Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: 505 Games

Taking place entirely inside a brutalist-architected concrete monolith of a building, Control uses ray-traced lighting, shadows, and reflections combined with screen space techniques to melt even the very finest video cards-- and the effect is dazzling. Taking place in the midst of an industry-wide mini-FMV revival, Control also makes heavy use of stunning, corny-acted video segments which would not be out of place in a Sega CD game. These are often played as animated textures-- for example, on an in-level television screen's geometry-- and at one point are even mind-bogglingly ray-traced themselves off of some nearby glass and concrete, as they play.

Like virtually all modern-day video games, there is essentially no music in Control, other than a tiny number of licensed tracks used in maybe five or ten minutes of gameplay. As atmospheric as the game strives to be, some memorable melodies trademarking each area-- think of the original "Doom"-- would have pushed this aspect of the game over the top. All of that said, the title's voice acting-- and visual acting as well, for that matter-- is superb, with each participant playing their part in this latest Sam Lake-written epic. The game's various gun noises and the like could stand to be a little more evocative, but they get the job done.

Control involves quasi-Metroidvania style exploration, highly reminiscent specifically of the Saturn's "Powerslave", or the 3DO's "Killing Time", except in the third-person. The player obtains various abilities such as levitation, shielding, and dashing, to go along with several selectable weapons. The game does a good job of mixing enemy types during encounters, forcing the player to be versatile, and use the right tools for the right jobs. Additionally, dozens or even hundreds of collectible text, audio, and video logs are strewn all over the title's world, the scooping up of which lends a nice tempo to the gameplay.

As a metaphor-filled allegory for mental health, Control is the game equivalent of "Ulysses", lending its story to many different interpretations-- perhaps the entire game merely takes place in the protagonist's head during a therapy session? Its full-motion video and lab setting makes it feel like a re-envisioning of the classic 3DO game "Immercenary". Visually, it is one of the most sophisticated titles ever made: particle-filled explosions dance rainfalls of sparks onto lower platforms, as the ray-traced room surfaces and geometry collapses, warps, and transforms around the player, all in real-time. DLSS keeps the framerate in check, so the player can explore and enjoy the game's highly-disturbed world.