Control Ultimate Edition

Jesse Faden enters the Federal Bureau of Control’s shifting New York headquarters as the Hiss overruns the building. As its new Director, she searches for answers while fighting through the Oldest House with the shape-shifting Service Weapon, telekinetic powers and help from the Bureau’s remaining agents.

Control begins when Jesse Faden reaches the Oldest House, a stark concrete tower in New York that contains the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control. The FBC investigates objects and events that break ordinary rules; now its own offices have been seized by the Hiss, a force that turns Bureau personnel into hostile enemies. Jesse becomes the building’s new Director and moves through the crisis while pursuing answers tied to her own past. The premise keeps the action inside one enormous workplace, but its familiar offices, sealed sectors and research spaces do not behave like a normal government building. Corridors open into broad chambers, desks and equipment become part of the fight, and each newly reached part of the House adds another piece of the Bureau’s strange day-to-day world.

The Oldest House is the main space to explore, linking combat rooms with offices, laboratories, maintenance areas and side rooms that hold their own leads. It shifts and hides routes, so navigation depends on reading signs, following mission details and noticing how one area connects to the next. The map helps orient Jesse, but it is symbolic and deliberately vague; room names and Bureau signage often tell you more than a pin on the screen. Its main sectors—Executive, Maintenance, Research and Containment—each have their own offices, workshops, labs and holding spaces. Exploring beyond the immediate objective can lead to a contained encounter, a document about an FBC experiment or an Object of Power tied to a new ability. Returning to a sector after gaining a power such as Levitate can reveal ledges and rooms that were previously out of reach.

Combat mixes Jesse’s Service Weapon with the objects around her. The weapon changes between distinct forms, so switching its attack style gives her different ways to handle an enemy or distance. Its Grip form works as a dependable pistol-like option, while other forms suit other situations; the important rhythm is to keep shifting between gunfire and powers rather than waiting behind cover for every opening. Launch lets Jesse seize nearby objects at a distance and fling them at the Hiss. A loose object can become a projectile, and an explosive item such as a fire extinguisher can hit harder when it detonates. The room itself therefore supplies ammunition and cover: desks, walls and heavy fixtures can break apart as attacks land, changing the available sightlines while a fight is still underway. Looking across the room before committing to a shot can reveal both a weapon and a route to safety.

Jesse’s abilities add movement, defense and crowd control to the firefights. Evade gives her a quick directional burst to leave an incoming attack’s path; Shield gathers nearby debris into a temporary guard; and Seize can turn a weakened enemy into an ally who draws fire from the rest of the group. Levitate lifts Jesse above the floor, which helps her avoid obstacles during a battle and reach elevated parts of the Oldest House. These powers make positioning an active choice: she can rise above a barrier, launch something across the room, then drop behind cover or shift sideways as another enemy closes in. The combination changes as more abilities become available, and enemies respond differently to weapon forms and powers. Fights reward watching what the room and the opposing group are doing, then choosing whether to attack, reposition or protect Jesse.

Conversations with the surviving FBC agents add everyday detail to an invasion they are trying to understand. Ahti, the janitor, treats Jesse as his assistant and assigns jobs such as incinerating toxic waste, folding the House’s strange crisis into its ordinary upkeep. Case files, recordings and other Bureau documents sit among workstations, laboratories and containment rooms. They explain how staff classified an object, planned tests for a phenomenon or tried to keep daily routines going inside a building that no longer follows ordinary rules. The records also give context to characters and sectors Jesse encounters. Some ciphers invite her to connect details for herself, while reading the files alongside conversations gives the Oldest House a history told by the people who work inside it.

Progression gives Jesse more options to build around. Ability Points go into her upgrades, and searching off-route for hidden rooms can reward points that let you improve her powers further. Control Points give access to Astral Constructs, where Source and materials can be used to make weapon forms or Mods; Source and materials also upgrade a Service Weapon form. Mods change the loadout in concrete ways: Personal Mods affect Jesse’s health, movement and ability energy, while Weapon Mods tune a form’s damage, accuracy or rate of fire. They come from Hiss encounters, supply containers, missions, alerts, Board Countermeasures and other activities, so the pile of equipment is tied to what Jesse does in the House.

Control Ultimate Edition packages the base game with both released story expansions, The Foundation and AWE. The Foundation sends Jesse below the Bureau into the House’s Foundation area as she responds to a threat there, adding missions, enemies and abilities. AWE takes her into the Investigations Sector, where the FBC studied Altered World Events, and adds its own missions, enemies and mechanics. The Service Weapon and Jesse’s supernatural abilities remain the core of play, while the expansions widen the Bureau’s history and the spaces its Director must investigate.