In Monday's Game Informer coverage, the team delves deeper into Control's mysteries as they speak to Sam Lake (Creative Director) and Brooke Maggs (Narrative Designer).
As with our previous coverage, we have a breakdown of all the new details released about Control in the latest feature. But of course, if you have time, you should check out the article in full, HERE (archive)!
Following their Control-themed April cover reveal, Game Informer is dedicating the following month to the game with exclusives, interviews and new footage being released throughout March. The latest issue is out now and is available to download or buy (if you're in the US) as a physical magazine.
Control's story is wonderfully weird, taking inspiration from David Lynch, Mr. Robot, and more. Here's a deep dive on how the fascinating narrative is being built. https://t.co/NOStCdIQio pic.twitter.com/busBzE0JR7— Game Informer (@gameinformer) March 18, 2019
A little about the story team: Remedy's Narrative team has been the biggest yet for any of their projects, with eight writers working to bring Control's story to life! Leading the team has been Sam Lake (Creative Director), with Brooke Maggs and Eevi Korhonen (left Sept 2018 ) holding down the Narrative Designer title. Anna Megill (left Nov 2018), Mikko Rautalahti (left Oct 2017) were the project's Narrative Leads. With additional story work done by the writing team; Ben Gelinas, Angela Leigh McCoy, and Clay Murphy.
Our Breakdown: For Remedy's latest adventure, the team has taken inspiration from a number of sources including David Lynch (as with Alan Wake), Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation, Mr Robot, Inception (as with Quantum Break) and the "New Weird" genre. To maintain the authentic "new weird" feel, Remedy knows there's a careful balance between answering mysteries and leaving them open, to maintain that genre sense of bewilderment. Mysteries are at the heart of Control.
Throughout Control, the player will hear Jesse's insights, for instance, following conversations with another individual if she has concerns or is holding something back we will hear her true intentions. The protagonist is described as "closed down and keep things close to her chest" by hearing Jesse's thoughts, we learn more about who the character really is. In their article, Game Informer also hints at some fourth wall breaks where Jesse could be talking to the player from certain perspectives.
Following the release of Quantum Break, the story team reevaluated their approach to their narrative and the lessons they've learnt. With Control's lore, there's more of a mix of media compared to Quantum Break, with information delivered through audio logs, video logs and documentation. The same can be said for live-action, which has been dialled back but continues to make an appearance in the game, as it did with Alan Wake and Max Payne 2. (A demonstration of Control's live-action has been released following the article's release in a recent Nvidia RTX gameplay comparison featuring internal FBC communications by Dr Casper Darling.)
Previously released gameplay footage also showed Trench's ghostly apparitions; live-action recordings overlapping gameplay. While Trench is confirmed to be deceased, Jesse remains in contact with the former-director, helped by some of the "mysterious devices" around the FBC.
