History VideoGame / Control

** The [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/control6745/images/4/49/20190911_080643.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190911153619 Title Card]] for the second DLC takes some obvious cues from [[spoiler:the original cover art for ''Alan Wake'']].

* ClusterFBomb: Almost every character drops a “fuck” or “shit” throughout the game, occasionally one right after the other. Jesse herself has no issues dropping an f-bomb whenever the time is right.

** After hunting for the Slide Projector all over the Oldest House, Jesse finally discovers its current location: that ominous red hallway just a short walk from the first Control Point.

-->[[spoiler:In their drunken fever state, seeing double, profoundly. The pyramid in the stone file becomes a spruce tree.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Seemingly a reference to ''The Foundation'' DLC, which contains a lot of tree imagery.[[/labelnote]]]]\\

* SequelHook: More of a DLC Hook. After being helped by Jesse, Marshall leaves immediately afterwards, saying that she needs to protect something the Hiss absolutely must not be allowed to find. By the end of the game, she hasn't returned, and nobody's sure where she went or what her status is. Exactly what she went to protect, and where she went, is detailed in the ''Foundation'' DLC.

* ShootTheMedicFirst: Whenever a Hiss Cluster appears, it's a good idea to take it out or use Seize to take control of it first. Luckily, the Hiss don't follow this Trope when you get it on your side.

* SimpleYetAwesome: the Damage Boost weapon mod, nothing fancy about it but it's extremely effective. It has a surprisingly high damage increase but there's no additional condition such as requiring a headshot or needs the Pierce weapon to be aimed. Damage Boost also works on every weapon form unlike a number of mods that are available only to a single form.

* SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration: During the final level, [[spoiler:the Hiss traps Jesse in her own head, forcing her to live out the life of a low-level lackey in the Bureau until she fights against them. During this time, you're given the same menial tasks to do as objectives, over and over and over, that reset once you complete them. Blindly following them will get you nowhere until you wander around and find a certain trigger in the environment. In other words, both Jesse and the player need to refuse to do what they're told and take control of their own existence.]] Just don't catch on too early [[spoiler:or you'll try to break out of the trap before you've done enough chores to make the item you need appear.]]

* SocketedEquipment: The Service Weapon has a slot to put weapon mods on. This is the only way to improve the abilities of a Service Weapon's form. When a weapon form is upgraded, there's no improved stats but what there is an extra slot to put more mods on (3 slots at maximum upgrade). Weapon Mods will stack even if they're the same type, this allows the Service Weapon to develop [[CripplingOverspecialization strong specialization at the cost of versatility]].

** MoreDakka: Spin has several parts of the gun [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin spin]] around each other like a minigun, with a high rate of fire. Several Spin-specific mods are devoted to increasing its fire rate even more, or tighten the shot grouping for better accuracy at longer ranges

--> Voice: I'm, um, inside the wires. I'm lost.\\
[Dispatcher]: Ma'am, have you been drinking tonight?\\
Voice: I feel like I'm stretching through the wire. Towards you. Don't hang up. I might go if you hang up.

* VisibleInvisibility: Hiss Distorted only stop being invisible a split-second before they launch their devastating shockwave attack, and reengage it almost immediately afterwards. Fortunately, paying close attention to the lingering Hiss haze in the air still allows one to keep track of their movements, although this usually only works if they're the last enemy in the area due to how well they blend in with the background.

** Another enemy faction, the Mold, has its converted stumble about like fungal zombies: ludicriously tough, but slow and dumb as hell, and also with a theme of decay.

* MythologyGag: The number 665, the "[[NumberOfTheBeast neighbor of the beast]]", previously mentioned as a door code in past Remedy titles ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' and ''VideoGame/QuantumBreak'' (and 667 in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 2''), appears again twice:

* InsubstantialIngredients: While some crafting materials, like Corrupted Samples, are physical objects, the list also include "items" such as Ritual Impulse or Untapped Potential. "Confiscated Motive" and "Shaded Facet" show up in ''AWE'', for example. It seems that thought processes are as much of what makes up the Service Weapon as physical objects.

* HandWave: In-universe, even. Early on in the ''Foundation'' DLC, Jesse wishes she had Pope there to help study everything. When she returns to the Nail, Pope has already set up shop, apparently on Jesse's orders, even though Jesse never sent out any such orders. After some conversation on this, Pope realizes that, while she can remember Jesse wanting her down there, she can't actually remember any request. She cheerfully chalks it up to synchronicity and moves on.

** The ''entirety of the FBC'' is composed of these to an extent as every member you meet is more interested in their work than the possible apocalypse and death of their coworkers that they treat as an inconveinance. There's also the fact they all accept Jesse, a complete stranger, as the rightful director due to her possession of the Service Weapon. (Though to be fair, all of the expensive oil paintings of the old Director have been abruptly replaced by equally expensive oil paintings of Jesse, captioned "Director Jesse Faden", so perhaps it's more choosing not to argue with Cthulhu/the Board.)

** The ''entirety of the FBC'' is composed of these to an extent as every member you meet is more interested in their work than the possible apocalypse and death of their coworkers that they treat as an inconveinance. There's also the fact they all accept Jesse, a complete stranger, as the rightful director due to her possession of the Service Weapon.

* FreezeFrameBonus: Hiss Distorted are very difficult to study due to their VisibleInvisibility cloak even when Seized, but taking screenshots at the right moment led to someone discovering that they're wearing impressive CombatStilettos.

* InvisibilityCloak: Hiss Distorted can render themselves invisible, only appearing when they are about to attack. In this state, auto-targeting won't work on them even if you know where they are. As the name suggests, they give their position away with a distortion field around their location, and can be forced to reveal themselves is sufficiently damaged.

* VisibleInvisibility: Hiss Distorted only drop their invisibility cloak a split-second before they launch their devastating shockwave attack, and reengage it almost immediately afterwards. Fortunately, paying close attention to the lingering Hiss haze in the air still allows one to keep track of their movements, although this usually only works if they're the last enemy in the area due to how well they blend in with the background.

** During one of her therapy recordings, Jesse's psychologist mentions Jesse's affinity for a [[spoiler:poem by one Thomas Zane, the poet who wrote himself out of existence decades ago. The psychologist even mentions that she has been unable to find any other trace of Zane or his work; it's left unexplained how exactly Jesse came across his poem in her youth. Presumably, it was left in a shoebox, as ''Alan Wake'' established that Zane wrote in a loophole so that anything of his left in a shoebox woudl stay behind.]]

* MindOverMatter: Bonding the diskette [=OoP=] grants Jesse Launch, AKA telekinetic powers, allowing her to pull objects from the environment to chuck at enemies.

** During one of her therapy recordings, Jesse's psychologist mentions Jesse's affinity for a [[spoiler:poem by one Thomas Zane, the poet who wrote himself out of existence decades ago. The psychologist even mentions that she has been unable to find any other trace of Zane or his work; it's left unexplained how exactly Jesse came across his poem in her youth. Presumably, [[https://alanwake.fandom.com/wiki/Departure_(manuscript)#Page_11:_Zane's_Shoebox it was left in a shoebox]].]]

** One of Trench's recording has him talk about his predecessor, former Director Northmoor, and how one of his remaining duties is to "keep the lights on". [[spoiler:The NSC stands for ''Northmoor'' Sarcophagus Container, and [[WreathedInFlames Northmoor]] is used to power up the electrical central supplying electricity to the Bureau]].

** An script of an episode of [[Franchise/TheTwilightZone Night Springs]] written by ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' echoes what happened with the Director and the Hiss, down to the director [[spoiler:shooting himself to beat the monster he unleashed]]. The ''AWE'' expansion more strongly implies that [[spoiler:''VideoGame/AlanWake'' [[RealityWarper might have written the events of Control]], or that through synchronicity, wrote about the same things, and at the very least appeared to have manipulated parts of the Hiss Incantation into a Dadist poem he wrote.]]

** According to Trench in one of his visions, one of the Director Northmoor's most important duties is to "keep the lights on". [[spoiler:Thermal power derived from Northmoor in the NSC is what provides electricity to the Oldest House.]]

** The Oceanview Motel & Casino, which can be accessed via lightswitch cords hanging in random places around the Oldest House and beyond. Every time you visit it, some new brand of weirdness is happening inside. It might be another interdimensional crossing point, being full of mysterious locked doors, but the only one people have ever been able to find the keys to is the one that leads back into House. It's suggested to be a sort of shared dream, rather than a physical location... but then one time you go to it you can hear a husband and wife outside wondering why the hell this motel is locked up tight in the middle of the day, which complicates things even more.

* EldritchAbomination: Pretty much anything that isn't an uncorrupted human is one, with varying degrees of power and sentience. [[CreepyGood The Board]] and [[BigBad the Hiss]] are the most obvious examples, but then there's also the Astral Spikes[[note]]ever-shifting spiky balls of... something that invaded the real world from the Astral Plane, violently scrambling all minds and matter in their vicinity, and who have devastating effects on anything caught in their mindless rampage[[/note]], [[spoiler:FORMER[[note]]a giant, very powerful entity implied to be a former Board member[[/note]], Mold-1[[note]]an enormous otherworldly FesteringFungus that is implied to be less an actual mold and more the self-propagating corruption created by the interaction between the molecular structures of two incompatible realities[[/note]], [[BigGood Polaris]][[note]]a literal voice in Jesse's head that helps her on her journey to rescue Dylan and fight back the Hiss[[/note]], and, probably, [[AlmightyJanitor Ahti]]]].

** During one of her therapy recordings, Jesse's psychologist mentions Jesse's affinity for a [[spoiler:poem by one Thomas Zane, the poet who wrote himself out of existence decades ago. The psychologist even mentions that she has been unable to find any other trace of Zane or his work; it's left unexplained how exactly Jesse came across his poem in her youth. ]]

** Hiss-infected are, for the most part, ''very'' weird zombies. Many Hiss-affected look dead, look decayed, or are heavily mutated/mutilated, and are very mindless. Having an HRA doesn't guarantee protection from the Hiss, and a Ranger you meet who becomes Hiss-infected has their mission framed suspiciously like a ZombieInfectee trying to hold off a bite. One of [[spoiler:Dylan]]'s dreams is the Hiss spreading across the world like an outbreak.

On June 29th, 2021, a multiplayer spin-off of ''Control'', code-named ''Condor'', and a higher budget game also taking place in the world of ''Control'' were announced.

* HalloweenEpisode: You can find documentation in The Oldest House regarding [[spoiler:the FBC monitoring Jesse]] that says she ended up in New York City on October 29th, 2019. Combine that with the fact that Langston complains about missing the opening of a movie the night the game takes place (movies in America usually open on a Thursday or Friday, and October 31st, 2019 is a Thursday) and there's a heavy implication the game takes place on Halloween.

* BlankWhiteVoid: The Astral Plane. The only features it has are the black pyramid representing the Board and the polished marble-like blocks (also black, with golden veins) it generates for visitors to stand on. Astralnauts have supposedly noticed other native lifeforms, but the Board's specific domain is the only one you get to visit. [[spoiler:Except for Former's area, the setting for two BonusBoss fights.]]

* BonusBoss: Quite a few. It should be noted that while none of them must be beaten to advance the story, they're the only enemies that drop a specific crafting resource that's required to upgrade Service Weapon forms to level 3.
** Tommasi, originally fought in the Mail Room as the boss of the Communications Department, can be re-fought in Containment after the game, with a ''massive'' boost in power, as well as now being armored and able to summon Hiss mooks.
** [[spoiler:FORMER, encountered during Fridge Duty, is an entity that seems to be similar to The Board, and is capable of linking itself to Altered Items as opposed to Objects of Power, making it ''very'' dangerous. You fight it again trying to cleanse the Pink Flamingo in Langston's Runaways.]]
** [[spoiler:The Anchor, encountered in An Enemy Within. It's a ship's anchor that is ''somehow'' spitting out thousands of clocks in the Sealed Threshold within Containment. This is especially odd, seeing as according to the FBC's reports, not even The Anchor's typical abilities as an Altered Item encompass this kind of behavior.]]
** [[spoiler:esseJ, encountered in Self-Reflection, is a mirror version of Jesse with access to the Spin and Charge modes of the Service Weapon, as well as Launch, Shield, and Levitate. Beating her gives you access to [[AndYourRewardIsClothes the Asynchronous Outfit]].]]
** [[spoiler:MOLD-1, a tentacled mass of Mold which exists in the Pit below Central Research. You fight it as part of the Old Growth quest, and on your way, you fight level ''9'' enemies-- by that point in the game, the highest you should have encountered is level 4 or 5. It is ''definitely'' meant to be a late/endgame boss.]]

* CatchAndReturn: An early upgrade for Launch allows Jesse to grab the rockets and grenades launched by Hiss [=Demolition Experts/Rangers/Troopers=] mid-flight and lob them back into their glowing red faces. [[spoiler: It's also rather effective against BonusBoss [[MirrorBoss esseJ]] when she's using Charge]].

* CombatTentacles: [[spoiler:Mold-1, the BonusBoss in the Mold Pit]], attacks Jesse with three tentacles, which can additionally fire projectiles.

** The boss fight against Tommasi is your first encounter with the Hiss Elevated. Future Elevated are nowhere near as hard as he is... until you fight him as a BonusBoss.

** Jesse grows into this by the end of the game, becoming less and less shocked by the bizarre things she encounters. Lampshaded when she defeats late-game BonusBoss [[spoiler:Mold-1]]: "I need to stop being surprised by all the weird shit in this place."

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Randomly spawned Hiss minibosses always have names consisting of a rank (civilian or military) and some alphanumerical designation, implying that the strongest Hiss already used to be figures of authority within the FBC before they were corrupted. [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration This is later confirmed]] when some characters mention that the Hiss makes use of its hosts' innate abilities, resulting in the strongest hosts becoming the Hiss' battlefield commanders and EliteMooks.

''Control'' is a 2019 NewWeird ActionAdventure video game created by Creator/RemedyEntertainment for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]], UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, and UsefulNotes/XboxOne. It was released on August 27, 2019.

** The real world musical group behind the in-universe band Old Gods of Asgard, ''Music/PoetsOfTheFall'' get a small technical cameo as a their song My Dark Disquiet is found in a listening room on the ground floor of Central Research. The FBC had apparently been using their music to test the effects of music on paranormal perception.

** The real world music behind the in-universe band Old Gods of Asgard, ''Music/PoetsOfTheFall'' get a small technical cameo as a their song My Dark Disquiet is found in a listening room on the ground floor of Central Research. The FBC had apparently been using their music to test the effects of music on paranormal perception.