pick up on and fully appreciate the references that Remedy was bound to pack in as it connected its two weird sci-fi universes. While the short and sweet AWE may not be the full “Alan Wake Experience” that long-term fans were hoping for, it thrills for large portions with its exhilarating combat and trademark peculiarities. With fun additions to Jesse Faden’s arsenal and a brand-new area of the Oldest House to explore, there’s a great time to be had with Control’s second expansion while it lasts and plenty of knowledge to gain for fans of both Alan Wake and Control alike.The mysterious disembodied voice of long-missing novelist Alan Wake leads Jesse to the Investigations Sector of the Oldest House and she soon discovers why: Dr Emil Hartman, the sinister psychiatrist from Alan Wake, is roaming the corridors of the sector -- but not like you’ve ever seen him before. He now cuts the figure of a gangly eldritch horror made up of the unenviable combo of being consumed by the darkness and corrupted by the Hiss. His mutated form very much echoes the distinctively horror-themed tones to this expansion, erring much closer to the eerie elements of Alan Wake than the core Control storyline ever did. These main missions tell a fairly straightforward tale over the course of about three hours, but it’s one that had me wanting to know which turn was going to be taken next, especially as someone who’s such a big fan of Alan Wake’s story. This isn’t to say that AWE isn’t for Control fans who haven’t played Alan Wake, though. Yes, it provides a satisfying amount of extra detail and context to those wanting more Alan Wake in their lives, but it does so without ever alienating those who aren’t familiar. While the thriller writer himself may not appear as much as I’d wished for, there’s a healthy amount of extra reading to be done in the form of collectibles that expands on his old adventures in the town of Bright Falls. These range from interviews with residents to case files about Cauldron Lake and the Altered World Events that took place there. There’s also plenty that don’t relate to the events of Alan Wake, though, including more background information to be found out about the Bureau and some delightfully bizarre correspondence that frankly could only be found in Control. A favourite of mine being a note that simply read, “Hello, My feet gossip at night and now I have to wear shoes to bed. Sincerely, Me.”The Investigation Sector houses three different Altered World Events which you’ll fight and puzzle-solve your way through using all the skills that Jesse has mastered up until this point, along with some great new abilities. There’s a new craftable form for the Service Weapon called Surge that’s effectively a sticky grenade launcher, allowing you to decide when you want to make enemies explode like pinatas full of red mist. I enjoyed Surge and ended up using it much more than I initially thought, finding it specifically effective at crowd control and, crucially, in the final challenging boss battle.
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A new enemy type, the jetpack-wearing Hiss Airborne Ranger, provides a welcome challenge and really puts your shooting skills to the test due to their ability to easily evade launched objects while simultaneously firing projectiles at you. Each arena has been well crafted for the battle you find yourself in and take place in the clinically brutalist architecture of the Oldest House -- until you start ripping concrete out of every wall and ceiling that is. In some ways, the Investigation Sector is all too familiar though and a separate aesthetic would have been welcomed for this area to set in apart from the rest.
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The best of this batch is the appearance of an arcade machine that offers a couple of enjoyable, if not revolutionary new modes that have you fighting off Hiss in both horde and time-attack scenarios. On top of that it gives you the option to replay any of the one-off boss fights from the main campaign or the incredible Ashtray Maze sequence. All of these modes are presented with polished retro intro graphics and are another example of the beautiful level of detail that has gone into Control’s world.
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August 27, 2020 at 11:45PM
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Control: AWE Expansion Review - IGN
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