Remedy Entertainment may have signaled that it’s starting to work on a sequel toControl, but that doesn’t mean it’s providing any details yet. Since the sequel was announced last year, fans have been left hanging. That’s not necessarily surprising, since it sounds like theControlsequel is still in very early development, but nevertheless, a sequel has so much potential that fans can hardly wait. Jesse Faden may have been able to fight back the Hiss for now, but her journey as the Federal Bureau of Control’s Director has only just begun. TheControluniverse has plenty of other supernatural forces to throw at her.
While it’ll be great to fight some new supernatural threatswith Jesse’s Service Weaponand supernatural powers, Remedy also needs to remember to cultivate some human connections for Jesse Faden.Controlhas a variety of supporting characters who went a long way to flesh out the Bureau, but none of these characters ever felt quite as important as Jesse’s brother Dylan. As the motivation behindControl’s plot, it makes sense that he’d take such a central role, but theControlsequel needs to let Jesse spread her wings. Jesse’s fellow Bureau staff deserve deeper connections with her thanControlmade time for.
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Changing Jesse’s Bonds in Control 2
In the originalControlgame, Jesse interacted with quite a few Bureau members, like Emily Pope and Simon Arish, but her relationships with them felt a little distant for much of the game. At the start ofControl,Jesse is highly distrustful of the Bureau since they likely kidnapped Dylan. Jesse also fears what they’ll say about her otherworldly guide from childhood, Polaris. Over time, these fears fall away as she cooperates with the Bureau as the new Director, butControl’s plot moves so brisklyand emphasizes Jesse’s independent actions as the Director so much that she doesn’t have much time to truly get to know people like Simon and Emily. Instead, she mostly forms friendly but utilitarian bonds with them.
Dylan and Polaris are meant to serve as the most important people in Jesse’s life inControl,which makes sense, but the context ofControl 2will be different. Polaris will seemingly be out of the picture, and while Dylan could reprise his final role as an antagonist, he ideally won’t dominate Jesse’s thoughts like he does in the first game. Putting Dylan above everything else again would makeControl 2’s narrative feel awfully repetitive. It would be much more interesting to see Jesse properlybefriend her fellow Bureau employeesover the course of the game and worry about their well-being as much as Dylan.
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Control 2’s Character-Driven Opportunities
There’s plenty of different ways thatControl 2could give Jesse more opportunities to interact with her peers at the Bureau. For instance, instead of Jesse doing everything on her own,Control 2might let charactersfollow her around the Oldest Houseand help her with certain tasks; that’d open up plenty of dialogue opportunities and give each character more screen time. If Remedy wants to preserve Jesse’s independence, then she can simply have more robust dialogue with other characters during her downtime, learning more about their hopes, fears, and theories about theControlmultiverse.
Control 2could reuse Dylanas an antagonist through his ire against the Bureau, but he should no longer be the most important person in Jesse’s life. Now that she has found a place where she feels like she belongs, and she has found answers for the mysterious parts of her past,Control 2needs to emphasize how Jesse is looking to the future, rather than rehashing the past. The various characters that Jesse became acquainted with inControlwould be wonderful vehicles for the game’s narrative, now that Jesse has the chance to open up to other people again.
