Control

 I missed out on Control when it first came out, but when I heard it was related to the Alan Wake storyline and that it was included in my PS+ subscription I added it to my download queue.

The story starts innocently enough. You play as Jesse Faden who arrives at the front desk of the Federal Bureau of Control offices looking for news of her missing brother after an unexplained 'altered world event' in her home town of Ordinary. Things rapidly get very strange indeed as you head deeper into the FBC building, known as the Oldest House. Mysterious alarms sound, possessed office workers float in mid-air and the whole place periodically reconfigures itself around you. Before long you find out that the whole place has been corrupted by something called 'The Hiss', you acquire a gun (of sorts) and people start referring to you as the Director. Curiouser and curiouser. 

High points of the game include the bizarre story and some of the most realistic / otherworldly level design that I can think of. Vast atriums of glass and stone, office cubicles strewn with secret files, hidden walkways and tunnels, and the very foundations deep within the earth. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it hangs together with a sort of dreamlike logic. I never really worked out why some sections involved exploring a mysterious motel that you are transported to after pulling a light switch three times, but maybe I missed a crucial memo somewhere.

You also rapidly gain phenomenal powers, including the ability to levitate and throw things ranging from chunks of masonry to forklift trucks at the enemies. Just about everything is destructible and it is fun to storm through an innocent looking office, sending desks flying. By the end of the game you really feel like a superpowered federal agent.

Your gun morphs into different forms at will, and fortunately it automatically recharges so you never run out of ammo, which is handy as there are a lot of bad guys to deal with, resulting in some epic battles over multiple levels. This is probably one of the best parts of the game, and a complete contrast to Alan Wake where you are forced to conserve every single bullet and torch battery.

The bad guys don't show a lot of variety, and eventually become more of an irritation to be dealt with before you get on with the exploration and puzzle solving aspects of the game. The characteristic orange glare as they materialise is a nifty visual effect though.

There are a *lot* of side quests and collectible items, including memos and case notes to read through, some of which tie into familiar events and characters from Bright Falls. This originally came out before Alan Wake II and is really more of a teaser for that game, but there are some nice easter egg references to pick up on. There is more music from Old Gods of Asgard, with a particularly memorable section involving a running battle through a maze that reconfigures itself as you run through it like something out of the movie Inception. 

Good fun, and Remedy are now a developer that I would definitely consider picking up any new release from.