Control’s First 13 Minutes Are a Spooky, Psychological Trip That Asks More Questions Than It Answers

If you’re the kind of person that loves to see as much as possible about a video game before it releases, we’ve got good news for you. IGN has shared the first 13 minutes of the upcoming third-person, action-adventure video game Control, developed by Remedy Entertainment, online. That said, if you’re the kind of person that would prefer not knowing what’s up with the latest and great video game, we’ve also got good news for you: the first 13 minutes asks more questions than it answers.

In the video, which you can watch above, the player takes on the role of Jesse Faden as she infiltrates a shadowy government agency. While Faden talks throughout, largely about posters and what’s behind them and the flexibility of reality, she treks to the office of the Director — which she then becomes (?) through the use of a bizarre-looking gun. While the game’s description suggests there are a number of supernatural secrets and abilities to uncover, the first 13 minutes appear to be largely concerned with setting the stage rather than explaining anything, which makes sense.

In a recent issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, Control director Mikael Kasurinen spoke at length about what’s different in Control from other games. “You look back on our previous games, Alan Wake had a flashlight, and that’s all he did; with Quantum Break we went a step further with the time mechanics… but there was also a little bit of a limit to how far we could go,” he said. “Essentially, there are no limits in Control – we don’t say that it’s just time, or it’s just light and shadows, we open up possibilities.”

“Which allows us to manoeuvre and find what’s fun without being limited by the context we set ourselves,” the director added. “We like strong themes. ‘Okay, this is all about bullet time or this is all about light,’ it helps us to have a focus on the game, which is always healthy and good, but it maybe also comes from a different age and time. It was a common philosophy in the early ’00s: perfect that 30-second loop. Like what Halo did, perfect that one loop, make headshots feel good, and then you repeat that endlessly. It was a common strategy, and it was a good strategy, but I don’t think that’s enough anymore.”

Here’s how Remedy describes the video game:

“After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, you become the new Director struggling to regain Control. This supernatural third-person action-adventure game will challenge you to master a combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts and reactive environments, while fighting through a deep and unpredictable world.”

Control is set to release on August 27th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.