The 2019 action-adventure video game Control, developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by 505 Games, received several pieces of downloadable content following its release. Remedy's post-release programme included the free Photo Mode and Expeditions updates and two paid story expansions, The Foundation and AWE.
The Foundation, released in March 2020 for PlayStation 4 and Windows and in June for Xbox One, continues the game's main storyline as protagonist Jesse Faden investigates the foundations of the Oldest House and the origins of the Federal Bureau of Control's relationship with the Board. It introduces a new area, enemies and abilities based around manipulating crystalline formations. Critics generally regarded it as a worthwhile continuation of Control, praising its world-building and combat while differing over its cave environments, new mechanics and limited resolution of the game's mysteries.
AWE was released in August 2020 and crosses over with Remedy's earlier game Alan Wake. Set primarily within the Federal Bureau of Control's abandoned Investigations Sector, it incorporates characters, concepts and gameplay elements from Alan Wake while continuing Jesse's story. Its reception was mixed to positive, with particular praise for the atmosphere and integration of the two games, though critics frequently considered the expansion too short or more successful as a preview of Remedy's future stories than as a self-contained conclusion.
The two expansions and previously released updates were later bundled with the base game in Control Ultimate Edition. Remedy subsequently identified AWE as the first official crossover in what it termed the "Remedy Connected Universe", and later coverage of Alan Wake 2 retrospectively identified the expansion as an important narrative bridge between the two franchises.
Development and release Remedy announced its post-launch roadmap for Control in September 2019. The developer planned a free Photo Mode for later that year, the free Expeditions game mode in December, and two story expansions for 2020. The first, The Foundation, was described as exploring the history of the Oldest House, while the second, AWE, would open the previously inaccessible Investigations Sector, where the Federal Bureau of Control investigated Altered World Events. Both story expansions were included in a US$24.99 Expansion Pass.
The promotional artwork for AWE prompted speculation that it would involve Alan Wake, whose events had already been referenced in documents and Easter eggs in the base game. Game director Mikael Kasurinen said in December 2019 that some of the secrets placed in Control were intended to have a longer development across its expansions. In May 2020, creative director Sam Lake confirmed that Remedy had deliberately been developing the idea that Alan Wake and Control occupied the same setting and said that the second expansion would reveal more about the Bureau's investigation of the events at Bright Falls.
The Foundation was released for PlayStation 4 and Windows on March 26, 2020. The Windows version was distributed through the Epic Games Store. The expansion was initially unavailable on Xbox One as part of a timed exclusivity arrangement and was released for that platform on June 25. It cost US$14.99 separately. Remedy later acknowledged player frustration with the staggered release and announced that AWE would instead launch on all platforms simultaneously.
Remedy formally confirmed the Alan Wake crossover in August 2020. Lake described Altered World Events as incidents in which paranatural forces breach ordinary reality, while the expansion's setting was the sealed Investigations Sector formerly used by the Bureau to investigate them. Remedy simultaneously began publicly describing Control and Alan Wake as components of the "Remedy Connected Universe". Lake said the studio had been working toward the concept of interconnected stories for more than a decade and described AWE as its first official crossover event.
AWE was released on August 27, 2020, the first anniversary of Controls release, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows. It was priced at US$14.99 separately and was also included in the Expansion Pass. .
The Foundation The Foundation is set after completion of Controls main campaign and is accessed through the Hotline Chamber in Central Executive. It introduces the Foundation, a large cave system beneath the conventional sectors of the Oldest House, with areas that intersect with the Astral Plane.
Gameplay The expansion adds two abilities involving crystalline formations found in the Foundation. Shape enables Jesse to extend crystals from predetermined surfaces, creating platforms for traversal or spikes that can be used against enemies. Fracture modifies the Service Weapon so that Jesse can destroy formations blocking passages or supporting enemies. Players initially select one of the abilities and later acquire the other, allowing previously inaccessible sections of the Foundation to be explored.
Combat makes use of the same environmental formations, allowing players to create crystalline cover or impale enemies and to destroy surfaces beneath opponents. The Foundation also introduces the Hiss Sharpened, a fast melee-oriented enemy capable of rapidly approaching Jesse and evading attacks. A free update released alongside the expansion added Shield Rush, which allows Jesse to use her Shield ability offensively by charging into enemies, as well as an improved map, the ability to reassign ability points and other quality-of-life changes for all players. The expansion contains three side missions alongside its central storyline. One, "Jesse Faden Starring in 'Swift Platform'", places Jesse on a sequence of moving platforms while pursuing an Altered Item and fighting enemies. Reviewers estimated that its primary and side missions took approximately four to six hours to complete.
Plot The Board summons Jesse to the Foundation, a cavernous area at the center of the Oldest House that houses the Nail, an object that connects the Oldest House to the Astral Plane. Jesse finds the Nail has been seriously damaged, causing the Astral Plane to leak into the Oldest House with potentially catastrophic consequences. As Jesse attempts to restore the Nail, she seeks the whereabouts of Helen Marshall, who entered the Foundation during the Hiss invasion and has gone missing. Meanwhile, Jesse discovers logs left behind by Theodore Ash, Jr., the former Head of Research who in 1964 was part of the first expeditions to the Oldest House. Ash reveals Broderick Northmoor, the director who preceded Trench, fell under the Board's influence during the expedition and was responsible for radically changing the Bureau in order to serve the Board's interests.
As Jesse continues to restore the Nail, she encounters Former, an extradimensional entity that grants Jesse a new ability, enraging the Board. Former claims to have once been a member of the Board who was blamed for an unknown transgression then exiled. Torn between the two entities, Jesse is eventually able to restore the Nail, but tremors occur between the Oldest House and the Astral Plane, threatening to destroy both dimensions. Jesse reaches the base of the Nail, where she finds Marshall possessed by the Hiss. With Former's aid, Jesse kills Marshall and cleanses the Nail. Jesse learns Marshall had damaged the Nail as a preventative measure against both the Hiss and the Board. Marshall's HRA was destroyed soon after, an act Marshall believed retaliation by the Board, allowing her to be possessed by the Hiss. With the crisis averted but having lost faith in the Board, Jesse vows to lead the Bureau her own way.
Reception
The Foundation received generally favorable reviews. Metacritic recorded scores of 77 out of 100 for Windows and 78 for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while OpenCritic recorded a top critic average of 79 out of 100.
Critics frequently characterized the expansion as an extension of the strengths and weaknesses of Control rather than a substantial reinvention. Phil Hornshaw of GameSpot considered the increased interaction with the environment a meaningful addition to combat, particularly because Shape and Fracture encouraged players to consider enemy positioning and the terrain around them. He nevertheless found that neither ability fundamentally changed Jesse's established combat strategies. Ben Reeves of Game Informer was less impressed, regarding the new abilities and repeated objectives as insufficient to distinguish the expansion from the base game. He particularly criticized its reliance on combat encounters and what he considered a fetch-quest structure.
The Foundation itself received a divided response as a setting. Carolipio found its caves less visually and psychologically compelling than the shifting bureaucratic environments of the Oldest House, although he considered the atmosphere recognizably consistent with Control and praised the quantity of environmental storytelling and optional discoveries. Brett Makedonski of Destructoid similarly found the expansion uneven, describing two of its four principal areas as strong and the other two as comparatively sparse. He nevertheless continued to enjoy searching the environment for research documents and recordings that expanded the game's mythology.
The expansion's story attracted particular attention for developing the relationship between Jesse, the Board and the Former. Hornshaw considered the revelations concerning the Bureau's discovery of the Oldest House and the growing uncertainty surrounding the Board a meaningful continuation of the game's story. Makedonski instead felt that The Foundation raised important questions about the Board and Former without sufficiently exploring their conflict, leaving the expansion feeling ultimately inconsequential despite the additional lore. Carolipio similarly questioned its lasting narrative impact, describing it as entertaining but a comparatively small step forward for the setting.
Megan Crouse of Den of Geek analysed the expansion principally in terms of Jesse's development as Director. She argued that The Foundation makes Jesse increasingly confident in her authority while simultaneously giving her greater reason to distrust the supernatural structure that appointed her. Crouse viewed Jesse's willingness to challenge the Board and cooperate with the Former as part of a developing attempt to break with the patterns established by previous FBC directors, although she considered the expansion too short to fully resolve those political and supernatural conflicts. Redmond Carolipio of WorthPlaying singled out the gameplay of "Swift Platform" as possibly the expansion's strongest individual sequence, comparing its combination of music, movement and combat to the Ashtray Maze from the base game.
AWE AWE is a crossover between Control and Remedy Entertainment's previous game Alan Wake, which takes place in Bright Falls, Washington, United States. In that game, writer Alan Wake is coerced and trapped by a Dark Presence that inhabits the town's Cauldron Lake, a dimension that is able to turn works of art into reality.
Gameplay