I have been waiting for this DLC since the game released and I smashed through it super quickly because the mystery and intrigue that Remedy have MASTERED since their Alan Wake days got it’s hooks into me and I couldn’t put the game down.
However, if you want to know what I thought of Control you can find that here Spoiler alert it’s probably my favourite action game this generation.
In fact anyone in Respawning can tell you that I have not stopped banging on about it since the games release, so to say I was excited for “The Foundation” is a bit of an understatement… but is it any good?
The short answer is yes, it’s pretty good, The long answer is quite a bit harder to explain.
Firstly I will talk about the story of The Foundation, well, I will talk about how good it is because as I said in my review of Control, this game is far better experienced if you have no idea what the hell is going on. So I absolutely refuse to tell you.
What I will say however, is that the story is full of the same mystery and intrigue that you will have come to love in the base game whilst opening a whole new batch of questions regarding Jesse’s role as director of the bureau and the board.
The combat is also really, REALLY good in the DLC and adds a new mechanic of controlling/destroying crystals that have bled in from the Astral Plane (I won’t say anything more on the plane) in order to create spikes or drop enemies off the map. This adds a whole new dimension to the already stellar combat by throwing enemies at you that are SO strong with the intent of dropping them or spiking them full of crystals.
This is, again, where Control shines and really sets itself apart from action games of it’s ilk.
This brings me to one more thing, the environments of Control: The Foundation and…. they kinda suck. Most of the expansion takes place in either caves full of red sand that all look the same or the Astral Plane which suffers from the same problem of everything looking the same. This is something that is such a minor problem in the long run but could turn off the more avid completionist from picking up all the trophies because the overall world in The Foundation is just kind of boring when you remove the story, that is.
Again, without going too much into the story of Control or The Foundation, this DLC feels very much like something that is the first part of something much bigger than itself. Whilst it does a nice job of wrapping up the story it sets out to tell it becomes very clear that this is a small part of a bigger story. Whether this is told in the form of the games next DLC or a sequel that is announced at the end of the confirmed second expansion, I am all here for it and I genuinely cannot wait to take control of Jesse again (see what I did there?)
I give Control: The Foundation a 7.5/10. There is a lot to love here in the combat and story but the overall environments in the game leave a lot to be desired.