It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean.
Auteur studio Remedy has managed to bring two fan-favourite franchises crashing headlong into one another with this final DLC offering – weaving the storyline of their latest effort with that of cult classic Alan Wake.
Catering to long-term fans rather than the recently converted, AWE marks the second expansion for 2019’s Control, taking the X-Files inspired plot and labyrinthine halls of The Oldest House into new, literary territory.
Connective threads hinted at during the main game’s story are leisurely unfurled as you traverse a new area – the Investigations Wing – and learn more about the ‘Altered World Events’ which tie these timelines together, and even initially narrated by the titular author just as in the decade-old Alan Wake.
Another element making a return is the interplay of darkness and light – a core mechanic that saw you scouring the world for thinly veiled Duracell batteries for your torch as you fended off creatures of the night.
In this installment, you still play as Federal Bureau of Control Director Jesse Faden as she navigates this world and maintains her telekinetic powers, meshing them with light-based puzzles and set pieces throughout.
This combination works surprisingly well, not outstaying its welcome during the three to four-hour playtime of this expansion, keeping fresh as well as evoking memories of the original.
As with the main game, the meat is in the reams of notes and collectable documents strewn around the environment which serve to give a huge amount of context – all written in that inimitable pulpy Remedy style.
Combat is also expanded as the new multi-launch action enables more masonry to be hurled with abandon at your enemies, whilst ‘Surge’ takes the freakiest weapon in gaming and lavishes it with a new grenade launcher function…if you can unlock it.
All the better for tackling the dark denizens of this DLC, as Control leans on Alan Wake’s horror roots to deliver an altogether more creepy ride. AWE revels in jump scares and the new darkness mechanic, bringing back some deep cuts from the original and a couple of revelations along the way.
Fresh from wresting back the Alan Wake IP from Microsoft, the AWE expansion shows that Remedy still has some impressive tricks up its sleeve – serving as both a fitting swansong (for now) to Jesse’s story, as well as a reverent nostalgia trip for their greatest hoodie-under-jacket wearing protagonist.
Now available in a single package in the Ultimate Edition – Control and its DLC finally seems to round out the full experience, all the while tantalising those unfamiliar with the promise of a Remedy Connected Universe…thrilling stuff.
Control’s AWE DLC is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox. Code provided for review purposes.
