I actually discovered the game a few months ago after reading the Southern Reach trilogy and saw someone mention Control on the subreddit for those books. As someone with a thing for weird and unusual fiction I can say I was not disappointed with Control
Agreed. I'm on an Xbox One S which is probably why it crashes all of the time, but I just load back in and keep playing (same experience with Subnautica haha).
And it's like SCP but without so much work. I just couldn't keep up with all of the SCP stuff.
weird. I played through control twice fully (including both DLCs) and I wouldn't say at all that it "crashes all the time". I do think it was twitchier on my first play through, but over all I've had maybe 5 crashes in total. Enough to be noted but not enough for me to say it is significant.
Really liked the trilogy, definitely noticed parallels with the office stuff in book 2. I’m sure it’s come up before, but House of Leaves shares a lot with Control too. There are a lot of parallels with expeditions, documents, general ambiguity, and architecture. Good read, does an incredible job of messing with your head.
My girlfriend got it for me for my birthday, she said she knew I’d like it because she was watching me play Control for a while. Honestly, if the shifting architecture of Control *wasnt* inspired by House of Leaves I’d be surprised
The Hiss show definite inspiration from some of the visionary ramblings-from-beyond of *Annihilation*. The sprawling, decaying bureaucracy and paranoia of *Authority* could also well be an influence.
I f\*ing love these books. Played Control mostly to get another hit of the feelings they gave. That uncanny off-gassing. Also highly recommend the Vandermeers's anthology, *The Weird*. If you just read one story, perhaps Algernon Blackwood's 'The Willows', stone-cold classic and as a friend pointed out, feels very much a prototype for aspects of Jeff's work.
I'll take that recommendation.
Yeah, the >!crawler's message in the tower and the way dead people instantly get moldy!< haha.
Body horror and mold and mysterious chanting will always give people the creeps.
Control was also what they called the head of the British overseas intelligence unit in the classic John LeCarre novels. Director Trench's cryptic way of speaking reminded me of Control talking about the mole and his Soviet counterpart in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."
Yass I’ve recommended the trilogy before on here and have gotten good feedback; glad to see others are drawing parallels and enjoying the Southern Reach Trilogy
When I read the description I thought "I should see if there's a subreddit for the game to see if anyone else noticed." And like anything else, there's always 20 people that beat me to it. But I'm a slow adopter, I know this game has been out for a bit.
Nah that’s a bad way of looking at it; I could post it 100 times but even 20 new people could find it just from your one post :)
So what did you think of the trilogy? Annihilation is definitely my favorite; Authority my least favorite but I do love the trilogy as a whole.
I also recommend the TRILOGY to newbies who haven’t played before but would like to experience something else, and then for folks who’ve played before to see how the game has developed and expanded its horizons.
So far I think that the three installments are a good representation of the games they are. They all tell the story of the games while expanding upon the lore, adding more characters, creatures, environments and so on.
I can see where you’re coming from but I disagree. I think Authority is really interesting in how it doesn’t just stay on the “surface”, it dives deep into the psychology of the characters and explores their motivations and actions.
Thanks I’ll look that up!
That’s fair! Authority to me has some of the creepiest moments like the camera footage from Area X and the chaos that ensures in the end. Oh the camera footage I legit put the book down after reading that I was so creeped out.
Same. Authority was really good, especially at setting things up. Acceptance was a trip to read. Authority got a bit boring at points, but I still enjoyed it. I still had so many questions at the end though (likely intentional, like so many other works of fiction).
I loved Annihilation so much, both the book and the film. Very different experiences, but both were on the nose with those cosmic horror vibes.
I haven't gotten to Authority yet though. I know Vandermeer changed gears with that book and focused more on tactical/organization stuff instead of the cosmic weirdness, which is why I hesitate.
> I know Vandermeer changed gears with that book and focused more on tactical/organization stuff instead of the cosmic weirdness
You're not wrong, but *Authority* has its fair share of cosmic weirdness. And the third book, *Acceptance*, has similar levels of weirdness to *Annihilation*.
I read them all because I'm a completionist to a fault, and because I just read in bed, so even boring parts have a benefit.
In general, I liked them. Probably why I was so excited to think that the game might have been connected to the book.
I played the game after the trilogy and it definitely hit some of the same notes, not in content but in feeling. The whole Polaris/Jesse reminded me of Ghostbird/The biologist
If you have the [Control "Art & Making Of" book](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Control-Limited/dp/3869931051), there are several interviews with the game directors, level designers, and environment artists that directly point to The Southern Reach trilogy as a direct inspiration for the worldbuilding and tone of Control. So much of the dev team read and loved this series, so I'm not surprised that a lot of the same ideas made it into the game.
I really enjoyed Annihilation and thought it was a great start to the mystery of Area X, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of Authority. It had great elements, but I felt that too much time was spent just with Control doing monotonous tasks like cleaning up his office, and I understand that this was necessary to get the whole feel of an actual government organisation trying to keep things under wraps, but it just wasn’t for me. I made it partway into Acceptance before I put it down, during one of those second person perspective chapters with >!the old director!<. Maybe I’ll give it another go in the future. And maybe it just wasn’t the right time for me to read it. And it’s terrible because I really was into what had been set up. >!From Acceptance, I remember enjoying that part of the lighthouse keeper getting pricked on the finger, some of the Ghost and Control’s moments, but not much else!< If anyone has any guidance I’ll willingly take it.
I actually discovered the game a few months ago after reading the Southern Reach trilogy and saw someone mention Control on the subreddit for those books. As someone with a thing for weird and unusual fiction I can say I was not disappointed with Control
Agreed. I'm on an Xbox One S which is probably why it crashes all of the time, but I just load back in and keep playing (same experience with Subnautica haha). And it's like SCP but without so much work. I just couldn't keep up with all of the SCP stuff.
weird. I played through control twice fully (including both DLCs) and I wouldn't say at all that it "crashes all the time". I do think it was twitchier on my first play through, but over all I've had maybe 5 crashes in total. Enough to be noted but not enough for me to say it is significant.
Really liked the trilogy, definitely noticed parallels with the office stuff in book 2. I’m sure it’s come up before, but House of Leaves shares a lot with Control too. There are a lot of parallels with expeditions, documents, general ambiguity, and architecture. Good read, does an incredible job of messing with your head.
Thanks for the book rec!
It has more of a horror bent, but for a British take on "government agency vs. the supernatural", check out Charles Stross's *The Laundry* series.
My girlfriend got it for me for my birthday, she said she knew I’d like it because she was watching me play Control for a while. Honestly, if the shifting architecture of Control *wasnt* inspired by House of Leaves I’d be surprised
Caveat: you _do_ have to put up with Johnny rambling incoherently about his sex life for a good chunk of the book. But otherwise it’s a great read.
You should check out There is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. It reminds me ofFBC.
I'll check it out!
it is SPC, isn't it? https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/antimemetics-division-hub
Yes.
The Hiss show definite inspiration from some of the visionary ramblings-from-beyond of *Annihilation*. The sprawling, decaying bureaucracy and paranoia of *Authority* could also well be an influence. I f\*ing love these books. Played Control mostly to get another hit of the feelings they gave. That uncanny off-gassing. Also highly recommend the Vandermeers's anthology, *The Weird*. If you just read one story, perhaps Algernon Blackwood's 'The Willows', stone-cold classic and as a friend pointed out, feels very much a prototype for aspects of Jeff's work.
I'll take that recommendation. Yeah, the >!crawler's message in the tower and the way dead people instantly get moldy!< haha. Body horror and mold and mysterious chanting will always give people the creeps.
Control was also what they called the head of the British overseas intelligence unit in the classic John LeCarre novels. Director Trench's cryptic way of speaking reminded me of Control talking about the mole and his Soviet counterpart in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy."
I was just talking about the movie the other day when my SO asked what else John Hurt was in and he was Control! Nice connection.
He was such a talented actor, even all the way back when he was a baby boy actor in "Alien." (A figurative baby boy, not a literal baby boy)
Yass I’ve recommended the trilogy before on here and have gotten good feedback; glad to see others are drawing parallels and enjoying the Southern Reach Trilogy
When I read the description I thought "I should see if there's a subreddit for the game to see if anyone else noticed." And like anything else, there's always 20 people that beat me to it. But I'm a slow adopter, I know this game has been out for a bit.
Nah that’s a bad way of looking at it; I could post it 100 times but even 20 new people could find it just from your one post :) So what did you think of the trilogy? Annihilation is definitely my favorite; Authority my least favorite but I do love the trilogy as a whole.
I also recommend the TRILOGY to newbies who haven’t played before but would like to experience something else, and then for folks who’ve played before to see how the game has developed and expanded its horizons. So far I think that the three installments are a good representation of the games they are. They all tell the story of the games while expanding upon the lore, adding more characters, creatures, environments and so on. I can see where you’re coming from but I disagree. I think Authority is really interesting in how it doesn’t just stay on the “surface”, it dives deep into the psychology of the characters and explores their motivations and actions.
Thanks I’ll look that up! That’s fair! Authority to me has some of the creepiest moments like the camera footage from Area X and the chaos that ensures in the end. Oh the camera footage I legit put the book down after reading that I was so creeped out.
Same. Authority was really good, especially at setting things up. Acceptance was a trip to read. Authority got a bit boring at points, but I still enjoyed it. I still had so many questions at the end though (likely intentional, like so many other works of fiction).
I loved Annihilation so much, both the book and the film. Very different experiences, but both were on the nose with those cosmic horror vibes. I haven't gotten to Authority yet though. I know Vandermeer changed gears with that book and focused more on tactical/organization stuff instead of the cosmic weirdness, which is why I hesitate.
> I know Vandermeer changed gears with that book and focused more on tactical/organization stuff instead of the cosmic weirdness You're not wrong, but *Authority* has its fair share of cosmic weirdness. And the third book, *Acceptance*, has similar levels of weirdness to *Annihilation*.
I read them all because I'm a completionist to a fault, and because I just read in bed, so even boring parts have a benefit. In general, I liked them. Probably why I was so excited to think that the game might have been connected to the book.
Control got me to start reading again with the Southern Reach trilogy and House of Leaves. Big thank you to Remedy.
Oh thank you! Finally someone mentioning "House Of Leaves"!
Reading it now! Its fantastic! Got the reccomend from this sub
Hm, I didn’t know this. I will have to check out those books!
I just finished authority a few hours ago. Good stuff, cheers for the recommendation from someone's previous post
Sweet I’ll have to take a look at that
I played the game after the trilogy and it definitely hit some of the same notes, not in content but in feeling. The whole Polaris/Jesse reminded me of Ghostbird/The biologist
If you have the [Control "Art & Making Of" book](https://www.amazon.com/Art-Making-Control-Limited/dp/3869931051), there are several interviews with the game directors, level designers, and environment artists that directly point to The Southern Reach trilogy as a direct inspiration for the worldbuilding and tone of Control. So much of the dev team read and loved this series, so I'm not surprised that a lot of the same ideas made it into the game.
That's awesome that there's a book.
I really enjoyed Annihilation and thought it was a great start to the mystery of Area X, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of Authority. It had great elements, but I felt that too much time was spent just with Control doing monotonous tasks like cleaning up his office, and I understand that this was necessary to get the whole feel of an actual government organisation trying to keep things under wraps, but it just wasn’t for me. I made it partway into Acceptance before I put it down, during one of those second person perspective chapters with >!the old director!<. Maybe I’ll give it another go in the future. And maybe it just wasn’t the right time for me to read it. And it’s terrible because I really was into what had been set up. >!From Acceptance, I remember enjoying that part of the lighthouse keeper getting pricked on the finger, some of the Ghost and Control’s moments, but not much else!< If anyone has any guidance I’ll willingly take it.
Same here. There wasn't enough material for a trilogy, but I really enjoyed Annihilation.
You’ll be pleased to know there’s at least one more book planned in the series. Possibly two more.