My Cultural Diet

This game has been on my radar since 2019, but I only picked it up a few months ago during an Xbox sale — and was instantly sucked into its world. Drawing inspiration from brutalist architecture, liminal space imagery, Cold War relics, and creepypasta like the Backrooms and (most importantly) the SCP Foundation, Control puts you in control (npi) of Jesse Faden, whose search for her missing brother has brought her to the Federal Bureau of Control (the secretive government agency tasked with monitoring paranormal phenomena). Once there, however, she discovers something more ominous: an extra-dimensional force that appears bent on taking over and corrupting our reality. Fortunately, Jesse is not without her own unique and unusual powers. Control is filled with indelible images (e.g., massive office complexes filled with chanting bodies floating in mid-air, haunted laboratories that feel displaced in time, other planes of existence) that encourage you to explore the FCB’s seemingly endless and otherworldly headquarters. Unfortunately, the game is hampered by finicky controls and occasionally inconsistent gameplay, and its difficulty levels can fluctuate wildly. (I confess to occasionally turning to the internet to get past a particularly challenging boss or level. I’m pretty sure the “Training Mission” stage took a few months off my life.) Nevertheless, Control’s storyline and aesthetic hit a real sweet spot for me, and I can’t wait for the sequel.

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