Control: AWE & The Foundation

Control Ultimate Edition was on Prime Gaming to claim, about two years ago now. I did just that (for free too with a trial, I think) because I wanted to play the game's downloadable content. I have to say that I was surprised how girthy both of the expansions were -- I had expected them to be maybe two hours at max each but instead they were several. I replayed the main game too -- and couldn't tell if anything was different (other than better performance on a more powerful GPU) -- because I didn't feel like figuring out if the game pass saves would work with the GOG version.

Control has some little extras that were only released on PS4. However, they -- outfits, a couple of weapon mods, and a side mission -- are included in the PC version too. You just have to do a tiny bit of hex editing to unlock them. PCGamingWiki has a guide on how to accomplish that. I liked the Urban Response Gear outfit and used it most of the game.

AWE

AWE was the second expansion released but it comes accessible before the first one -- just before the final bits of the main game. That is somewhat odd but it is what it is. Story-wise it would probably make more sense to finish the main story first instead of sidetracking into AWE -- but of course the game will wait if you do that. There's no connection to the first expansion but I think AWE is supposed to happen chronologically after because the Board doesn't talk to you in it. Why that is, is found out in The Foundation.

AWE's acronym title has a double meaning. The first is Altered World Event, a term which is used in-game by the Federal Bureau of Control for when paranormal forces alter perceived reality. The second meaning is more meta: Alan Wake Expansion.

Alan Wake is another of Remedy Entertainment's game series. Mr. Wake was already referenced in notes in the main game and AWE solidifies the author's existence in the same Remedy universe as Control. Alan Wake is about to get his first proper, numbered sequel at the end of October this year. AWE was thus an early advertisement of sorts -- "It's happening again." -- but is definitely more than that.

The Alan Wake games are big on using light to fight shadowy enemies and this expansion introduces that element to Control. Jesse doesn't get a flashlight but she can pick up light sources with her Launch ability to disperse darkness. There is also the usual power source plugging to turn on lighting in the environment. AWE uses the mechanics very well and I enjoyed the whole expansion quite a bit.

AWE takes place in abandoned Investigations sector where the Bureau was investigating the Dark Presence from Alan Wake's Bright Falls. You might find the story more welcoming if you've already played Alan Wake and its standalone spinoff Alan Wake's American Nightmare but I thought it was cool too to be introduced to Alan Wake for the first time in AWE. I might check out the Alan Wake games myself at some point too; I've claimed them as freebies on Epic. I think Epic even funded the development of Alan Wake II.

The Foundation

The Foundation takes place after the main game's story has concluded. The Astral Plane is seeping into the Oldest House's Foundation, causing problems. Helen Marshall, the Head of Operations, went to investigate and has gone missing. Jesse's mission is to find Marshall and stop the leakage.

I didn't like The Foundation quite as much as AWE. The expansion's cavernous areas -- while visually cool -- are not as interesting and don't offer as many neat secrets like the usual Oldest House offices. AWE makes you choose between two contextual powers, each opening different routes. It is obvious that you will eventually get the other one too to go through the same map again. I don't usually mind backtracking and searching for things to open with new powers, like in the main game once you get levitation -- I love it. But the way this expansion presented it as a mandatory rerun put me off for some reason.

Lore-wise The Foundation is interesting because it tells you the history of the Bureau: how it came to be, who was the first Director, where the Board came from and so on. I always liked the way the Board speaks/is subtitled with multiple words for something separated by slashes, to indicate there could be more than one meaning.

Both expansions add many new personal and weapon mods. Some of them have a strong unique effect, like Custodial Readiness removing the charge-up time from the Service Weapon's Pierce mode, making it considerably more useable. There are even mods that add alternative ways of healing to the normal blue giblet collecting -- exactly what I wanted when I played through the game the first time. I ended up using Aerobics which restores 50 health on dodge -- very handy.

Unfortunately the expansions don't alleviate the limited mod inventory problem Control has. You still can equip only three mods on you and three for each weapon. With all the mods the expansions add, you can't carry even just one of each type of mod with you: there's no room. It's perplexing how bad the system is and why it wasn't improved. You have to stop to scrap your mods all the time due to inventory being full.

Similarly it's unnecessary that you can have only two active weapon modes. Remedy could have easily assigned a hotkey for each mode or at least a weapon wheel to pick them quicker. Something for the developers to improve in their next game.

I also encountered the same occasionally spikey difficulty as on my first run. It's really the enemies that throw stuff at you who are the most dangerous. I figured out (again, probably) eventually that throwing stuff at them first resets their attack timer. Always be Launching; offense is the best defense.