Control: AWE Reviews

Control: AWE is ranked in the 67th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Unscored
Aug 27, 2020

Even if AWE doesn’t exactly tie a bow in regards to Alan Wake, it’s a very good sign of what may yet come to be for our fashion disaster of a friend.

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Aug 27, 2020

CONTROL‘s second and final expansion raises more questions than it answers. AWE is a great on its own, I just wish there was more to it. It feels like it’s going to do bigger things with this crossover, then doesn’t. So I feel like Remedy set expectations a bit too high with this one. AWE is still incredibly well written, has great main and side stories, and the unique gameplay changes things up in clever ways. With the Remedy Connected Universe in motion, things are now falling into place, and AWE gives a glimpse into the future of Remedy’s games and universe at-play that we’ve never seen done before. After all, it’s not a lake… it’s an ocean.

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Aug 30, 2020

It’s definitely a disappointment compared to the new powers and trippy areas we received in the first part of Control’s season pass – The Foundation – and the new meat it throws to Alan Wake fans does little to resolve the character’s lingering narrative threads, but to set up new ones.

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6.5 / 10.0
Aug 31, 2020

An integration of the Control and Alan Wake universes is an incredibly exciting premise on paper. AWE promises this as the final DLC for Control, but the execution doesn’t meet what was possible. At the end of AWE, I felt excited about any future exploration of these universes, but underwhelmed about what I had just played.

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8.5 / 10.0
Aug 31, 2020

Control AWE is an excellent expansion for fans who are craving to go further down the rabbit hole. The focus stays heavily on Jesse and her goals, even with the inclusion of Alan Wake, who doesn’t overpower the scenes. The expansion once again proves how good Remedy is at storytelling and I’m glad to see them continue to provide those WTF moments that we all love.

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75 / 100
Sep 1, 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.

Review in Turkish | Read full review

7.5 / 10.0
Sep 1, 2020

Control’s AWE Expansion doesn’t do much to innovate, but it doesn’t need to. It continues building on the already strong combat encounters of the original game whilst adding a small twist on that. The main draw is with the brilliantly crafted story that brings Alan Wake into the Control universe.

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7 / 10.0
Aug 30, 2020

Control’s AWE DLC reintroduces the world of Alan Wake, but he is only a very small part of the overall experience. It also adds a new ability, a new service weapon, a new enemy, and it’s more of the same Control that you already enjoy. Gamers buying AWE only for Alan Wake may be a little letdown, but it’s a good addition to the overall universe and mystery of the Oldest House with the wonderful promise of a very interesting future from Remedy Games.

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3 / 5.0
Sep 3, 2020

AWE feels less like the beginning of some grand interconnected universe and more like a tacked-on reference to Remedy’s previous work.

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9 / 10.0
Sep 4, 2020

Control AWE is a no-brainer for those who are invested in Control’s franchise. It’s an incredible demonstration of amazing action platforming, with some captivating cinematics, magnificent narrative progression, enamouring environments, and engrossing gameplay. Highly recommended for those looking to jump back into this supernatural epic.

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8 / 10.0
Sep 5, 2020

AWE may be a teaser for the next game in the series, but that would be disregarding the fact that the contents of the DLC are very well put together. In any case, we got a taste of what a Control game would be like when it enters the realm of Cauldron Lake. I, for one, can’t wait for what’s next in the story of Allan Wake and the Federal Bureau of Control.

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6.5 / 10.0
Sep 3, 2020

Control: AWE admirably serves its purpose as a formal beginning to the Remedy Connected Universe and adds a few cool perks along the way, but fails to stand as a compelling Control expansion in its own right.

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Sep 2, 2020

AWE offers an interesting first look at the future Remedy envisions for both the Alan Wake and Control franchises alongside featuring a terrifying main antagonist and some creepy boss encounters. That being said, it’s still somewhat underwhelming, acting as a teaser for the future with few crazy story beats or new features to get excited about.

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Expansive
Sam Diglett
Liked-a-lot
Sep 12, 2020

What Remedy are pitching us is incredibly ambitious. They’re looking to tie their past games together and put them under the same roof. AWE has given them a gateway. It’s given us all a glimpse as to how it might be possible and provided a new starting point for Remedy’s bold future. In some ways, you might even see the ending of AWE as a soft announcement of their next major project. But it’s more than that because this DLC gives them the context needed to do that, while surely sowing the seeds for even more projects further down the line. Because of that, AWE could well be the most important DLC of this, or any other generation.

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Mixed
Sep 1, 2020

More Control is always great, however the expectations for this expansion fall flat, with a short new mission and probably the worst boss fight in all the game.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

Lee Mehr
Top Critic
8 / 10
Sep 27, 2020

Control: AWE leverages Remedy's lineage to make one of the best expansions of the year.

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8 / 10.0
Sep 15, 2020

Control: AWE offers an enjoyable two-hour romp that fans of Alan Wake are sure to love, even if it doesn’t make the most of the source material in all elements of its design. Sure, battling Dr. Hartman and the darkness is great, but I’d have loved to have seen a bit more of Alan Wake’s world woven within the experience too. Still, with its brilliant blend of gameplay mechanics and countless nods to Alan Wake, Control: AWE really is quite special. It might only really appeal to those that played Alan Wake before, but, as a big fan of the title myself, it has left me very excited for the future of Remedy’s shared universe.

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8 / 10.0
Oct 3, 2020

It’s great to see the Alan Wake connection grow, and the mysteries of the oldest house are always a delight. While the AWE expansion doesn’t do much to change the core mechanics of the game, it does offer a new area to explore, a new weapon, and a delightfully demented antagonist.

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9.4 / 10.0
Oct 13, 2020

There are plenty of reasons to play, and enjoy, with this second and last expansion of Control

Review in Spanish | Read full review

Liked-a-lot
Oct 16, 2020

I had a lot of fun with both extensions and was happy every time the correspondence between the employees of the Bureau of Control turned into rampant hate speech.

Review in German | Read full review