CONTROL Ultimate Edition

Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.

Very Positive · 87%Very Positive · 87%2020

The verdict

A stylish SCP-like supernatural action game with fun telekinesis combat and great atmosphere and lore. Skip it if you dislike cryptic stories, repetitive fights or maze-like maps.

Great for

Fans of SCP, X-Files and Alan Wake who enjoy reading lore and throwing objects with telekinesis

Main risk

Confusing map and repetitive combat can make exploration a slog, with a story that never fully explains itself

What players love

Atmospheric SCP-style world and lore

Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews

“The game perfectly captures that specific "Containment Site" aesthetic.”
Steam review · 58.7 h played ↗

“the lore/atmosphere/story is a 10/10 experience that doesn't really have anything similar among videogames.”
Steam review · 28.3 h played ↗

“The atmosphere hooked me most: the strange liminal spaces, anomalies and a constant feeling that something incomprehensible is going on.”
Steam review · translated · 11.3 h played ↗

Stunning visuals and art direction

Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews

“it still looks like it was developed yesterday.”
Steam review · 21.1 h played ↗

“this 6-year-old game beats many modern projects in graphics.”
Steam review · translated · 16.6 h played ↗

Fun telekinesis and power-based combat

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews

“Levitating around the office, tearing chunks out of concrete, and throwing desks at enemies with telekinesis never gets old.”
Steam review · 36.4 h played ↗

“Dude that "Launch" ability wow it feels so good.”
Steam review · 6 h played ↗

Cheap on sale and runs well for some

Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews

“For $3.99, this game is an absolute steal.”
Steam review · 4.9 h played ↗

What players complain about

Repetitive combat and enemies

Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews

“The combat is fun for the first few hours, but then it becomes the same thing over and over again enter a room, fight floating enemies, throw objects, cleanse point, repeat.”
Steam review · 12.5 h played ↗

“It essentially boils down to pressing e over and over again, and waiting for your energy to recharge.”
Steam review · 14.2 h played ↗

PC technical problems: textures, crashes, stutter

Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews

“In DX12 mode, texture streaming is broken and many textures appear extremely blurry, regardless of texture quality settings.”
Steam review · 6.8 h played ↗

“Constant crashing and don't bother trying find an answer online, there is no solution.”
Steam review · 21.9 h played ↗

Confusing, hard-to-use map

Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews

“A top-down view of a multi-level map with no ability to shift between levels.”
Steam review · 5.4 h played ↗

“Whoever drew this map should have their memory wiped and be made to play the game again.”
Steam review · translated · 7.1 h played ↗

“The top and bottom layers are drawn right on top of each other, making it a total mess.”
Steam review · 5.6 h played ↗

Convoluted story that never pays off

Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews

“WHO IS POLARIS? WHO IS JESSE POLARIS? WHO IS HEDRON? NONE OF THIS IS EVER EXPLAINED.”
Steam review · 5.6 h played ↗

“By the time the credits rolled, I wasn't intrigued I was exhausted.”
Steam review · 12.5 h played ↗

Too many documents and filler side content

Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews

“Too much letters, dossiers etc.”
Steam review · 9.7 h played ↗

Respawning enemies and harsh checkpoints

Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews

“you're re-entering a room and have to fight through the same enemies you've already beat, probably multiple times”
Steam review · 7 h played ↗

“No ability to save your progress is kind of ridiculous.”
Steam review · 17.1 h played ↗

System requirements

From the Steam store page

Steam Deck: Verified

Minimum

OSWindows 7, 64-bit

ProcessorIntel Core i5-4690 / AMD FX 4350

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 280X

Storage42 GB available space

Recommended

OSWindows 10, 64-bit

ProcessorIntel Core i5-7600K / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X

Memory16 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660/1060 / AMD Radeon RX 580 AMD | For Ray Tracing: GeForce RTX 2060

Storage42 GB available space

OSWindows 7, 64-bit

ProcessorIntel Core i5-4690 / AMD FX 4350

Memory8 GB RAM

GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 / AMD Radeon R9 280X

Storage42 GB available space

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