CONTROL Spoiler Thread

[kami_sama]

There is a lot to unpack after finishing the game, and I thought a thread to talk freely would be better than using spoiler tags on the OT.
So spoilers beware.

There are quite a lot of loose threads, hope we see some info on the DLC.

• Ahti the janitor. What is he?
• Former. What does it want?
• What exactly is the board?
• The City. I've read some documents about it, but I've no idea of what it is.
• Where is Marshall? Is there something in the Black Rock Quarry?

And there's still a lot more.
So many mysteries, and only two more DLCs to go.

 

[Deleted member 56449]

That ending was mad. Ahti is a very interesting character, I wished to learn more about him. I also believe that he's just in my head, he knew almost everything and knew how to guide me. Had the key to the maze when nobody else had it. He's a crucial part in the story it's just left unknown.

 

[kami_sama]

That ending was mad. Ahti is a very interesting character, I wished to learn more about him. I also believe that he's just in my head, he knew almost everything and knew how to guide me. Had the key to the maze when nobody else had it. He's a crucial part in the story it's just left unknown.

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I think he is The Oldest House itself.
A manifestation of the Place of Power would be the perfect explanation on how he bends the rules of the building and helps Jesse.

 

[show me your skeleton]

I think he is The Oldest House itself.
A manifestation of the Place of Power would be the perfect explanation on how he bends the rules of the building and helps Jesse.

Click to shrink...

yeah, i think ahti is god or a god-like being, 'cleaning up' the mess that the hiss/mold has caused. he's using you for a lot of the work, you're his assistant after all.

not sure ho the board fits in to this though, they talk about things beyond the universe and directly refernce the game, the player etc.

 

[kami_sama]

yeah, i think ahti is god or a god-like being, 'cleaning up' the mess that the hiss/mold has caused. he's using you for a lot of the work, you're his assistant after all.

not sure ho the board fits in to this though, they talk about things beyond the universe and directly refernce the game, the player etc.

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One thing I loved about the board is how when they talked, a lot of the words had double meaning. It's like the board was made by different entities (making the name more apt)

 

[Deleted member 56449]

I think he is The Oldest House itself.
A manifestation of the Place of Power would be the perfect explanation on how he bends the rules of the building and helps Jesse.

Click to shrink...

Yes! Ahti is like a god in Controls universe. He's a janitor for a reason, to clean up all the mess that happened. But he needed you to do the work

 

[StrappingYoungLance]

I think he is The Oldest House itself.
A manifestation of the Place of Power would be the perfect explanation on how he bends the rules of the building and helps Jesse.

Click to shrink...

It would fit the whole "new assistant" thing too, though I'm not totally sure how that plays into needing a vacation. Is it not until Jesse that there's been a director worthy enough to allow for Ahti to not be around to help keep things in order? I guess Jesse *is* more powerful than Trench was.

 

[DocSeuss]

Worth noting that you encounter Ahti next to the last time in the Foundation of the oldest house, and on the pillar next to him, there is a world tree carved into it. No other pillar is like this, and the symbolism doesn't appear elsewhere in the game. It is wholly unique to the location where you finally find Ahti, who is on vacation.

The entire game's cosmology does indicate that the oldest house is the world tree--a series of roots connecting to other worlds, including our own.

Ahti in folklore is a Finnish hero figure.

Love the lore bit of people getting mad when he shows up in high-clearance areas.

Also really intriguing that the Old Gods of Asgard--Odin and Thor from Alan Wake--wrote a song about the house.

It would fit the whole "new assistant" thing too, though I'm not totally sure how that plays into needing a vacation. Is it not until Jesse that there's been a director worthy enough to allow for Ahti to not be around to help keep things in order? I guess Jesse *is* more powerful than Trench was.

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Jesse has replaced Hedron as the source through which Polaris (the guiding star's) power flows. She is the reason HRA's continue to work.

--

Did we find out ANYTHING about the Hiss other than that Polaris stopped them inside Slide 36 (known as Hand by Jesse because of the 5 pillars that look like fingers rising up)?

Why did they want to take on the Bureau?

What is the Bureau?

 

[kami_sama]

It would fit the whole "new assistant" thing too, though I'm not totally sure how that plays into needing a vacation. Is it not until Jesse that there's been a director worthy enough to allow for Ahti to not be around to help keep things in order? I guess Jesse *is* more powerful than Trench was.

Click to shrink...

Well Trench got done by the Hiss after all.
That makes me think that Trench didn't kill himself, it was the Service Weapon that killed Trench because he was no longer worthy.

Worth noting that you encounter Ahti next to the last time in the Foundation of the oldest house, and on the pillar next to him, there is a world tree carved into it. No other pillar is like this, and the symbolism doesn't appear elsewhere in the game. It is wholly unique to the location where you finally find Ahti, who is on vacation.

The entire game's cosmology does indicate that the oldest house is the world tree--a series of roots connecting to other worlds, including our own.

Ahti in folklore is a Finnish hero figure.

Love the lore bit of people getting mad when he shows up in high-clearance areas.

Also really intriguing that the Old Gods of Asgard--Odin and Thor from Alan Wake--wrote a song about the house.

Click to shrink...

Damn, I noticed the symbol on the foundation when I went there, but I didn't know the symbolism.

 

[CypherSignal]

This is separate from the questions posed by OP, but I absolutely loved how the events of Alan Wake occurred in the same world as Control, and it was really fun seeing those events re-contextualized as a significant case for the Bureau to handle. The Hidden Area on the 5th floor of the Panopticon was particularly neat.

 

[Danteyke223]

So can Remedy get the rights for Max Payne and have them refer to him somehow , I guess theyalso dont own Quantum Break cause it was not referred in any shape or form

 

[kami_sama]

So can Remedy get the rights for Max Payne and have them refer to him somehow , I guess theyalso dont own Quantum Break cause it was not referred in any shape or form

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Yeah, I think two or three months ago they got the rights to AW. But both games would make for great AWEs.

 

[show me your skeleton]

So can Remedy get the rights for Max Payne and have them refer to him somehow , I guess theyalso dont own Quantum Break cause it was not referred in any shape or form

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there's 'paine elevators' in the game ;)

my favourite bit of the second half is the hand/janitor-made control point by the pillars. i loved that whole section actually, it's so cool how it's all within the oldest house. very 'house of leaves'-esque.

 

[Nooblet]

I loved the story, and the fact that not every mystery is explained for the sake of explanation (like Shit, who you can guess is the manifestation of old house). While Sam Lake is a madmen like Kojima, Lake understands that some things are better left unexplained as you had in Xfiles, Twin Peaks, or Stephen King novels. Kojima on the other hand tries to give explanation for everything leading to silly stuff.

I will say this however, that the ending could have been better. The whole game has this otherworldly feeling and mystery but the ending/run for final fight is very standard good guy win and evil is contained kind of ending. Quantum Break had the same issue and so did Alan Wake, eventhough all those games kind of ended on an open note and we'll likely never see them follow up on that.

 

[Danteyke223]

I loved the story, and the fact that not every mystery is explained for the sake of explanation (like Shit, who you can guess is the manifestation of old house). While Sam Lake is a madmen like Kojima, Lake understands that some things are better left unexplained as you had in Xfiles, Twin Peaks, or Stephen King novels. Kojima on the other hand tries to give explanation for everything leading to silly stuff.

I will say this however, that the ending could have been better. The whole game has this otherworldly feeling and mystery but the ending/run for final fight is very standard good guy win and evil is contained kind of ending. Quantum Break had the same issue and so did Alan Wake, eventhough all those games kind of ended on an open note and we'll likely never see them follow up on that.

Click to shrink...

To be fair Control will have two singleplayer expansions so somethings might be expanded upon / sequel tease. I think they'll follow up on this game or make a new spin-off from it. Wonder how good this is selling

 

[Deleted member 56580]

Did we find out ANYTHING about the Hiss other than that Polaris stopped them inside Slide 36 (known as Hand by Jesse because of the 5 pillars that look like fingers rising up)?

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The hiss is the opposite of Polaris. They're both resonances and thats it. However I think the Hiss tied to where the former comes from, that negative / black space has to be inside of the black pyramid where the board is at

Why did they want to take on the Bureau?

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It was explained pretty clearly : they wanted Hedron ! Hedron was acting as a catalyst to Polaris's resonance waves and the moment we remove the big HRA at Hedron's door, the hiss already tries to override the signal with radio antennas in order to boost it enough for it to go through the bureau / invade the world basically

What is the Bureau?

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A place of power created to understand and control AWE / Oop. The bureau is the line of defense against all the paranormal events created by human's beliefs, plus a place where reality tresholds can be reached

Near the foundation control point you can see a world tree on a pillar. Also foundation is the name of the first dlc we'll get

 

[Smokey]

I completed it yesterday and I was (and still am) so confused. So what exactly happened with Dylan? And Darling did what now? Those moments in the very last mission 'Take Control' , what was happening in The Directors office?

There was just a lot going on in this game. I picked up and read a lot of files along the way too. The connection to Alan Wake is near and fits perfectly.

 

[Team_Feisar]

Also, what exactly is Hedron? Is it a living entity or something like machine that amplifies the power of a resonance?

Furthermore, do we ever find out what is held inside the reactor? I think that some documents mention that the power source of the oldest house is a living being or something to that effect?

All those mysteries left unsolved are great! I hope the DLC answers some, but not all o them.
The Service Weapon description mentioning other mythological "OoPs" like Mjolnir was a nice touch. So i guess the Service Weapon does not have to take on the form of a gun.

 

[Nooblet]

To be fair Control will have two singleplayer expansions so somethings might be expanded upon / sequel tease. I think they'll follow up on this game or make a new spin-off from it. Wonder how good this is selling

Click to shrink...

I don't really expect any resolution, more than likely they will do self contained story. Like they did with Alan Wake and like how most developers like to do when it comes to post launch story DLC

 

[Liquid_]

Also, what exactly is Hedron? Is it a living entity or something like machine that amplifies the power of a resonance?

Furthermore, do we ever find out what is held inside the reactor? I think that some documents mention that the power source of the oldest house is a living being or something to that effect?

All those mysteries left unsolved are great! I hope the DLC answers some, but not all o them.
The Service Weapon description mentioning other mythological "OoPs" like Mjolnir was a nice touch. So i guess the Service Weapon does not have to take on the form of a gun.

Click to shrink...

There is a strong possibility that the person inside the reactor is

Spoiler

Northmoor. You can actually see the thermal image of a live being on one of the terminals in the NSC Power Plant. There's even a sign saying "Northmoor Sarcophagus Container" if I remember right. And it's worth remembering that Trench calls Northmoor, "A man like an explosion, hungry for authority..." in one of the Hotline calls early on. And we know that Northmoor was an extremely powerful director according to documents and conversation with NPCs. Guess he went full circle alright.

 

[show me your skeleton]

There is a strong possibility that the person inside the reactor is

Spoiler

Northmoor. You can actually see the thermal image of a live being on one of the terminals in the NSC Power Plant. There's even a sign saying "Northmoor Sarcophagus Container" if I remember right. And it's worth remembering that Trench calls Northmoor, "A man like an explosion, hungry for authority..." in one of the Hotline calls early on. And we know that Northmoor was an extremely powerful director according to documents and conversation with NPCs. Guess he went full circle alright.

Click to shrink...

christ i feel like i've missed a whole lot whilst plaything this.

 

[kami_sama]

There is a strong possibility that the person inside the reactor is

Spoiler

Northmoor. You can actually see the thermal image of a live being on one of the terminals in the NSC Power Plant. There's even a sign saying "Northmoor Sarcophagus Container" if I remember right. And it's worth remembering that Trench calls Northmoor, "A man like an explosion, hungry for authority..." in one of the Hotline calls early on. And we know that Northmoor was an extremely powerful director according to documents and conversation with NPCs. Guess he went full circle alright.

Click to shrink...

Yep, you can hear some flavor speech if you climb to the top of the NSC. It seems he was the director before Trench and he had some sort of pyrokinesis, but it went out of control and now he is inside the power plant.

 

[show me your skeleton]

Yep, you can hear some flavor speech if you climb to the top of the NSC. It seems he was the director before Trench and he had some sort of pyrokinesis, but it went out of control and now he is inside the power plant.

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that's dark as fuck.

 

[Liquid_]

I think a big plot point revolves around the "Mother" mentionned in the journals about the events in Ordinary. Seems like the other kids gathered around this being and that It progressively transformed them into whatever-deformed "monkeys" killed Dylan's math teacher. Neil got turned into a dogman by forces from the Slidescapes too.
At the beginning I thought it was Hedron but it doesn't seem likely as Jesse and Dylan both came in contact with her.

Maybe this "Non-mother" is the source of the Hiss.

 

[CypherSignal]

Does this song mean that the events of Control were conjured up by the forces inside Cauldron Lake? 🤔🤔🤔

 

[show me your skeleton]

Does this song mean that the events of Control were conjured up by the forces inside Cauldron Lake? 🤔🤔🤔

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according to youtube comments:

The reversed bits:
1. In their drunken fever state seemed to both (profound leave?) the pyramid in the stolen file becomes a spruce tree
2. A diamond, I'll tell you where, 1 19 7 1 18 4 9 19
3. Landing on a polar star and rushing on to the red room, find the quarry to take you to a secret rendezvous

 

[Deleted member 56580]

Also, what exactly is Hedron? Is it a living entity or something like machine that amplifies the power of a resonance?

Click to shrink...

Its a catalyst yeah, an amplifier basically. Darling says that in the FMV you can see in the Hedron control room

Furthermore, do we ever find out what is held inside the reactor? I think that some documents mention that the power source of the oldest house is a living being or something to that effect?

Click to shrink...

Pretty sure its Northmoor, the previous director. They're harvesting his energy to power the oldest house

So what exactly happened with Dylan?

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He didn't have a HRA and accepted the hiss as his truth. He's the other guy outside Trench who could function with it inside of him

Those moments in the very last mission 'Take Control' , what was happening in The Directors office?

Click to shrink...

It was Jesse learning how to take control of Polaris's powers without her feeling it as an entity inside her head. She and Polaris are one now, like Dylan and Trench are / were the hiss. Also showed that Trench basically got fully subjugated and killed himself after being paranoid for so long. He couldn't make the difference between dream and reality anymore

 

[Aeana]

I ended the game very, very confused so I'll be keeping track of the discussion in this thread. Heading a new Poets of the Fall track during the ashtray maze was the highlight of the game for me.

 

[Kodaemon]

Also, what exactly is Hedron? Is it a living entity or something like machine that amplifies the power of a resonance?

Click to shrink...

I took it that Hedron was an entity related to but distinct from Polaris, like... family. As much as Jesse was looking for Dylan, Polaris was looking for Hedron.

 

[Badpsychometry]

I don't understand who killed Trench, was it Dylan?

 

[kami_sama]

I don't understand who killed Trench, was it Dylan?

Click to shrink...

I think he either kiled himself, or the Service Weapon made him do it.
Based on the sequence where you are corrupted by the hiss, it shows Jesse almost killing herself with the gun, it might have to do with the whole "worthy" thing. If you are not worthy, it will kill you.

 

[Patitoloco]

I'll be visiting this thread a lot. What an ending. I cannot wait for the DLC, the sequel, Alan Wake 2 o whatever the hell Remedy wants to do next.

 

[FelipeMGM]

So I posted this on the OT, but since it is spoiler sensitive, this is a better place for it.

Ever since they started addressing Dylan as P6 and later Jesse as P7, I've been thinking why Remedy choose these titles for them, and I have a theory.

In the game, Dylan (P6) was brought into the FBC because his abilities were very promising, so much promising that they were trying to train him to become the new director. But we find out that it didn't work, as Dylan wasn't really fit for the job. Then we discover that the next one they were hoping to pursue for that position, was Jesse (P7) and she does indeed become the new director excelling at her job.

For those who don't know, P# is also how Remedy name's their projects. Control is P7, and I believe Quantum Break was P6.

So, P6 was a candidate they had a lot of faith and put and a bunch of resources into but didn't really pay off how they were hoping, so they moved on (like Quantum Break) while P7 is the candidate that was successful as their future director (like they hope Control will lead Remedy's new future direction). I think that's the analogy they are making here

Also, another fun fact is that the actor that portrays Dylan, Sean Durrie, was initially cast as Jack Joyce, Quantum Break's main character (the first demos we ever saw were with him on the role) before the role was recast and Shawn Ashmore took it.

Like I said on the other thread, I would love to see Remedy themselves comment on this, but they might never do that.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Thanks for making this thread, as while I enjoyed the game and may have been too tired to be playing at times, I found the story hard to follow.

Perhaps someone can help me if I missed anything here and maybe fill in a few gaps:

• I understood that Trench got "possessed" after using the slideshow maybe one too many times in visiting the dimension The Hiss was from, after which he went and opened the portal. Then I guess he was stuck in his own head and shot himself or was forced to by the Board? That wasn't super clear to me.
• The brother clearly blamed his sister, but mostly Polaris for his condition and imprisonment, and grew heavy spite towards both of them as demonstrated in the various audio recordings throughout the game. That culminated in him using his sister to open the way to Polaris so that he could...float around her menacingly? And somehow him floating around her with his multiple copies killed her? Was there a significance to the dozens of floating Dylan's? Just the way they wanted to convey his threat to Polaris? For me, him attacking Polaris with laser beams or some shit would have been visually more clear, as it was not apparent that he was actively doing anything to Polaris...then she just fell apart. The satellite dishes were only being used to hold Polaris in place and not to deal damage to her, right? I'm just not sure it was clear what Dylan was doing to kill Polaris. Maybe the copies were poisoning Polaris with Hiss energy? idk.
• After Jesse got possessed by The Hiss, she was able to fight it off by...focusing and remembering who she was? Those moments where she shot herself or where Dylan was holding a gun to her head were...what exactly? Visions? What do we think her physical body would have been doing while she was possessed? Floating in the air like everyone else somewhere in the Old House? Babbling like Dylan?
• Can someone remind me again how Jesse was able to hold into a part of Polaris after her death? I saw something about that but zoned out a bit.
• Random thought: I found it weird that Jesse stepped right into skillfully shooting handguns and walking around giant pools of blood and dead bodies. Did they present something about her background that I missed? Something other than going shopping and hanging out at coffee shops (prime candidate logs) to suggest that she should be taking to murdering possessed humans and stepping over corpses like a dog takes to water? For someone just coming to find a family member being thrust into this story, it all seemed more natural than it should have been. As a character, she rarely objected to anything she was asked to do or even critically questioned anything. I would have appreciated her easing into her role a bit, given she's not a trained soldier or some such in so far as we know; just a person with a tag-along friend looking for a missing family member.
• Who do you guys think The Janitor really is? I'm thinking he's the physical manifestation of The Old House itself.

I don't understand who killed Trench, was it Dylan?

Click to shrink...

He definitely killed himself. The Board made him do it, I believe, but it's possible Dylan influenced him through The Hiss? He seemed to be trying to do the same to Jesse (influence her). Trench's long speech after Jesse was possessed (the part where she's a regular office clerk and you drop off his mail the second time) gets into what his deal was, I believe. I'd have to replay that chapter to be sure.

Pretty sure its Northmoor, the previous director. They're harvesting his energy to power the oldest house

Click to shrink...

I must have missed it, but why would a human have power to harvest? I don't remember. What did he become along the way to make this a possibility?

It was Jesse learning how to take control of Polaris's powers without her feeling it as an entity inside her head. She and Polaris are one now, like Dylan and Trench are / were the hiss. Also showed that Trench basically got fully subjugated and killed himself after being paranoid for so long. He couldn't make the difference between dream and reality anymore

Click to shrink...

In what way did they become one? Can you explain this a bit more?

 

[Kodaemon]

Can someone remind me again how Jesse was able to hold into a part of Polaris after her death? I saw something about that but zoned out a bit.

Click to shrink...

See my previous post. Jesse thought Hedron was Polaris, but it was not.

 

[kami_sama]

Thanks for making this thread, as while I enjoyed the game and may have been too tired to be playing at times, I found the story hard to follow.

Perhaps someone can help me if I missed anything here and maybe fill in a few gaps:

• I understood that Trench got "possessed" after using the slideshow maybe one too many times in visiting the dimension The Hiss was from, after which he went and opened the portal. Then I guess he was stuck in his own head and shot himself or was forced to by the Board? That wasn't super clear to me.

Click to shrink...

There's a document that details the first time that they enter the slide number 36, where the hiss come from. It says that everyone heard a frequency, but Trench also heard something else that made his ear bleed.
The fist sound was Hedron, protecting everyone. The second one was the Hiss. It only infected Trench, and it was so little that took years for it to grow.
As for why he killed himself, I think it was the board through the Service Weapon. When you get it the first time you get told it's like a russian roullete, only the worthy live. So he wasn't worthy anymore and got killed.

• The brother clearly blamed his sister, but mostly Polaris for his condition and imprisonment, and grew heavy spite towards both of them as demonstrated in the various audio recordings throughout the game. That culminated in him using his sister to open the way to Polaris so that he could...float around her menacingly? And somehow him floating around her with his multiple copies killed her? Was there a significance to the dozens of floating Dylan's? Just the way they wanted to convey his threat to Polaris? For me, him attacking Polaris with laser beams or some shit would have been visually more clear, as it was not apparent that he was actively doing anything to Polaris...then she just fell apart. The satellite dishes were only being used to hold Polaris in place and not to deal damage to her, right? I'm just not sure it was clear what Dylan was doing to kill Polaris. Maybe the copies were poisoning Polaris with Hiss energy? idk.

Click to shrink...

You have to make a distinction between Polaris (what resides inside Jesse) and Hedron (the creature that was in the slide).
Also, he doesn't attack anything (apart from the board), it was the Hiss. They were attacking Hedron because the HRE were amplifying it's power. Polaris was something similar to the HRE but more complex. After they kill it, Polaris becomes the new source of the frequency the HREs amplify.
And Dylan hates his sister because she abandoned him on Ordinary and choose to escape.

• After Jesse got possessed by The Hiss, she was able to fight it off by...focusing and remembering who she was? Those moments where she shot herself or where Dylan was holding a gun to her head were...what exactly? Visions? What do we think her physical body would have been doing while she was possessed? Floating in the air like everyone else somewhere in the Old House? Babbling like Dylan?

Click to shrink...

I think it was Jesse just finding that Polaris wasn't Hedron. They were different creatures since the start and Polaris was still inside her head. And I think seh was babbling like Dylan at the place where Hedron was while the scene takes place.

• Can someone remind me again how Jesse was able to hold into a part of Polaris after her death? I saw something about that but zoned out a bit.

Click to shrink...

Hedron "implanted" Jesse some power. That power is called Polaris. So they were separate. Killing Hedron doesn't kill Polaris, but because Jesse thinks it is, she ends up getting consumed by the Hiss.

• Random thought: I found it weird that Jesse stepped right into skillfully shooting handguns and walking around giant pools of blood and dead bodies. Did they present something about her background that I missed? Something other than going shopping and hanging out at coffee shops (prime candidate logs) to suggest that she should be taking to murdering possessed humans and stepping over corpses like a dog takes to water? For someone just coming to find a family member being thrust into this story, it all seemed more natural than it should have been. As a character, she rarely objected to anything she was asked to do or even critically questioned anything. I would have appreciated her easing into her role a bit, given she's not a trained soldier or some such in so far as we know; just a person with a tag-along friend looking for a missing family member.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, it's also a little strange, but I think it was a psychological change when she wielded the Service Weapon and was made Director. When she finds Trench dead on the office, her reaction is completely natural, and it is the first corpse she finds. After that, she's calm and collected.

• Who do you guys think The Janitor really is? I'm thinking he's the physical manifestation of The Old House itself.

Click to shrink...

That's exactly what I think, but also look at this post https://www.resetera.com/threads/control-spoiler-thread.138128/post-24057172

 

[Luckett_X]

Just Platinum'd this fine ass mother hubbard, so it is time to unload the lore!

-Hedron and Polaris. I'm choosing to think of Hedron as a mother like being, with Polaris being the symbiotic offspring born like some sort of resonance symbiosis. Hedron represented co-operation and symbiosis while the Hiss represent assimilation. (I was sure worried for a moment that Hiss was gonna be the short hand of Hedron Resonance!)

-Coulda done with the conclusion being a bit more Hiss-centric than Brother in the Astral Plane drama. All you get is that they got in through Trench's ear. It got a bit confusing as I guess he was lying about it entering his ear while visiting Hedron's world, and they straight up just went to one of the burned slides at one point and that was the Hiss dimension? Could do with some clarification there.

-The Oldest House is definitely a play on Yggdrasil the World Tree, made completely obvious when you get down to the roots and see the etched drawing in the side of the pillars.

-The NSC Power Plant is the Northmoor Sarcophagus Container, no ifs and buts about it, thats him in there doing "the least a Director can do: keep the lights on". Which is one of the most horrifying things in the whole game really, if he's some eternal energy being now living in constant nuclear fission.

-Designation "Dog Neil" and the Dung Monkeys. Everyone disappearing from Ordinary wasn't the worst stuff that Slide Projector got up to back there. The Not-Mother feeding Tom and his fellow bullies its milk to make them more violent and regressive? Neil getting turned into a melted fucking dog form? The Slide Projector felt like this games play on the most famous SCP entries about the Mirror Devices and The Unclean.

-Alan Wake is trapped behind the spiral door in the Oceanview Motel and has been for 10 years? Slowly going crazy because his cognitive powers of creating eventualties and realities are screwing him up mentally. Or is the spiral door the mark of a parallel world and Alans fine in his own world, but managed to slip a letter to our Black Pyramid world? But then who is the Alan Wake thats a Director in Jesse's dimension. The Thomas Zane poet from Alan Wake either existed or didn't in Jesse's world. It's hard to tell what is a parallel world and what isn't!

Oh! And because both Poets of the Fall AND Old Gods Of Asgard exist in CONTROL, which is the one brought over from a parallel world? Poets I guess since Alan's world is also canon to Control's dimension?

-So The Board and Former are... a cause for concern. How do they relate to the Oldest House? We've done right by them here and protected the Astral Plane from those louts the Hiss, but, uh, they sure don't seem as friendly as Ahti.

--Oh and probably just a videogame easter egg thing, but I was wondering what the deal was with these TV's with fire on you find in hidden locations and around?

(EDIT: Oh, there's 6 of them apparently and smashing em in the furnace gives a crazy Ammo Refund gun mod)

Anyway, some darn fine lore spinnin' for the internet. I'm sure people will be driving themselves insane trying to find secret rooms like the Batman Arkham games had for many years to come.

 

[Alucrid]

That ending was mad. Ahti is a very interesting character, I wished to learn more about him. I also believe that he's just in my head, he knew almost everything and knew how to guide me. Had the key to the maze when nobody else had it. He's a crucial part in the story it's just left unknown.

Click to shrink...

doesn't one of the employees say that ahti is a good drinking buddy and he has a ton of crazy stories?

also glad with how it wrapped up in terms of what the dlc could be. focusing more on the objects of power and cleaning them up in the aftermath of the hiss sounds way more interesting than the main thread of the game

• The NSC Power Plant is the Northmoor Sarcophagus Container, no ifs and buts about it, thats him in there doing "the least a Director can do: keep the lights on". Which is one of the most horrifying things in the whole game really, if he's some eternal energy being now living in constant nuclear fission.

Click to shrink...

when the objective was to go secure the reactor i was hoping it was just going to be some person walking out of a chamber as a human oop powering the entire building. didn't catch this though.

 

[Deleted member 56580]

I think Hedron and Polaris are one and the same. Its the same resonance, just amplified by Hedron which in turn is amplified by the HRA. Hence the "Jesse Polaris" bit, she's the host now that Hedron is down

And as far as the finale being in the astral plane etc, well its said in the very first incursion when getting the gun that its the hiss objective, getting in there

 

[SofNascimento]

I'll give a careful reading on this thread in the future/expansion but I just want to say right now that I love where Control ended. Not only in terms of the two DLCs, but in terms of the universe Remedy created. We already know Alan Wake took place in the same world, but I think the other games also take place in the same universe. When Dylan talks about Mr. Door, and a world in which a writer wrote a story about a cop and in another that story was real. I thought it was a reference to our world and Max Payne's.

Absolute beautiful game, Remedy. Well done.

 

[Karak]

I figured out some of this but a couple blow my mind here.

 

[MagnusGman]

This bit from Trench about Ahti - "there was this man. Sometimes he was a plumber…unclogging the drain — because there was a big fish stuck there, a big fish — but sometimes he was an old god, you see, and he had put the fish there to keep the waste, there was rising waste, from leaking out. So, he was conflicted."

Him being an Old God would be neat - and it makes sense too since he vacations in the foundation of the Oldest House. When I revisited there looking for him Jesse remarked - "What could be older than the oldest?"

 

[Moppy]

Cool to see a spoiler thread for this game! Just finished, so lots I need to follow up on still, but to start I'll re-post the ending/post-game thoughts I posted in the OT:

Everything from Ahti's vacation up through the Hiss mindfuck segment was incredible. Old Gods of Asgard action montage set piece through the Ashtray Maze had me grinning so hard and might be my favorite moment in the whole game. The ending, however, seemed really abrupt and felt very "welp, that wraps all that up real quick". I probably would've felt better about it if a bunch of better scenes and twists hadn't happened right before that final mission.

Honestly - and this might just be me having the wrong expectations - most of the stuff involving the brother fell super flat to me. They spend so much time foreshadowing him and building him up as a scary guy, just to immediately have him not really be much of a presence in the game past him telling you about his Hiss dreams. Just seems like they would've/could've done so much more there, but maybe ran out of time or left it intentionally unexplored for DLC/sequel?

Oh, and does Marshall's disappearance get addressed in the post-game? I talked to Arish and he brought up seeing her go to Maintenance, but I haven't had time to look into it yet. Is there some closure there, or is that just setting up future stuff also?

 

[SofNascimento]

Random thought: I found it weird that Jesse stepped right into skillfully shooting handguns and walking around giant pools of blood and dead bodies. Did they present something about her background that I missed? Something other than going shopping and hanging out at coffee shops (prime candidate logs) to suggest that she should be taking to murdering possessed humans and stepping over corpses like a dog takes to water? For someone just coming to find a family member being thrust into this story, it all seemed more natural than it should have been. As a character, she rarely objected to anything she was asked to do or even critically questioned anything. I would have appreciated her easing into her role a bit, given she's not a trained soldier or some such in so far as we know; just a person with a tag-along friend looking for a missing family member.

Click to shrink...

There are some inner monologues in the beginning and also later in the game where she talks about beloging there, that she is happy, she is where she wants to be, and so on. She is also not there by chance, she was "sent" to the Oldest House. What I'm saying is, I think Jesse is more used to "weird" than what one might expect. She enjoys it. She isn't just an... ordinary girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, she was always part of it.

 

[MagnusGman]

There are some inner monologues in the beginning and also later in the game where she talks about beloging there, that she is happy, she is where she wants to be, and so on. She is also not there by chance, she was "sent" to the Oldest House. What I'm saying is, I think Jesse is more used to "weird" than what one might expect. She enjoys it. She isn't just an... ordinary girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, she was always part of it.

Click to shrink...

Also hearing about all the shit that went down in Ordinary - it honestly sounds way more horrifying than anything we saw in the game. So that might also explain why she's less affected by all of this.

 

[Moppy]

Also hearing about all the shit that went down in Ordinary - it honestly sounds way more horrifying than anything we saw in the game. So that might also explain why she's less affected by all of this.

Click to shrink...

For real. All the entries about the Not-Mother and Dung Monkeys and Dog Neil had me bugging.

 

[Deleted member 56580]

This bit from Trench about Ahti - "there was this man. Sometimes he was a plumber…unclogging the drain — because there was a big fish stuck there, a big fish — but sometimes he was an old god, you see, and he had put the fish there to keep the waste, there was rising waste, from leaking out. So, he was conflicted."

Him being an Old God would be neat - and it makes sense too since he vacations in the foundation of the Oldest House. When I revisited there looking for him Jesse remarked - "What could be older than the oldest?"

Click to shrink...

There's a document stipulating specifically that the Janitor's routine MUSTNT be altered in any way so yeah

 

[show me your skeleton]

so is the mold the hiss, or something even older? i quite like the idea of ahti not really caring about the hiss and being preoccupied with an older, bigger threat.

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

There is no point in explaining more about Ahti. He should remain just as mysterious as he is.

 

[SofNascimento]

so is the mold the hiss, or something even older? i quite like the idea of ahti not really caring about the hiss and being preoccupied with an older, bigger threat.

Click to shrink...

The mold is just something else. It's not an enemy in the sense that the hiss is I think, it's just something that can be deadly if not properly contained, not different than other stuff in the FBC. And the Hiss and the Mold actually fight each other.