Remedy Entertainment finally reveals its next project, after showing the initial trailer of Control during the PlayStation press conference at E3 2018. The developer first broke onto the scene with the extremely impressive Max Payne in 2001, and the studio earned plaudits for the cinematic nature of the game and its excellent implementation of bullet time mechanics.
Since then, the developer has gone from ambition to ambition, first with the shifting nightmare world of Alan Wake, and then with the complex narrative structure of Quantum Break. After that, however, Remedy began working on a secret project, and the developer remained almost silent on what the project known as P7 would ever become.
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However, now was clearly the right time for Remedy and publisher 505 Games to announce the game to the public, and it's made one serious first impression. The title was revealed as part of the PlayStation press conference, and the trailer's surreal use of geometry and fantastic scene building means that already fans of Remedy's work are looking out for more. The trailer can be seen at the top of this article.
From the trailer, it's clear that Remedy has taken several cues from previous games it has developed, with Control once more a third-person action game with a requirement to use supernatural abilities. In Control, s play as Jesse Faden, the director of a mysterious agency in New York that has been attacked by an unknown threat. Exactly what that threat is remains to be seen, but already from the trailer footage it is apparent that the rules of gravity no longer apply.
This gives Control a truly unique feel, with the game making use of the versatility that video game development provides to build levels that, at least from the trailer, look to be some kind of cross between M.C. Escher and Christopher Nolan's Inception. Meanwhile, the supernatural element seems to have resulted in some strange and potentially terrifying enemies, so players will have to navigate not only shifting walls but vicious attacks.
Remedy was also able to give a release date of sorts for Control, with the game due to arrive at some point in 2019. Unfortunately, at the moment there is nothing more concrete on the cards, but hopefully a more finite release date will be revealed as the gaming community begins to learn more about this mysterious project.
