#but i was a lilll sad there was no spooky deer monster in the woods

[therealtsk]

What I'd Like To See From CONTROL 2

So, it's been over a week since Alan Wake 2 launched (dw, no spoilers!) and it's awesome! I absolutely love this game, and it's alongside CONTROL as one of my favorite video games. And since CONTROL 2 is (iirc) confirmed, I thought it would be fun to talk about what I'd like to see brought to the sequel based off of the improvements to their signature gameplay we saw in AW2. 1. Non-Human Enemies. Aside from the Hiss Warped, Mold-1, The Third Thing, and FORMER, Remedy has yet to really add non-human enemy designs to their games, and considering the New Weird/Horror genre they've leaned their current universe into, it feels like a major missed opportunity to get truly wild and creative with character design. One of my few criticisms of AW2 is that there are no truly monstrous enemies, only more corrupted humans and regular looking animals. While the design of the Mirrored Taken are a step in the right direction, I want Remedy to go further. 2. Better Finale This relates to my earlier point, but a problem that Remedy's games have had since, frankly, Alan Wake 1 is that the final "boss" fights are lackluster. While I enjoyed the boss fights in AW2 (especially the one with the well and the one with the flooding, you know who I mean) the last boss (and the final encounter in general) does feel a bit anticlimactic. CONTROL had FORMER, The Third Thing and esseJ as very unique fights, but again, the main campaign of CONTROL has another final encounter that struggles to feel exciting and unique, especially compared to the incredible Ashtray Maze sequence.

Remedy mentioned taking inspiration from Resident Evil 2 Remake for inspiration for how Alan Wake 2 would play (and mechanically, what I believe is the final boss encounter in AW2 plays out somewhat similarly to the final encounter with Nemesis in RER2), so hopefully they'll continue looking for more inspiration. I would mention a game that does boss fights well, but I honestly can't think of any third-person shooters with good boss encounters I've played at the moment. Something to discuss later.

3. More Unique Set pieces. This is more of "nice to have" more than I think something that Remedy could improve in their games, but given the extra-dimensional setting of CONTROL, having more moments of reality distorting and reforming around us ala the TV Set in CONTROL and many of Alan's segments in AW2 would really further the bizarre, unique atmosphere they've carried into their existing works.

I also think from a gameplay perspective, having sequences similar to Uncharted 4's tower collapse or Dead Space 2's train crash would provide some diversity.