CONTROL Spoiler Thread

[OmarTheHippo]

I see. For me that was not really a problem. They were almost aways very small runs and I don't think every game needs the same checkpoint system. On the other side, It's possible the game should have tried harder to justify the control points as a respawn mechanics.

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Some of them were pretty dang ridiculous. Mirror Jessie required a very long run to get back to, as did the fungus boss. I think the anchor fight was pretty far away from a checkpoint too. Waste of time and not a great fit for a game that encourages exploration to force you to re-run the same empty halls over and over again

 

[reptilescorpio]

Just a straight up 'retry boss' option on death would be ideal. Removes the massive load times and hikes from control points.

 

[Kyuuji]

Huh. Totally missed the Dylan conversations on the first playthrough. So we literally play Dylan's dream of the game in which Jesse is an office assistant in the Bureau.

Edit: ..and the tale of the writer and the cop and the cop being real in another door as well. Since they're the other door to Remedy making Control..

Edit2: ....aaaaand finally the one where Dylan dreams he's us playing at that point in time.

Damn, I missed all of that lol.

When Ahti first gives you the quest to fix the pumps, he talks about the "pensioner". It flew over my head the first time, but upon re-watch he's totally talking about Northmoor.

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Yep, regarding the NSC systems being down:

An aside but the safe is still one of my favourite documents:

 

[BrassDragon]

Can't stop thinking about this game since I finished the main story. What a beautiful experience.

Thanks to the lore hounds in this thread pointing to layers I've missed.

 

[dunkzilla]

Just finished it. What a trip. Thought I was meticulous in searching for everything. Seems I wasn't.

One thing I am REALLY glad for, is Dylan didn't really have much to do with the story. When he gets brought in properly and he's infected with the Hiss and somewhat conscious I was terrified the game was go the very cliché route of him being the one that brought the Hiss in and that he was their leader or whatever. I'm glad that didn't happen.

 

[Joeku]

I see. For me that was not really a problem. They were almost aways very small runs and I don't think every game needs the same checkpoint system. On the other side, It's possible the game should have tried harder to justify the control points as a respawn mechanics.

Click to shrink...

I do think justifying the respawn in the story (and, well, shorter load times) would have gone a long way to make that frustration go away. It's not like Jesse canonically dies and is recombined because "Director Powers" or whatever. I don't think anything has topped Bioshock in that regard, though mechanically this is pretty similar, insofar as you keep your progress after death.

Huh. Totally missed the Dylan conversations on the first playthrough. So we literally play Dylan's dream of the game in which Jesse is an office assistant in the Bureau.

Edit: ..and the tale of the writer and the cop and the cop being real in another door as well. Since they're the other door to Remedy making Control..

Edit2: ....aaaaand finally the one where Dylan dreams he's us playing at that point in time.

Damn, I missed all of that lol.


Yep, regarding the NSC systems being down:

An aside but the safe is still one of my favourite documents:

Click to shrink...

I think that last one with the safe is the creepiest thing in the game to me. Just some unknowable being trapped inside this safe perpetually bleeding and frantically trying to escape. Forever. Whew, shivers.

 

[SofNascimento]

I do think justifying the respawn in the story (and, well, shorter load times) would have gone a long way to make that frustration go away. It's not like Jesse canonically dies and is recombined because "Director Powers" or whatever. I don't think anything has topped Bioshock in that regard, though mechanically this is pretty similar, insofar as you keep your progress after death.

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I wonder if they had this idea and either decide against it or just left to player's interpretation. The fast travel system, for example, is actually part of the universe and not simply a gameplay mechanic. With that in mind I think dying could work on similar way.

 

[SofNascimento]

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This is my short list for favorite documents too. Generally these SCP-like documens tend to be short and simple, but this one is extremely creepy and charming.

Another that I also felt the same way was this one:

 

[Deleted member 41520]

Huh. Totally missed the Dylan conversations on the first playthrough. So we literally play Dylan's dream of the game in which Jesse is an office assistant in the Bureau.

Edit: ..and the tale of the writer and the cop and the cop being real in another door as well. Since they're the other door to Remedy making Control..

Edit2: ....aaaaand finally the one where Dylan dreams he's us playing at that point in time.

Damn, I missed all of that lol.


Yep, regarding the NSC systems being down:

An aside but the safe is still one of my favourite documents:

Click to shrink...

The safe is a reference to The Evil Within right?

 

[Twiz]

Is it true that you need the season pass to activate the Kojima easter egg? If so that's a real bummer.

 

[Canas Renvall]

My friend offered up an interesting theory that I wonder if people have explored yet (only read first page out of four, gonna read more once I get to work in a bit):

Obviously there's a ton of overwhelming evidence that Control and Alan Wake's universes are one in the same. But what if it goes one step further?
What if Control is a story written by Alan to help him escape the Dark Place? He has to follow the rules of storytelling for it to work, of course, like he says in his game. Like any good story there has to be good buildup and high stakes. And who better to push back and fight against an entity like the Dark Place than a big shadow organization that specializes in the severely paranatural? And who now has a sincerely good, and very powerful person in the Director's chair?

And my own personal addendum to this theory, Remedy loves their pun names. Max Payne, Alan Wake... Jesse Faden, as in "fades in to existence"? thinking.jpg

Probably all of this is hogwash, but I've been hanging on a cliff for nine years waiting for a resolution to Alan Wake. I'll take whatever I can get at this point. ;_;

 

[Deleted member 2652]

Is it true that you need the season pass to activate the Kojima easter egg? If so that's a real bummer.

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damn, is this true? i was wondering why nothing happened in that room for me

 

[svacina]

damn, is this true? i was wondering why nothing happened in that room for me

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How do you even buy the season pass on the epic store?

 

[Joeku]

How do you even buy the season pass on the epic store?

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The Kojima thing is "exclusive" to the PS4 version. Through hex editing you can make it show up on the PC version, though. Scroll back through the topic to find out how.

 

[Jay Shadow]

How do you even buy the season pass on the epic store?

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Season pass is a timed exclusive on PS4 so it's not available for purchase on other platforms yet.

 

[Mr Delabee]

How do you even buy the season pass on the epic store?

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They said the season pass would be made available after DLC 1 was released on PS4.

The Expansion Pass and the individual Expansions will also be available for purchase on Xbox One and PC at a later date, after the PlayStation 4 Expansion 1

Spoiler

"The Foundation"

has released.

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[Chaos2Frozen]

The safe is a reference to The Evil Within right?

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Holy shit I didn't draw that conclusion @_@

 

[pahlke1]

One of the few games where even after getting the platinum I'm loving running around exploring finding more collectibles. All the Alan Wake references had be beaming with happiness

 

[Deleted member 2652]

just finished getting the platinum

is there a way to reach the jukebox? or is that assumed DLC?

 

[CloseTalker]

Can't stop thinking about this game since I finished the main story. What a beautiful experience.

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I know, it's one of VERY few games that I actually miss, I wish it went on longer

 

[endlessflood]

I wish we understood a bit more about Polaris. All we really know is that it's separate to Hedron. Jesse speculated that either Hedron put Polaris inside Jesse (and Dylan) when they were kids, or Polaris was always inside Jesse and Hedron was just trying to teach Jesse how to trigger it.

 

[EatChildren]

I interpreted it as Polaris as a resonance entity, in the same way the Hiss are, and Hedron as a more physical or observable entity that was able to tap into the Polaris frequency of some form. Polaris' frequency counterbalances the Hiss resonance, rendering them neutral and preventing dissonance, and was thus able to project itself primarily through Hedron (hence the protective measures). Polaris is seemingly able to resonate through other entities (because they're special, or because they're chosen), which it has done before, and so once Hedron was destroyed Polaris began using Jessie specifically as a conduit.

But the game is full of ambiguities of entities, their affiliations, and their motivations.
There's the Board, which communicates through the black pyramid, and is directly tied to The Old House and the black pyramid door at the lodge.
There's the Former, which the Board seems familiar with, existing in its own astral plane as a physical entity and corrupting altered world objects in our reality.
There's the Hiss, which appear to be resonant based and have no physical form, and come from one of the dimensions accessed through the projector slides.
There's Polaris, another resonant based entity, also accessed through the projector slide dimensions.
There's Hedron, a physically based entity and conduit for Polaris resonance, that is found in the same slide that Polaris was found.
There's the Not-Mother, an unspecified physical entity that fed the boys 'milk' and turned them into monsters, from one of the projector slide dimensions.
There's eisseJ, a physical copy of the reality distorted by the mirror, an entity of some sort within able to take on forms of its reflected surrounds.
And there's the general ambiguity surrounding objects of power, altered world objects, and what source gives them motivation and intent.
Then, of course, Ahti.

It's good shit.

 

[Belfast]

I interpreted it as Polaris as a resonance entity, in the same way the Hiss are, and Hedron as a more physical or observable entity that was able to tap into the Polaris frequency of some form. Polaris' frequency counterbalances the Hiss resonance, rendering them neutral and preventing dissonance, and was thus able to project itself primarily through Hedron (hence the protective measures). Polaris is seemingly able to resonate through other entities (because they're special, or because they're chosen), which it has done before, and so once Hedron was destroyed Polaris began using Jessie specifically as a conduit.

But the game is full of ambiguities of entities, their affiliations, and their motivations.
There's the Board, which communicates through the black pyramid, and is directly tied to The Old House and the black pyramid door at the lodge.
There's the Former, which the Board seems familiar with, existing in its own astral plane as a physical entity and corrupting altered world objects in our reality.
There's the Hiss, which appear to be resonant based and have no physical form, and come from one of the dimensions accessed through the projector slides.
There's Polaris, another resonant based entity, also accessed through the projector slide dimensions.
There's Hedron, a physically based entity and conduit for Polaris resonance, that is found in the same slide that Polaris was found.
There's the Not-Mother, an unspecified physical entity that fed the boys 'milk' and turned them into monsters, from one of the projector slide dimensions.
There's eisseJ, a physical copy of the reality distorted by the mirror, an entity of some sort within able to take on forms of its reflected surrounds.
And there's the general ambiguity surrounding objects of power, altered world objects, and what source gives them motivation and intent.
Then, of course, Ahti.

It's good shit.

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I can't quite remember it exactly, but I think it was in some of the lore in or about Black Rock Quarry that mentioned making another excursion to "The City." I wonder if this is a place from the same world/dimension that the quarry occupies. Perhaps one with more structure or even inhabited.

 

[YuSuzzune]

The Kojima thing is "exclusive" to the PS4 version. Through hex editing you can make it show up on the PC version, though. Scroll back through the topic to find out how.

Click to shrink...

Is there a link on how to unlock the Kojima mission on PC?

 

[Kyuuji]

There's the Hiss, which appear to be resonant based and have no physical form, and come from one of the dimensions accessed through the projector slides.
There's Polaris, another resonant based entity, also accessed through the projector slide dimensions.
There's Hedron, a physically based entity and conduit for Polaris resonance, that is found in the same slide that Polaris was found.

Click to shrink...

It is good shit and great write up. With Casper having visited Hedron and then the Hiss also coming from the projector - doesn't this imply that they (the resonant life forms) come from that same desert dimension?

I might have missed something as doing my second playthrough atm before going 100% on collectibles but I thought it was said by Darling at one point that all slides (thus accessible dimensions using it) had been burned by Jesse/Dylan, aside from one by the time they got to the Slide Projector.

 

[Blue Ninja]

It is good shit and great write up. With Casper having visited Hedron and then the Hiss also coming from the projector - doesn't this imply that they (the resonant life forms) come from that same desert dimension?

I might have missed something as doing my second playthrough atm before going 100% on collectibles but I thought it was said by Darling at one point that all slides (thus accessible dimensions using it) had been burned by Jesse/Dylan, aside from one by the time they got to the Slide Projector.

Click to shrink...

I thought I remembered reading the Hiss came from one of the burned slides they tried to access.

Then again, I also remember Trench being corrupted by the Hiss while in the desert dimension. So that first memory might be faulty.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

There's the Not-Mother, an unspecified physical entity that fed the boys 'milk' and turned them into monsters, from one of the projector slide dimensions.

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There's like a whole other game that could be made base on what Jesse and Dylan found.

Their interviews about the Ordinary AWE is the most "SCP Exploratory Log" thing in the game.

I thought I remembered reading the Hiss came from one of the burned slides they tried to access.

Then again, I also remember Trench being corrupted by the Hiss while in the desert dimension. So that first memory might be faulty.

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You're not wrong, Trench used that burned slide to summon the Hiss. Turns out the slides could still be used even in that condition.

As for what corrupted him in the first place.... Must be some "residue" Hiss in the same dimension as Hedron.

 

[Blue Ninja]

There's like a whole other game that could be made base on what Jesse and Dylan found.

Their interviews about the Ordinary AWE is the most "SCP Exploratory Log" thing in the game.



You're not wrong, Trench used that burned slide to summon the Hiss. Turns out the slides could still be used even in that condition.

As for what corrupted him in the first place.... Must be some "residue" Hiss in the same dimension as Hedron.

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Whew. I need to replay. I reviewed the PS4 version, kinda want to dip on the Xbox version...

 

[EatChildren]

I can't quite remember it exactly, but I think it was in some of the lore in or about Black Rock Quarry that mentioned making another excursion to "The City." I wonder if this is a place from the same world/dimension that the quarry occupies. Perhaps one with more structure or even inhabited.

Click to shrink...

Yep, there's a referral or two to "the city" and suggesting another expedition there. I wonder if we'll see it.

It is good shit and great write up. With Casper having visited Hedron and then the Hiss also coming from the projector - doesn't this imply that they (the resonant life forms) come from that same desert dimension?

I might have missed something as doing my second playthrough atm before going 100% on collectibles but I thought it was said by Darling at one point that all slides (thus accessible dimensions using it) had been burned by Jesse/Dylan, aside from one by the time they got to the Slide Projector.

Click to shrink...

It's possible they do. It's never fully outlined how the slide dimensions are interconnected. Of the slides we know of four:

House = Empty house, dirty wallpaper, full of dolls. Jessie and Dylan play in there.
Meadow = Empty lot with lots of weeds, plus a shack and a phone line. Intoxicating smell of flowers that caused Jessie and Dylan to dream when inside, with dreams involving things melting. Upon exiting everything around the projector would be melted. Jessie and Dylan invited their friend Neil there to play, and he began using it on his own. Neil is later suspected of being lost in a slide when Tom changes it, but something else happens and Neil transforms into a melted dog.
Temple = Dark warehouse/bomb shelter made of concrete, housing the "Not-Mother" and her "children". She fed Tom and his gang "milk" that turned them into "monsters".Tom kills a maths teacher, probably due to exposure to this, and claims that the Not-Mother will make the adults in the town disappear.
Hand = Strange landscape with pillars, like fingers, emerging from red sand. Jessie finds Polaris here, and is shown how to turn off the projector. Jessie burns all the other slides.

The Bureau obtains the project and the "Hand" slide, all other slides burned. Darling and Trench begin expeditions into "Hand". Darling discovers Hadron, and seems to connect to or resonate with Polaris or something, which leads to him learning vaguely of the imminent Hiss invasion and the measures needed to protect against Hiss resonance. Darling brings Hadron to our world through the project. Trench's experience during the expedition is different, hid mind invaded by malicious thoughts (assumed to be Hiss resonance), which cause him to descend into paranoia over The Bureau, his staff, and Darling in particular. He opposes Darling's continued use of the projector and the mandate to wear Hadron equipment. Trench reveals that during the Ordinary AWE investigation he pocketed one of the burned slides from the garbage dump, as a memento. After his expedition into "Hand" and subsequent neurosis, he secretly uses the burned slide in the projector, opening a gateway that lets in the Hiss resonance.

 

[endlessflood]

But the game is full of ambiguities of entities, their affiliations, and their motivations.

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I like your take on Polaris. The ambiguities surrounding everything else are interesting unanswered questions, but Polaris is so central to the character of Jesse it just feels like that's one area where a little more certainty would be welcome.

And there's the general ambiguity surrounding objects of power, altered world objects, and what source gives them motivation and intent.

Click to shrink...

I believe OoP are AI's that the Board have influence over, which is why we see Former trying to exert influence over some of the AI's in competition to the Board, presumably to win followers in our realm and/or weaken the Board's position.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

It is good shit and great write up. With Casper having visited Hedron and then the Hiss also coming from the projector - doesn't this imply that they (the resonant life forms) come from that same desert dimension?

I might have missed something as doing my second playthrough atm before going 100% on collectibles but I thought it was said by Darling at one point that all slides (thus accessible dimensions using it) had been burned by Jesse/Dylan, aside from one by the time they got to the Slide Projector.

Click to shrink...

Yeah all the slides were burned, but if your let Trench do his monologue rant in the Jesse Office Nightmare (2nd round) he said that the slides could still be used.

The Hiss is like an invading, corrupting entity while Hedron was described as like a "plug" to stop their advancement. So probably what happened was that in one dimension Hedron's presence prevented or slowed down the Hiss, but Trench opened the portal from another dimension where the Hiss took over.

 

[endlessflood]

The Hiss is like an invading, corrupting entity while Hedron was described as like a "plug" to stop their advancement. So probably what happened was that in one dimension Hedron's presence prevented or slowed down the Hiss, but Trench opened the portal from another dimension where the Hiss took over.

Click to shrink...

Going off on a tangent here, but maybe Hedron tried to impart the gift of Polaris on Trench too, but he wasn't paranaturally strong enough.

 

[EatChildren]

Probably already been discussed, but the Alan Wake ties have been undeniable and active since...2012.

Back when there were murmurings of an Alan Wake 2 ARG via the blog This House of Dreams, of which was publicised by Remedy, Sam Lake tweeted;


This also ties into the the song by Old Gods of Asgard, "Balance Slays the Demon", which was penned and performed for Alan Wake's American Nightmare. At the end of the track there's some reverse speech. And if you reverse it back?


"It will happen again, in another town. A town called Ordinary."

I'm gonna hazard a guess that in its earliest conceptual forms Sam was penning ideas for Alan Wake 2 that ultimately became Control. Possibly because they couldn't find a publisher for Alan Wake 2.

 

[Blue Ninja]

Probably already been discussed, but the Alan Wake ties have been undeniable and active since...2012.

Back when there were murmurings of an Alan Wake 2 ARG via the blog This House of Dreams, of which was publicised by Remedy, Sam Lake tweeted;


This also ties into the the song by Old Gods of Asgard, "Balance Slays the Demon", which was penned and performed for Alan Wake's American Nightmare. At the end of the track there's some reverse speech. And if you reverse it back?


"It will happen again, in another town. A town called Ordinary."

I'm gonna hazard a guess that in its earliest conceptual forms Sam was penning ideas for Alan Wake 2 that ultimately became Control. Possibly because they couldn't find a publisher for Alan Wake 2.

Click to shrink...

Because of that song, I knew Control was set in the AW universe the moment the name 'Ordinary' was first mentioned.

 

[Deleted member 41520]

When the old Director does a hotline and briefly talks about Altered Items and Objects of Powers, I love that one of the first objects he mentions is a "gun".

In my headcannon he's low key saying that Max Payne's trusty Beretta allows him to slow down time

I wish we understood a bit more about Polaris. All we really know is that it's separate to Hedron. Jesse speculated that either Hedron put Polaris inside Jesse (and Dylan) when they were kids, or Polaris was always inside Jesse and Hedron was just trying to teach Jesse how to trigger it.

Click to shrink...

Yeah the whole "resonance" thing is pretty handwavey about what the Hiss and Polaris actually are.

We basically know Polaris is a benevolent resonance which can inhabit someone (Jesse) and the Hiss are a malevolent resonance which can in habit someone (all the people in the bureau).

Going off on a tangent here, but maybe Hedron tried to impart the gift of Polaris on Trench too, but he wasn't paranaturally strong enough.

Click to shrink...

I prefer to think Polaris left Hedron for Jesse when Trench imprisoned Hedron, and that Jesse's "inherent" ability is actually just Polaris enhancing it.

However I'm not sure the timing lines up for that theory, I think Jesse found Hedron and Polaris a pretty long time before Trench imprisoned Polaris.

 

[Deleted member 41520]

[double post]

 

[Kyuuji]

Couple more points:

The mention of the kid Hugo who would join in with the bullying, but there was no official record of existing there. Seems to imply Hugo came from another slide.

The Dylan dream conversations where he's aware of the game and the player - the one where he mentions a writer writing about a cop and in another door that cop being real. That could further emphasise the Alan Wake link. Having not played it I can't decipher the connections as readily outside of the blunt ones (like in the Prime Candidate area).

It's possible they do. It's never fully outlined how the slide dimensions are interconnected. Of the slides we know of four:

House = Empty house, dirty wallpaper, full of dolls. Jessie and Dylan play in there.
Meadow = Empty lot with lots of weeds, plus a shack and a phone line. Intoxicating smell of flowers that caused Jessie and Dylan to dream when inside, with dreams involving things melting. Upon exiting everything around the projector would be melted. Jessie and Dylan invited their friend Neil there to play, and he began using it on his own. Neil is later suspected of being lost in a slide when Tom changes it, but something else happens and Neil transforms into a melted dog.
Temple = Dark warehouse/bomb shelter made of concrete, housing the "Not-Mother" and her "children". She fed Tom and his gang "milk" that turned them into "monsters".Tom kills a maths teacher, probably due to exposure to this, and claims that the Not-Mother will make the adults in the town disappear.
Hand = Strange landscape with pillars, like fingers, emerging from red sand. Jessie finds Polaris here, and is shown how to turn off the projector. Jessie burns all the other slides.

The Bureau obtains the project and the "Hand" slide, all other slides burned. Darling and Trench begin expeditions into "Hand". Darling discovers Hadron, and seems to connect to or resonate with Polaris or something, which leads to him learning vaguely of the imminent Hiss invasion and the measures needed to protect against Hiss resonance. Darling brings Hadron to our world through the project. Trench's experience during the expedition is different, hid mind invaded by malicious thoughts (assumed to be Hiss resonance), which cause him to descend into paranoia over The Bureau, his staff, and Darling in particular. He opposes Darling's continued use of the projector and the mandate to wear Hadron equipment. Trench reveals that during the Ordinary AWE investigation he pocketed one of the burned slides from the garbage dump, as a memento. After his expedition into "Hand" and subsequent neurosis, he secretly uses the burned slide in the projector, opening a gateway that lets in the Hiss resonance.

Click to shrink...

I thought I remembered reading the Hiss came from one of the burned slides they tried to access.

Then again, I also remember Trench being corrupted by the Hiss while in the desert dimension. So that first memory might be faulty.

Click to shrink...

Yeah all the slides were burned, but if your let Trench do his monologue rant in the Jesse Office Nightmare (2nd round) he said that the slides could still be used.

The Hiss is like an invading, corrupting entity while Hedron was described as like a "plug" to stop their advancement. So probably what happened was that in one dimension Hedron's presence prevented or slowed down the Hiss, but Trench opened the portal from another dimension where the Hiss took over.

Click to shrink...

That's the bridge I'm missing there thank you. I distinctly remember regretting doing the action at that point in the dream as I realised a second afterwards I'd cut his rambling short.

Appreciate the filling in and am being careful to try and hear everything I can - so will definitely catch it in a bit. Currently just before the Ashtray Maze again (god I wish we could just replay it normally).

 

[Kyuuji]

Edit: accidental double post

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Wait, "Dynamite" is an actual song?!

 

[Mr Delabee]

Wait, "Dynamite" is an actual song?!

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Dr. Darling is the best.

 

[BrassDragon]

Do we know why Jesse destroyed the other slides? It's a very significant action and might speak to the motivations of Polaris.

 

[YuSuzzune]

Is there a good summary around for the plot, secrets and Alan Wake's connections?

 

[EatChildren]

Is there a good summary around for the plot, secrets and Alan Wake's connections?

Click to shrink...

Massive write up here: https://mashable.com/article/control-twist-alan-wake-explained/

The events of Alan Wake are explicitly noted in name and activity in Bureau files. They cite Bright Falls as the epicentre of an Altered World Event, involving Alan Wake, who shifts reality in synchronicity with the story he is writing. The Bureau theorises if there was an Altered Item or Object of Power in play. Possibly an Object of Power linked to Alan Wake, who may unknowingly be a parautilitarian, utilising the object of power to form his own realities. The Bureau is alerted to the events from a phone call from Barry. The Bureau goes in and recovers Alan Wake's wife, Emily Wake, who has no memory of the events. They search the lake where Alan was last scene and are unable to recover a body, presuming him to be trapped in another dimension.

Here's some documents:

Spoiler

But there's other links too. The TV show Night Springs is mentioned, the Bureau considering picking up the license (it's been off the air) and screening episodes almost like a psyops to condition the public to concepts of supernatural (to aid in both cover ups and reveals). One of Dylan's dreams is interesting and multilayered, where he refers to multiple dimensions, one with the events of Control (though distorted from the game's events), one about a writer and shadow people, and one about a cop. There's also the obvious tie from Alan Wake, with Alan writing a cop series that draws parallels to Max Payne.

The general, broad, supernatural implication of Control is that multidimensional resonance, synchronicity, influence, and harmony could mean that at minimum Control, Alan Wake, and Max Payne universes are all linked in some for. But at minimum Control and Alan Wake are absolutely tied. Bright Falls was an AWE, Alan Wake is probably a parautilitarian, and even if he's not there was an Object of Power at play that granted him the ability to write out realities.

There's also a great reference to a written page recovered in the Oceanview Motel that alludes to Alan having visited it in his attempts to escape from the darkness.

Spoiler

Do we know why Jesse destroyed the other slides? It's a very significant action and might speak to the motivations of Polaris.

Click to shrink...

We don't, but I just assumed she had seen the danger they present and wanted to stop others falling victim to the projector's dangers.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

One thing I had hoped was at the end of the game we unlock the ability to see all these documents in their full un-redacted form as some kind of Director privilege.

 

[Slim Action]

One thing I had hoped was at the end of the game we unlock the ability to see all these documents in their full un-redacted form as some kind of Director privilege.

Click to shrink...

I also had this thought, but over the course of the game we learn that Directors definitely keep secrets from their successors, so it fits.

 

[endlessflood]

We don't, but I just assumed she had seen the danger they present and wanted to stop others falling victim to the projector's dangers.

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure it's referred to either in a transcript with Jesse talking to a psychologist, or an FBC interview with them after the Ordinary AWE, and yeah, it was just to prevent the projector from hurting anyone else. All of the adults in Ordinary had disappeared/been killed, and Jesse worried that she might have been directly responsible for that through the projector.

 

[Dabi3]

Do we know why Jesse destroyed the other slides? It's a very significant action and might speak to the motivations of Polaris.

Click to shrink...

To prevent the Not-Mother from entering their reality? By extension I'm also assuming to prevent the Hiss from getting out as well.

 

[Billfisto]

Man, I love this game. I really like the way the Hiss is the main antagonist, but you also get the whole deal with the Mold, too. It really expands the world when you realize that the whole time you're fighting the Hiss, with your focus squarely on them, there's also another world-threatening event just happening in the basement.

Probably my favorite part is the Ordinary stuff, though. The stuff about the Dung Monkeys and Not-Mother and Dog Neil is just so messed-up and evocative. On one hand, I'd like to explore what exactly happened there, but on the other, just leaving it at that really works, too.

 

[Big G]

What if Control is a story written by Alan to help him escape the Dark Place? He has to follow the rules of storytelling for it to work, of course, like he says in his game. Like any good story there has to be good buildup and high stakes. And who better to push back and fight against an entity like the Dark Place than a big shadow organization that specializes in the severely paranatural? And who now has a sincerely good, and very powerful person in the Director's chair?

And my own personal addendum to this theory, Remedy loves their pun names. Max Payne, Alan Wake... Jesse Faden, as in "fades in to existence"? thinking.jpg

Click to shrink...

Yup, both of these things crossed my mind too as I was playing. "It's not a lake, it's an ocean" and Alan continues writing this ever-growing, sprawling and convoluted story to try and escape. Part of me was secretly hoping for a twist at the end revealing Polaris to be the writer (Alan).

 

[YuSuzzune]

Is there a point on clearing out those fetch quests like clear the mold, talk to the plants? I think I did all the major sides and I'm only missing five of those fetch quests now.