The game community has an unpleasant habit of hyping up the visuals of an upcoming game to the exclusion of almost everything else. So when a game that looks good, all the talk inevitably focuses on the visuals – on the awesome reflections, the hair mechanics, the way the enemies look, etc. etc. While all this may be important, they shouldn’t be the sole determinant when buying a game, because a lot of good-looking games can be actually crappy to play. But tell that to my two-month younger self, who bought into the hype train and pre-purchased the game at full price. As the title suggests though, I’m strangely satisfied, though I can’t exactly say what satisfies the most!
Graphics –
Okay, let’s get the graphics out of the way because a. my reviews always start with graphics and b. because that’s supposed to be the USP of the game. Right off the bat, it becomes clear that this game is a massive challenge for even the best of cards. On my decidedly mid-range RTX 2060 paired with a Ryzen 5 2600 and some 2400Mhz RAM, the game began to produce artefacts and a weird trailing halo behind the main character’s head when she moved. Turn on DLSS and the problems are solved. Clearly my graphics card – at less than half a year old – is overwhelmed by the sheer amount and quality of textures and effects being thrown at it.
Once things were fixed though, the fun began. From the reception desk to the depths of Mold infested caverns, and through the huge halls and cafeterias, the graphics are just – mind-blowingly brilliant. With ray tracing on, the shadows and reflections are always spot-on. By spot-on, I mean they look akin to real life to the extent that I actually spent my non-gaming hours comparing the graphics with actual reflections in the world. And damn are they close enough to be similar. Bar the oil spill in the puddle or the ant struggling for life in another, there is hardly any difference between the real-world reflections and those of the game. Which is kind of scary, because the game actually involves a mirror world in which everything is exactly the same but, well, reversed.
More than the crisp reflections though, what struck me is the extent to which the reflections changed as I moved, or objects came into view or moved out of view, and effects took place. Just the reflections of explosions on Jesse (the main character’s) gun are enough to make you stop and stare. And get killed by the Hiss (the main antagonist). But that extra death is worth it, because boy are the minutest surfaces capable of reflecting enough – just enough – to persuade you that the gun is real, you are real and the lighting of the world is real.
Surprisingly, all of this reality takes place in an office environment in which practically everything is technically indoors. Bar the bit of greenery from the huge trees – or the mold – there isn’t anything much that’s biological and plant-like. But every bit of it is so well rendered that I actually contemplated spending some nirvana-gaining moments at the bottom of one big tree in Central Research. The mold too is surprisingly detailed, and you wouldn’t believe that these are just generic textures reproduced all over the walls.
But I must find a fault if this isn’t to become a eulogy. The fault- or should I more correctly say the comparatively less impressive area – comprises of the facial expressions and facial textures when the characters are talking in third person. This is surprising because when the camera shifts to first person, the expressions and facial textures are a lot more believable. Light reflects off the cheeks properly, the eyes are alive, and the lips look like, well, lips. In third person though, all of this isn’t there and even the lip movements aren’t properly synced. But hey, even AAA games of the level of Assassin’s Creed Origin and Odyssey have very poor facial expressions and mismatched lip sync so I wouldn’t be demanding a refund over this.
One last word about the overall design of the game. Since it melds large cavernous halls with narrow infested passages, every area feels and looks new. Even if we discount the strange modifications always happening in the Oldest House (where this game takes place), exploring the place is at once challenging and visually fulfilling.
Oh, and did I mention the poop monster resembles actual poop if you look very closely ? Ultra textures FTW, amirite ?
Rating – 5/5
Plot – You enter an organization called Federal Bureau of Control and become its director in a span of less than 10 minutes. And then have to fix the whole organization with the few remaining employees, all of whom suddenly discover a great reverence for you (bar one, who simply sees you as a conduit for fungus control). Beginning with this weird premise, the game asks you to move into each of the various levels to cleanse them of the Hiss. The Hiss is a supernatural entity that has arrived – somehow – and has taken over everyone. Hence, most of the Bureau is now floating high in the air and chanting weird stuff.
As you progress, it becomes clear that the Hiss inhabit practically every room of the Oldest House, excepting the ones inhabited by the Mold i.e. a weird pseudo-biological organism. All of this exists in the Oldest House because the House itself is a supernatural entity where time and space don’t follow existing rules. Your job, as Director, is to simply cleanse the place and ensure the survival and continuation of the Oldest House, because despite its oddities and problems, it is the only thing that can contain the Hiss, the Mold and the AWE/Objects of power.
Did I say AWE ? Yeah, Altered World Event aka strange things that don’t really make sense unless you factor in the fact that strange things happen under specific – if unclear – circumstances. Anchors cause ships to rust and sink, fridges blow of buildings unless stared upon relentlessly, telephones allow you to communicate with unknown entities and slide projectors open up new dimensions. Amidst all of these exist the Board, who are in charge of the House and who give the director supernatural abilities.
So, to summarize, your job is to use those abilities to follow the instructions of the Board and cleanse the house of its current chaos. But there’s more. Apparently, Jesse herself was involved in an AWE in a place called Ordinary during her childhood. Following the event, her brother was taken into FBC custody while she escaped. It is heavily implied that she came back to the FBC to find her brother, though the exact linkages are never made clear.
So, to summarize again (because every time you try to summarize the Oldest House, it changes shape), you came to the FBC to find your brother but were made the Director instead and now have to clean up, find your brother and……enjoy a cushy salary and a permanent job ? But then you have a strange entity in your head called Polaris which wants you to do specific things that will help you and “her.” Somehow, “she” also helps you de-hiss objects and areas.
So, to summarize for the final time (you get the drift), you came looking for your brother on the instructions of Polaris (probably ?) and were made the director who has to clean up so her brother can survive, the people of the world can be saved and she can enjoy a nice salary ? What’s the salary of the director anyway ? Is it worth all this hassle ?
As the above summarizing would suggest, the story unfolds in layers, with the same area or topic being revisited again and again, but with crucial modifications. Previously cleansed areas spawn new enemies, new areas are found that were previously inaccessible and your duties and objectives keep changing. Despite there never being the “backstab” moment that has become so common across games today, the plot holds itself together and manages to keep the gamer interested when – when – they are not looking at the awesome graphics.
That said, it is not a particularly heart-wrenching plot. Sure, not everything goes well. Jesse is not a perfect person, and what happens in the end is not a perfect ending. But neither is it painful enough. This is crucially why the game feels strangely satisfying – the plot keeps you interested without really bringing out any emotions that would power you through. Ergo, you don’t power through the game, instead moving at your own convenient pace and allowing the house and your employees to guide you.
Rating – 4/5
Gameplay – The real reason why graphics aren’t everything is because gameplay is something. A whole lot of something important. Remedy (the people behind Control) know this. Hence, the demos showed fast paced action with Jesse deploying a range of mind-control actions like telekinesis, seize, etc along side normal gun combat and some really fast running and hovering.
In reality, Jesse is too weak for the Devil May Cry meets Quantum Break gameplay. Combat often takes place under cover of pillars or even staircases, and can often become limited to taking shots at an angle from behind the pillar. This is important because even though you can crouch, there really isn’t any good prone positions for shooting.
But you can’t stay long in one place either, as this makes you an easy target. Don’t take it from me, take it from the game, which literally suggests this on a loading screen. In other words, you have to keep moving while alternating between firing your gun and using your powers. In later stages, abilities like telekinesis do much more damage than most versions of the gun, but initially, your gun is all you will have. Hence, from early on the in the game, the vital combination of the three will have to be learnt.
This is all the more important because the ability points needed to beef up these abiliites aren’t exactly easy to obtain. They must be obtained through specific main or subsidiary missions, some of whom are actually more dangerous than the main plotline. Consider for instance that there’s one that involves a bossfight so tough many gamers simply skipped the area. Once you get these ability points though, you can buff your abilities to the extent that killing even named enemies up to level 5 becomes a one-sided show where you hurl and fire at will while the enemy just takes damage and more damage. But as I said, there’s plenty to be done before you can get there.
You are also helped along by health elements, which heal you, and various materials, which are used to craft upgrades and mods. Whether these are for your gun or for yourself or both, is for you to decide. But this too makes you eager to join combat so you can get more stuff to upgrade with.
Outside of combat, the game is good without being noteworthy. It is basically a sort of dungeon explorer where you gain new abilities as your progress along the storyline. You have to use specific abilities (levitate for instance) to cross specific areas, and solve some puzzles. One puzzle – that of the mirror – truly had me reading up instructions over and over again. But blame that on my IQ, since there is general consensus that the quizzes aren’t very tough.
Thus, overall, the combat is refreshingly good, and lets you stay invested enough to consider doing tough missions or a little extra exploration so you can get the next upgrade. But beyond that, the game doesn’t have much to offer. This is perhaps fine, since the game was meant to be such and not a puzzle solving one.
Rating – 4.5/5
Characters – The main character, Jesse, is a young woman with a complex past. After fleeing Ordinary, her whereabouts aren’t known, and she eventually took up a number of odd jobs before heading to the Oldest House. Her real intention is to find her brother, and her thoughts – superbly voice acted – make it plain that she cares a lot about him. However, there just isn’t enough substance to her character to make her someone you’d associate yourself with.
This is true for all the other characters as well. Given that the villains are a bunch of inanimate/resonant/biological problems with no capacity to tell you how much they loath you, the game required a superb set of characters to fill this void. But bar Emily, there really isn’t anyone in the Oldest House you’d want to take out for coffee.
Honestly, this is surprising since Remedy scattered a huge amount of literature around the house. But very little of it belongs to you or your family or employees. So we learn precious little about the motivations of characters, their relations with each other, and with Jesse. Also, everyone at the end of the day seems to just get along with everyone else. Intrigue, suspicion and confusion are things only the Hiss inspires in the Oldest House, and that is truly a pity.
Rating – 2.5/5
Overall Rating – The game features some of the most advanced and beautiful graphics available today, along with some fantastic gameplay and – I forgot to mention this – an amazing score. However, the plot and the characters especially are insipid and fail to inspire. There is no endgame to inspire and no favourite characters whose deaths to mourn. So the best – and satisfying way – is to play the game at your own pace with as much environmental damage as possible. You’ll find the game becomes strangely satisfying to play.
Overall rating – 4/5