Control

Control sends the player into the building of the Federal Bureau of Control, a secret institution that studies objects and phenomena that defy the laws of nature. The main character, Jesse Faden, comes to the building looking for her lost brother, and within minutes becomes its new director, while the corridors have already been taken over by an alien entity called the Hiss. The gameplay combines shooting a weapon that shifts between several forms with supernatural powers. The player picks up pieces of furniture and hurls them at enemies, levitates, builds a shield out of debris, and at its best moments the whole fight turns into fireworks tearing the office apart.

The game's strongest asset is its environment. The Oldest House behaves like a living labyrinth, corridors rearrange themselves, brutalist concrete architecture turns into endless offices or into mine shafts, and the game wasn't afraid of bold narrative forms either, including a combination of live action and animation. On PlayStation 4 it was a technically demanding title that occasionally dipped noticeably on the base model during big firefights, but the atmosphere was strong enough that most players didn't mind. The sound design is unsettling, full of whispers and jarring tones.

Reviews were very complimentary, praising the environment, the sound design, and the courage to do something different from the usual action game. Criticism was aimed at navigating the building, at a map that's nearly unusable, and at the uneven difficulty of some bosses. The influence can be seen in how the game helped bring back interest in strange, unexplained worlds outside classic fantasy or sci-fi. Today it's one of the most original games of its generation, one that still feels like nothing else even years later. A large part of its charm comes from found documents, reports, and meeting recordings that describe the world of the Bureau in dry bureaucratic language, making it even more unsettling. Anyone who takes the time to read them will find a layer no fight can replace.