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Control: AWE

Control: AWE

Remedy Entertainment · released Aug 27, 2020

Action AdventurePCPlayStation 4Xbox One

The Bureau studied its most dangerous Altered World Events in this lost sector. The records were sealed, the objects contained, and their powers abandoned. Now, the sector is breached and the objects are loose… AWE brings new story content and side missions as well as new weapons and mods to the world of Control.

77
VGC Score
·No trend datamedium confidence
73%
Press
78%
Player sentiment
78%
Backloggd
2,860
Ratings

Screenshots & trailers

How this score was computed

The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.

ComponentPositiveQuality (0-100)Weight (pseudo-reviews)
Press reviews (Metacritic)7320
All-time Steam reviews0
Metacritic user ratings7129
Backloggd ratings78750
Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted)0
Calibration prior (typical game)7250

Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 0 reviews sampled · 0 total reviews in window · weighted 0 up / 0 down · computed 5h ago · full methodology →

Press & Creators reviews (19)

Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.

  • 60
    trust 69Aug 27, 2020

    AWE had a lot of potential and I'm sad to say that it's mostly wasted here. Most of what it offers is exactly the same as what players have experienced before and I found the new stuff to be equal parts obnoxious and tedious.

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    trust 66Aug 29, 2020

    Quotation forthcoming.

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  • 60
    trust 66Aug 28, 2020

    AWE is the story of expectations not quite meeting reality. It's exciting to see Alan Wake become a full-fledged addition to the Control universe and to catch up on different aspects of Remedy's growing universe. But this feels much more like a taste of what might come in future games than a strong addition to what's been built in Control. AWE is a missed opportunity for Remedy to really embrace Control's deep weirdness, and it's a missed opportunity for it to really expand on the story of Alan Wake after so much waiting. It's the unfortunate side effect of the idea of a shared universe--in teasing the next installment in the growing story, AWE doesn't do much to serve the story it's already in.

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  • 75
    trust 63Sep 2, 2020

    AWE is like a bridge to establish the connection between Control and Alan Wake. The DLC, which we can consider as the first step to Remedy's Connected Universe plan, is satisfactory. It's a good DLC package, though it offers less than The Foundation as new content.

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  • 70
    trust 63Nov 1, 2020

    Despite some flaws, AWE is a very good expansion that brings Alan Wake into Remedy's shared universe and teases exciting things for the future.

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  • 90
    trust 61Aug 29, 2020

    AWE is absolutely a worthwhile continuation of the Control experience. It introduces delightful new gameplay conceits and iterates on them masterfully within such a brief time frame. The story might not appeal to everyone but everything else that's worth loving about Control can be found here. Anyone who enjoyed the base Control experience shouldn't hesitate to give AWE a whirl.

    read full review ↗
  • 70
    trust 59Oct 23, 2020

    Both DLCs are mainly there to shed more light on the fantastic world of the original game - and to act as promises of future games. You won’t have as much fun actually playing them, though, mainly due to the frustrating combat.

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  • 85
    trust 58Aug 27, 2020

    I finished AWE with a yearning for more Alan Wake and a yearning for more Control. Remedy has more or less confirmed we'll get more of both at some point in the future, although they might be presented through the lens of yet another series. That's the reality of the Remedy Connected Universe. As a trial run, AWE manages to be a great double-dip on some beloved narratives, even though it's not necessarily a great representation of either Control or Alan Wake individually. Sometimes the sum is greater than the parts, sometimes the lake is really an ocean.

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  • 60
    trust 58Sep 4, 2020

    Control’s new AWE DLC is simply more Control. While it explores a new area of the building, it doesn’t do anything new or expand on the lore of the first house directly. It does reveal officially how the 505 Games world setting interconnects, but that may not be such a good thing for some players.

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  • 60
    trust 56Sep 1, 2020

    Control's AWE Expansion will satisfy a lot of Alan Wake fans who have been theorizing for nearly a decade about what happened to the writer. While it does introduce some great ideas, you'll ultimately have to wait for whatever Remedy does next to get real resolution.

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  • 85
    trust 55Aug 27, 2020

    AWE replicated that feeling. Remedy continues to tell unique and extremely interesting stories, and in relation to how AWE concludes and what that means for the future of the Remedy Connected Universe, is just so damn exciting.

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  • 80
    trust 54Sep 1, 2020

    AWE's greatest strength is in how cleverly it merges Alan Wake and Control into a singular experience. I wouldn't begrudge Remedy for divulging in a bit of low-brow fanservice for the second expansion of a critically acclaimed game, but they really went the extra mile in delivering a cohesive experience that fits cleanly into both worlds.

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…and 7 more tracked reviews.