That perhaps Control would normalise itself outside of its big showcase set-piece moments that have been shown publicly in the last year. As much as Control dazzled in small play-session opportunities, I had often wondered whether this was all smoke and mirrors. This is the first Remedy game to come to a PlayStation platform in 16 years, since 2003's Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. That isn't a criticism of it – or of a studio that has poured so much of its energy and enthusiasm behind Control across its three years of development – but rather the strongest endorsement I could possibly hope to make on its behalf. To that end, Control feels like a game specifically created to prove a point that didn't need to be made. Control really is our chance to see what this team can achieve when it is free to create without restraint. For me, Alan Wake and Quantum Break are two of the defining action games of the last two generations, but I believe that chasing sequels would have ultimately been reductive to Remedy. I'm not sure that I necessarily subscribe to the concept of 'fate', but I can now say quite unequivocally that I'm glad that we are receiving this supernatural action game rather than a sequel to either of the aforementioned. Had either of these realities come to pass, Remedy would likely be locked into a cycle of sequels under the purview of Microsoft Game Studios. Had Quantum Break not been subjected to a famously contentious development cycle, perhaps enthusiasm for continued adventures in Riverport University would have been there from both developer and publisher alike. Had the former shifted just a few million more copies in its launch window, it's likely that Alan Wake 2 wouldn't have languished in pre-production and sent Remedy down a different path.
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