The Foundation

ACTION-ADVENTURE - Jesse delves into the Foundation of the Oldest House to restore stability and to prevent the Bureau from self-destructing.

PROS:

++ Improvements to combat. The new enemy type was incredibly aggressive and forced the player to be more mobile. This addressed one of my minor complaints from the base game. Also, the DLC gives the player the ability to interact with the crystal formations to use it to gain an advantage in combat.

++ Platforming. The platforming sections in the Astral Planes weren't groundbreaking, but provided a nice break from all the action.

++ Final boss fight. The fight with Marshall was appropriately tough and she was satisfying to beat.

CONS:

-- Bland environments. Compared to the Oldest House, the cavernous landscapes of this DLC were bland in comparison.

-- Narrative. Simple enough to understand the plot, but it wasn't that interesting.

I think the base game is somewhat repetitive gameplay loops, kinda same-y environments, an interesting story, and killer lore and worldbuilding.

This is all of those things and yet... it just did not hit as hard. I kind of wanted to get through it. It does have some interesting ramifications for the (inevitable) future of the series.

In my humble opinion, Control was a great game. The play was a little repetitive in terms of fighting battles and bosses, but I never grew tired of pitching furniture and chunks of concrete at red-glowing baddies.

With that said, there was a small issue with the original game in that the final boss wasn't really a boss. Enter - The Foundation.

While the overall level design and mechanics of TF didn't change from the main game, the platforming portion increased in intensity and they added a couple of powers to support the puzzles that you needed to traverse through the missions. Nothing too groundbreaking from the original title, but TF ramps up the difficulty of the platforming and the strength of the enemies you face. TF is also generous with ability points and allows you to unlock skills that may have not been completed through the original game.

More importantly, though, TF adds a proper boss battle that I found to be more challenging than any of the original content, so completing TF felt downright satisfying. The seamless way in which TF begins, it does not break immersion during the transition from the original game, so if you have not played Control, I would highly recommend adding the DLC and playing through the entire thing as a single experience.

I'm back in the houuuuuuuse!

IN THE OLDEST HOOOUUUUUUUSE!!!

I missed this game so much! I'm so glad the PS Plus version had all the DLC. I can finally continue my adventures with Jesse!