Remedy says that it has plans to develop a sequel toControl, which is exciting for a variety of reasons.Control 2will presumably continue the story of the original game, sending Jesse Faden on a new adventure related to the Federal Bureau of Control’s mission; whether that means fighting off a second Hiss invasion or encountering new paranatural threats, fans are eager to see where Jesse goes next. AControlsequel would also be an ideal opportunity to upgrade the first game’s mechanics.Controlset itself apart from other games on the market through challenging ranged combat and powerful psychic abilities, but there’s still room for improvement.
Perhaps the best area for mechanical improvement isControl’s system of ability upgrades. Like in many other games,Controlfeatured a set of skill trees where players could spend Ability Points in order to increase Jesse’s health, energy, and attack power. It’s always satisfying to watch a player character get stronger, butControl’s systems are so simplethat they leave a lot to be desired. The sequel ought to introduce a more nuanced, more engaging web of purchasable upgrades that encourage more careful thought about spending resources and empower players to develop clearer builds.
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Control’s Original Ability Upgrades
Jesse has a lot of facets that players can upgrade. Ability Points can take a while to save up, so players will likely want to focus on abilities like Launch and Shield one at a time to upgrade them more optimally. It’s not hard to feel the difference in Jesse’s strength after purchasing these upgrades, but in a way, that’s their fatal flaw.Most ofControl’s ability upgradessimply increase Jesse’s damage or combat resources by a certain percentage. While additional survivability or DPS is easy to notice inControl’s brutal combat, these repetitive upgrades can get boring after a while.
Controldoes feature a couple notable upgrades that give Jesse new abilities. For instance, Jesse can spend points to learn a new Ground Slam attack with the help of the Levitate ability, learn to manipulate and throw a wide range of new objects with the Launch ability, and so on. However, these fun new unlockables are the exception, rather than the norm. After unlocking Ground Slam, players can merely upgrade its damage, rather than learn new aerial attacks, and most other special upgrades only tweak an existing ability, rather than teaching Jesse something new. This handful of tricks may have sufficed for dealing withthe Hiss, but Jesse deserves more.
How Control 2 Can Upgrade the Upgrades
Remedy Entertainment should look to Guerrilla Games when thinking about how to changeControl 2’s upgrade mechanics. Guerrilla’s star titleHorizon Zero Dawnfaced some criticism for its somewhat linear skill progression, butHorizon Forbidden Westreinvented skill treesin order to offer fans far more diverse upgrade choices and better flexibility. Ideally,Control 2will do the same. Rather than asking fans to make do with a few lines of monotonous damage upgrades,Control 2needs branching upgrade paths that inspire creative builds and teach Jesse more meaningful lessons.
There are plenty of ways thatControl 2’s ability upgrades could improve the gameplay. For instance, the skill trees couldadd new melee attacks to the Service Weapon, inspiring Jesse to use her signature armament in creative new ways. Established abilities deserve creative new uses too; maybe Jesse can learn to build stationary cover with the Shield ability, rather than moving with it all the time, or maybe she can learn a less taxing variant of Seize that stuns an enemy briefly, rather than taking control of them. Any and all abilities like these would makeControl 2’s ability upgrades far more meaningful than those found in the first game. Even if it means taking the game in a slightly more RPG-flavored direction,Control’s skill trees should get a lot of love from Remedy.
A sequel toControlis in development.
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