On August 27 last year, Control was released into the hands of the public. That means Control’s very first anniversary is near! It’s been out for almost one year! The response to Remedy’s latest game has been incredible as both the press and gamers around the globe have recognized the game as both mindbending and amazing. Our adventure within the Oldest House is far from over, as we’re eagerly awaiting further details of the second, post-ending, story DLC “AWE”. Perhaps August 27 is the day? It would certainly be fitting for the occasion!
However, while it’s tempting to look into the future, let’s not forget the long road we’ve walked to get here. For the last 4 years, we’ve been reporting just about everything noteworthy there was to share about Remedy’s latest game. The attentive reader might remark, as a fansite, we’ve always been covering Remedy’s games. So why would Control be any different? First of all, because Remedy’s and 505 Games’ approach to market this title was totally different from what we’ve seen before; a big, all-gameplay E3 reveal, an AR community game and influencers visiting the studio. While these activities are not noteworthy in this day and age, these were all still rather new to Remedy. Second, because Remedy managed to get fans and media hooked more than ever. A game with an all-star Remedy cast? Hell to the yes.
With everything going on right now and the exciting future ahead of us (the AWE DLC and Control coming to the next generation of consoles), let’s take a moment to look back to commemorate.
28th of December 2016 – P7 is first mentioned.
During an interview with Polygon, Mikael Kasurinen and Thomas Puha reveal Remedy is gearing up on the production of two major videogame projects. One of those projects was codenamed “Project 7” or “P7” for short. P7 was meant to be a co-operative multiplayer experience while retaining a strong narrative. There’s little else the two let slip about the title. But for us fans, it was exciting to hear Remedy was already exploring new concepts that would include multiplayer, so quickly after the launch of Quantum Break. The other title the studio was working on was the story mode for CrossFire 2 (now known as “CrossFire X“).
8th of May 2017 – 505 Games signs publishing deal with Remedy.
Remedy’s CEO, Tero Virtala, announced they secured a unique publishing deal with partner 505 Games. 505 would contribute to development funding and provide marketing services. It was also announced P7 would go multi-platform; it would become available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A huge relief for PlayStation owners; Remedy’s previous two games (Quantum Break and Alan Wake) were Xbox exclusives. P7 is also described as “a long-lasting” experience.
12th of June 2018 – P7 is officially revealed at E3 as “Control“.
Remedy surprised gamers and media worldwide by revealing Control during Sony’s E3 press conference. It did so by showing the world a trailer, consisting of pure gameplay, that focussed on the game’s main character and the world. “The trailer is deliberate in how it shows gameplay and the environments…we really wanted to show the actual game.” Remedy’s Thomas Puha said.
26th of August 2018 – Gamescom: Behind closed doors demo.
Attending Gamescom is something that I’ve been doing for years now. Cologne is not that far away from my hometown so the trip is fairly easy to make. It was a great honor when Remedy invited us over for a hands-off demo of Control. I left with a huge smile on my face. To read about more about that demo, click the link above!
27th of September – 10th of October 2018: Matthew Poretta and James McCaffrey are cast in Control.
It was already known Courtney Hope was cast as the protagonist in Control, Jesse Faden. However, in the days before Remedy’s appearance at the New York Comic-Con, it was revealed both Matthew Poretta (Alan Wake) and James McCaffrey (Max Payne) were also cast! Control would now feature major actors from each of their previous games. Remedy fans were extremely delighted to hear these names would be involved.
Fans can be extremely passionate when it comes to casting. You might recall, in the early stages of Max Payne 3’s development, Rockstar publicly stated it was considering to look for a different actor. Someone more in line with Max’s increased age and altered appearance. This bit of news was not taken lightly within the community, as fans went on to display and voice their discontent.
21th of March 2019 – Control to release on the 27th of August 2019.
After days of speculation, Remedy finally confirmed Control was slated for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox, and PC platforms on Tuesday, August 27, 2019. The date originally surfaced after Microsoft updated its Store page for the Xbox One version of game…ahead of time apparently! International game media and press were then quick to pick up and spread the message, as the question of when the game would hit the market has been often raised by gamers around the world.
25th of May 2019 – Petri Alanko & Martin Stig Anderson confirmed to score Control.
For months the community has been speculating whether or not Petri Alanko would make a return to compose the music for Control. During the Reboot Blue 2019 developer conference, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala proudly confirmed Alanko would be back. However, he would be accompanied by Martin Stig Anderson, another industry veteran.
24th of June 2019 – Control goes gold.
On this day, Mikael Kasurinen informed the world that Control had gone gold. A huge milestone for the team. The game was now ready to be released to the manufacturer.
Remedy had pulled off the impossible. In a time period of three years, the development team on Control established a new IP (narrative, the universe, characters, etc), implemented new tech in their Northlight engine, completely overhauled their traditional approach to game design to allow for a new game structure, while simultaneously develop for three platforms (PC, PS4 and Xbox). Incredible!
26th of August 2019 – Control reviewed.
We were given the opportunity to play and review Control ahead of release. There was a lot we wanted to share with you about Control. During our review, we did just that and dubbed the game “the pinnacle of Remedy game design”. The game scored 9/10.
10th of December 2019 – Control wins IGN’s GotY-award.
Control was a strong contender during the many GotY-shows and managed to take home a plethora of awards. The game was nominated in various categories on various websites and platforms: IGN revealed Control was their Game of the Year for 2019. But it didn’t stop there. The game also won the ‘Best Action-Adventure Game’ award, the ‘Best Video Game Art’ award and the ‘Best Video Game Story’ award.
3rd of March 2020 – Control breaks BAFTA nomination record.
Keeping track of all the nominations received and awards won by Control was a mind-bending occupation. The British Academy Games Awards nominations added a few more nominations to an already extensive list. Both Control and Death Stranding were nominated in 11 categories each, the most ever in the award’s 16-year history. To put things in perspective, The Last of Us was nominated in ‘only’ eight categories.
27th of May 2020 – The Foundation reviewed.
The Foundation is Control‘s very first post-endgame downloadable content. That means events take place after completion of the main game’s campaign. While Jesse might have been successful in stopping the Hiss from taking over the Bureau, another threat has been brewing right underneath her feet. Quite literally, as the events of the Foundation take place in a completely new area that’s underneath the bureau. We were a little late to the party, but the DLC did not disappoint.
12th of July 2020 – Control confirmed for next-gen platforms.
Remedy announced via tweet Control is coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox One X. No other information was released so we’re left in the dark when it comes to possible improvements or additional content. However, this version of Control will likely support Ray Tracing. Remedy’s latest game makes excellent use of this new lighting technology on PC and it has a huge impact on its graphical fidelity.
