When I was watching a playthrough of Control I really appreciated that they didn't go with an everyman protagonist. It would have been so easy to add drama by making Jesse suspicious of the Bureau and try to work against it or making the Bureau a shadowy _villainous_ government organization, but keeping the Bureau sinister yet generally benevolent while Jesse takes to the Bureau and its mission is just way more interesting.
This channel is, as far as I'm aware, the best place for videogame commentary that exists in the current media landscape. It's intelligent, comprehensive and, above all, highly entertaining. Please keep up the great work.
Noah, Matthewmatosis, and Joseph Anderson are all of similar very high quality. They all have different approaches and discuss different things but they’re 3 of my favorite content creators ever.
The delivery reminds me a little bit of a podcast, actually. Noah is relatively softspoken, at least compared to the average Twitch streamer or clickbait UA-camr. He has some dynamic range, but his is a voice that I find that I can listen to with earphones that are on or in my ears for hours on end without feeling annoyed or distracted from whatever task I am performing.
Hard disagree on your comparison. Noah rises far above those two reviewers. For one, he's capable of stringing together references to more than just games, often including his reading and real life experiences. And he strives for a unique perspective, free from the hype and clichés that you find everywhere else on UA-cam.
GodlessXVIII I may agree with you on Joseph Anderson but Matthewmatosis is arguably the best game reviewer on UA-cam. Matthew generally focuses on mechanics whereas Noah focuses on themes and narratives. They’re both excellent at what they do but simply have different priorities for their reviews. It shows because Matthew leans more towards arcade games, action games and puzzlers whereas Noah leans towards rpgs and open world games.
Unfortunately Noah is a hardcore leftist, SJW, and liberal type, with that clouding his work at times. If a topic deals with men, in general, he'll have a tough time with it.
I am deeply suprised that you managed to talk about this game without talking about the SCP wiki; and honestly, I'm glad you did. The video, I think, struck at the heart of what makes both great; the bizzare, the dreamlike other that lays somewhere just out of reach. Its not horror, though it can be horrific, and its not an endless list of items and abilities, though there are many. Its a hole, behind a poster, that many of us can't get enough of. Thanks for the great video; my favorite of the three, and the other two were very good. But this one struck me as you having something you really wanted to say.
I was constantly thinking of the SPC foundation, but I often also thought of how different they are. His review of Control is, in essence, if SCP had a storyline following the actual Agents that run the foundation, and not the creatures themselves. The SCP game is a great example of how focusing on the bizarre objects over the people is great content for a horror game, because they are alive and coming to get you; but Control is a great example of how to tell human stories with a backdrop of supernatural, which is the essence of storytelling.
@@MegaVidFan1 You're missing out on half the wiki if you think thats all the Foundation wiki is. The Tales and the Canons are some of the best stories on the web, and Control's story is compelling in a similar way to The Ouroboros Cycle, which is a series of SCP's and tales that form a complete narrative.
While there are a lot of good youtubers that do game analysis I’ve come to view your videos as a gold standard for level headed and well reasoned analysis. I really appreciate your videos and the time you pour into it. Thank you.
Not only that, but legitimately literature level script writing and inexhaustible reference to even the most obscure pieces of media. The other youtuber i find equal in the effort of research and drawing parallel is jacob geller. His videos are different, more in the style of essays taking a specific aspect of a game and try to analyze it from many artistic or cultural viewpoints. I love them both, but honestly Noah's level of writing is just the best i have ever seen on youtube. His quality is on par to something like The Atlantic which i consider gold standard of in depth fact reporting or opinion pieces.
You are a worm through time. The thunder song distorts you. Happiness comes. White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye. Through a mirror, inverted is made right. Leave your insides by the door. Push the fingers through the surface into the wet. You've always been the new you. You don't want this to be true. We stand around you while you dream. You can almost hear our words but you forget. This happens more and more now. You gave us the permission in your regulations. We wait in the stains. The word that describes this is redacted. Repeat the word. The name of the sound. It resonates in your house. After the song, time for applause. We build you till nothing remains. The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you. You are home. You remind us of home. You've taken your boss with your boss with you. All hair must be eaten. Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away. After the song, time for applause. The cliche is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, the fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall! How do you say "insane"? Hurts to be happy. An ear worm is a tune you can't stop humming in a dream: "baby baby baby yeah". Just plastic. So, safe and nothing to worry about. Ha ha, funny. The last egg breaks now. The hole in your room is a hole in you. You came and we let you in through the hole in you. You have always been here, the only child. A copy of a copy of a copy. Orange peel. The picture is you holding the picture. When you hear this you will know you're the new you. You want to listen. You want to dream. You want to smile. You want to hurt. You don't want to be.
I loved this chant, it added so much to the atmosphere. Even better, I was playing the game in english, but the chant is set to your system's language, in my case not english. It made the chant sound truly alien in relation to everything else
Noah! I know some devs who made this and just FYI the game has dynamic difficulty: difficulty super smooth because the game will adjust up and down based off how you're doing.
My partner played Control last year, and we were both riveted. I wouldnt let him play if I wasnt there, because I wanted to see the story unfold! Immediately after the maze section, we both looked at each other and exclaimed "That was awesome!", right before Jesse said the same thing :)
I'm really happy you found as much to love in Control as I did. I felt like a crazy person for talking this game up as much as I did after I finished it, and this video is really validating.
It's really odd that Control seemed so slept on, I did see it got very prompt and widespread comments on reviews saying "this score is invalid, it runs badly so it's a bad game" though
If you loved CONTROL you might really enjoy ECHO (Which is similarly mysterious and unique, and sadly truly went under the radar) I've never played anything else quite like it.......While It's definitely best to go in blind with ECHO, I found a gameplay vid that shows how it opens.... 👍 ua-cam.com/video/DL5bUz5GSfs/v-deo.html
Control seems to know very well what a story is, that it teaches people patterns of behaviour and existence. And it does so very well, with a lot of moments for the player to "look into a campfire" and be mesmerized by the flames. The game almost seems to give a scientific description, to find order in the chaos everyone always lives with. Rather than how horror tells stories, where the unknown is something to be afraid of - a fair assesment which will help some people - society at large and their adoption of scientific knowledge really makes Control's story drive home a point that the unknown is something to be explored. Outside of an all-encompassing story such as one provided by religion, or cults, or scientology or anything else, there really is no always-applicable, healthy story which is interesting to tell and exciting to listen to; no morality to stand by. Perhaps Control, or at least Noah's description of what the story is along with the visuals, show us a way into the future of story telling where everything that is narratively and experientially possible to convey in a medium is used to its fullest effect. A book cannot keep a reader's waning attention, a reader will inevitably lose thought and have to re-read a page at times; yet, the mesmerizing visuals of Control allow it to even capture those moments of listening to- or experiencing its story.
No review or discussion of Control I have yet seen framed it quite like this, or examined it through the lenses that this video brings up. That kind of insightful commentary that can swing my point of view on a game around to a new angle is what makes me excited for every new upload. As always, I'm looking forward to the next batch, but for now I'll be quite happy re-listening to these most recent three.
If you’re having trouble with one or more bosses, try not aiming while shooting. With that I mean just using the reticle, not zooming in. This helped me so much after dozens of failed attempts. It makes switching between shooting and throwing quicker, does not reduce damage, and keeps your field of view clear. Try it, seriously. Otherwise: Stay levitated as much as possible. And keep switching between shooting, throwing and dodging.
Man, this was such a good review, and also felt so good after so many years of ignoring and then playing Alan Wake 1, American Nightmare and Control just before Alan Wake 2. it's so gratifying.
Control was my 2019 Game of the Year. It had so much & I loved it all, every image & every sound!! Gods this game is fantastic. I can't wait until they wrap up/ delve into Alan Wake in the "AWE" DLC.
I think we can all agree that there were a lot of stand out games in 2019. I stick with DE, but that's not to take away from Control or the Outer Wilds and on and on
Derlaid yes, I concur. I have to say though that other than Control, Sekiro & Metro: Exodus would make my top 3 but there was SO MANY amazing titles that were released in 2019: great year for gaming.
I was convinced to play this by someone calling it the best Jedi game they've ever played. Yep, you do feel like a Lightsaber-less Jedi in this game It's matched with a Warehouse 13 objects (except the OOPs are created by events not people) and Twin Peaks-esque characters. You feel you need to switch between your sidearm and powers and are always pushed to success Also, that dance is just... beautiful
I can't believe Noah read out all those names in different locales three times for each video. Absolutely incredible honestly. The videos themselves sure as others pointed out, but also standing there and reading from that book when he could have probably just used the same cut for each video? Amazing.
A third video AND about Control? This is amazing! I also remember another Control (and Anatomy) video by Jacob Geller. It's interesting to see various interpretations. Just sharing this if you ever want to take a look. Yours, obviously, is more to the point, though, thankfully.
I went through your retrospectives on max payne and alan wake and ended here with control. It's interesting to contrast Jesse with Alan and Max. They're archetypes tragically trapped within their stories and stripped of agency while Jesse is actively searching for her narrative, was miserable outside of it, and is able to take control of her life when she accepts her role as The Director. It feels meaningful to me that the remedy protagonist with the most agency is the first female one, like it's kind of an apology for all the dead wives.
I was waiting for this video, thank you! Glad to see the comparison with Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves - one of my favourite books. I knew there was some parallels and that's why I loved Control so much. It's also one of the few games where you WANT to read all the documents and snippets of text you find. The lore is so rewarding. I'm curious what you have to say about Disco Elysium
Once again you've taken a game that I had no really desire to explore, and make it very appealing to me. Thanks Noah. Also I have to admire your dedicated to reading our every $10+ Patreon donor every video. You say "some of the people", but my name has been read in every video since I started donating so I'm guessing that it's all of them.
I'm not sure anyone ever really finishes House of Leaves, more like you eventually hit a point where you feel like you've read as much as you can and had to finally put it back on the shelf. You can _be_ finished with it, but you can't actually _finish_ it.
Thanks Noah, this was a pleasure to watch. I know some people have criticised you for covering a game on the Epic Store - don’t listen to them. That’s exactly like criticising someone for covering a game on the Xbox when they only have a PS4, or vice versa. If they don’t want to use the Epic Store, that’s on them, not on you. Keep doing what you’re doing.
I see what you did at the very end there Noah you hiss possessed content creator! Over the past year you've become my favourite game reviewer, I used to swear by Matosis and found Joseph Anderson's videos extremely entertaining -- but your content trumps them all and I'm incredibly grateful for these 3 new videos. You're a treasure Noah!
Be honest, are you posting these for the people who are stuck at home? It's exactly that sort of awesome gesture I'd expect from someone as thoughtful as you.
Inland Empire: Political turmoil, pandemics, three videos in one week. This is the end of the world, Harry. Encyclopedia: Pandemic. He's talking about Covid-19. Logic: Or, Noah's been working feverishly for the past months. Relax. Authority: As he fucking should. Empathy: Noah's not beholden to you. You're not even a patron. Drama: I sure am. Composure: *Poker Face* Shivers: Somewhere in an old VW someone is editing a 3-hour video about Disco Elysium. A dog barks in the background. Physical Instrument: If this turns out to be true I'm going to lick every door knob I see. I don't give a fuck. Electrochemistry: Yeeee haaaw! Volition: Please don't. Suggestion: Noah's gonna read this and do it. He's a cool dude. He loves us.
Such a simple gimmick built into such an amazing narrative and tonal device. I'm almost certain that Noah would love Disco Elysium for that patently weird approach to inner dialogue and flavor text, as I did. I really hope that more games are built off that foundation.
In these last couple donation reads with you and a book it always seemed like some kind of arcane summoning of a communal will to act. I feel rather actualized now.
18 minutes in, I must say that your glowing praise of the ideas and gameplay, as a massive fan of the Max Payne games, has sold me on Control. I'll have to come back when I've beaten it.
This isn't about Control per se, but having just got out of surgery for an injury and being holed up at home in a COVID19-affected area, I wanted to say that your recent output has been a godsend to fight the old painkillers and social isolation blues. Thanks, man.
@@saeednoor3828 This also ties nicely into the Poets of the Fall song they're studying in one of the labs in the Bureau. After all, it's not from their universe, but from ours.
Double comment: I *GREATLY* enjoyed this video you've made on Control. It definitely felt like someone was able to articulate all of the things that I was overjoyed about while playing Control, and I really appreciated the time and effort you put into it.
Fun fact, those floppys still used as save icons in writing programs? They're called skeuomorphs, in essence a visual/physical simile. Maybe not so fun for you but I thought it was a riot.
A better way of putting that would be a visual of an old form, used in modern form. Such as a digital mp3 player, placed inside a box resembling a jukebox, with the buttons controlling digital music functions, much like they would have controlled analog functions in the old day.
Thank you Noah for these three short vids this week. I imagine you wanted to say a few things about these games but couldn't pump them up to over an hour each. I appreciate the quality you put into each. Can't wait to see what you tackle next. Might I suggest Kentucky Route Zero?
Thanks for covering this game, pretty much my favourite game from last year. I'm honestly more excited for this year's two DLC expansions than many full games coming out, hopefully once it is out on Steam (and perhaps a PS5/XSX patch later on) more people can experience it for themselves
I finally finished my playthrough so I can finally watch this video. Your takes on games always bring wonderful perspectives and I was very happy to play this before watching because Control was one of my favorite experiences in recent memory. Not a perfect game and I did have a few spots where I just wanted to grind through battles to get to the good stuff, but enjoyed my time immensely. I look forward to your thoughts!
I've just completed the game but still have some stuff to clear up in The House.. Thankfully. I didn't want it to end. Feel like I've been here forever and will forever be here in some small way. Not quite sure what it is but it's been a really affecting game, like you said yourself - lingering long after playing. Your videos have always been quite something, but man, you've really nailed it here. If I was half as articulate as you, this is how I would have liked to explain the game to someone. Amazing and unique game, one that really took me by surprise.
I absolutely love your in-depth insights into games like this. They're a joy to listen to and time flies whenever I do so. References to literature and various TV shows and games make your commentaries really fascinating.
Remedy has always been great at musical combat moments in their games. Defending the stage in Alan Wake was amazing just as the Take Control segment was.
Noah, I have a lot of admiration and respect for you. You do a tremendous work and i have to say that you have serious writing and narration skills. Beautiful mind. Cheers from Portugal !!!
Had this linked to someone in a reddit thread who was hating on the game to help them see the light. I personally loved the game, but couldn’t explain why. And this video so perfectly encapsulated it. I also really appreciated the sub-analysis of winning/losing in games and your approach - it really resonated with me!
Noah, don’t know how you are managing it; but you are abso-fucking-lutely killing it. Can’t wait ‘till I have my own card to contribute to your patreon. Your videos make me happy.
Man your channel is wildy underrated! What a great game review about my favourite game of the decade! I really hope Remedy shows us more of the Control/Alan Wake Universe!
I very much look forward to your content. This time, however, I cant two of the three uploads because I cant expose myself to spoilers for The Outer Worlds or Control. Massive bummer.
It took me such a long time to realize the floppy itself is not really relevant in that particular object of power but what it contains: nuke Launch codes, and the power it gives is called Launch
I don't know why your uploading in such rapid succession and I don't care. I'm just happy to see you talking about another one of my favorite games of last year.
I was thinking to myself, how the hell did I missed this, when did Noah make a Control video?! Then I saw when the video was posted. What a time to be in quarantine.
1st day of self-quarantine. Thank you, Noah! Also: RIP Tyler Blevins. Noah Caldwell-Gervais remains the undefeated master of speaking nicely while still wrecking someone's shit down to a molecular level.
Wonderful as always Noah. Took me a while to get around to watching this one since I didn't want the experience spoiled for myself. I thoroughly connected to the dreamscape in this game. I show the messiness I try to battle in mind in a visually pleasing way.
If the boss fight that locked you down is the one im thinking of heres a little trick I discovered. The enemies in this game actually do have a vision cone that determines how they react to threats. Why is this important? The flying bastards with the shields thats why. These dicks will dodge almost any projectile coming at them, making them the biggest pain to deal with when a shielded targets main weakness is a telekinetically thrown projectile, so when the game gave me a weapon form in the manner of a shield busting grenade launcher I immediately tested firing a round behind my target, grabbing it mid flight, and slamming it into their back. Makes those flying shield guys almost tolerable.
Love hearing you talk about disliking hard/overly technical aspects of games. I also hate hard games and I like seeing other gamers admit to that too. Absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to re-do a fight dozens of times until you get past it. I just play games to relax...
Love your long videos. I have not played this game - but from your narration and the games focus on dreams and cosmic unknown, it certainly looks very interesting.
2x playback speed, bud. It works on all the devices I've tried it on. Doesn't detract from ad revenue for the content creator either, as far as I'm aware. If, as you're suggesting, you are paying attention to the speaker it's not too difficult to follow along. It takes practice, to be sure, but with people like Noah who enunciate clearly and have a good story to tell as well as a way with words to get you there it's really an enjoyable challenge, if at all.
stumbled across this review of this game I love and im glad I did. Enjoyable listen and wonderfully worded. ill be happy to watch more. Hope you are ready for the coming dlc!
Goddammit, Noah! I appreciate all the uploads, and we ALL have COVID amounts of time off work to watch them, but I can't fucking keep up! Don't stap! :D
Hey Noah, if you feel like "bureaucracy tackling the paranormal" is your jam I would highly recommend the "Monday Begins on Saturday" novel by the Strugatsky Brothers - pretty much exactly that, except in a communist setting (thus much slap-dash haphazardy ensues).
I really like the themes in stuff like this, SCP, Delta Green, or the Laundry Files (though I haven't actually read the latter yet), the combination of the supernatural, often Lovecraftian otherworld and intense and mundane bureaucracy. It fits the theme of feeling lost in something greater than you that you can't really get a good handle on, both in the supernatural and in the man-made, and I think it reflects how the "modernist" ideas of organization, structure, and scientific experimentation kinda feed into a sense of alienation as much as the cosmic horror ideas do. We don't treat the supernatural as wonders, and we don't deal with them very personally, we study, we catalog, we experiment, we write it all down in technical manuals and pass it on to the new hires. We assign everyone tasks and emesh them in hierarchies with supervisors in departments, we give them a budget and accountants, we lock it all in an iron cage and demystify it with experiment, we analyze it with statistical tables. It builds an interesting contrast, feels more relevant to modern anxieties about the world, and contrasts nicely with the source of these ideas of magic and power and horror, and the mix of things being so recognizable and feeling so specific and real to us makes it easy to make the player/reader/whatever feel everything is subtly wrong. With stuff like Threshold Kids and some of the great environments in the video, plus all the interesting sounding side-quests, this seems like something I should definitely play some time.
So glad to hear this opinion validated--I keep trying to relate over how actually great this game is, and I keep getting lukewarm responses from other players such as, "Yeah, it was a standard Remedy shooter." I didn't try it til fairly recently myself, since that meh-level of enthusiasm seemed to be about status quo amongst those who'd already played it, so I also slept on it, and only finally snagged it when I had a specific hankering for a high-budget, non-open world action game, and thought to myself, "Oh yeah, there was that SCPish/X-Files thing awhile back," and only by collusion of a narrow ass hankering and my preexisting interests in particular did I even end up trying what's turned out to be my favorite action game, open world or not, in fucking years. I also see a lot of people writing off the writing, as if it can be safely taken for granted that it's all standard schlocky B-fare. But I really do propose that it's got more going than schlock--its allusions to Jung are well researched, and are maybe more interesting, and less schlocky, if you're well researched in Jung yourself. There's also an attempt to recreate what I think is purely the best parts of the SCP universe and ethos, while discarding all the parts which are hammy, self-parodical, or otherwise ill-fitted and jarring--all the inevitably rougher edges of a true communal effort. It's the best-possible-SCP so far as I'm concerned, and it makes a solid effort to imply a sort of underlying quantum set of mechanisms for all the phenomena you encounter, no matter how apparently disparate and outlandish they all seem at first. They all do operate on a basic understructure, which the writing really didn't have to bother with, especially if most folks were just going to read it as schlock regardless. I've said about this game before, I'd almost enjoy it just as much if it were a point and click adventure game, or even text-based, just because piecing together the various data points into an increasingly cohesive, yet alien, understanding of the gameworld is so much of the primary fun... but then, it really does have some above-standard action, and in that way, yeah, it is a standard Remedy shooter. Plus, if it was a text thing you wouldn't get the Dr. Darling videos. I think too many people slept on this game, is what I'm saying, and not just because they had middling computers. I'm frankly surprised, since apparently all of a sudden the whole world loves Twin Peaks (though I confess, I've long thought that a fad). Anyway, always love the videos, but in this case only moreso because, like I say, I feel validated haha.
I liked your discussion on the combat and difficulty, I think Remedy honed a lot of this from Quantum Break which had similar “fairness” except when it came to boss fights.
![The Outer Worlds in Close Critique [Spoilers]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TpxidRlZyXc/mqdefault.jpg)
![The Outer Worlds in Close Critique [Spoilers]](/img/tr.png)
![Tyranny and the Language of Power [Spoilers]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DaqqCbmhqVI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Dissecting Dishonored [Spoilers]](/img/n.gif)
I am deeply concerned and confused and also grateful for this upload schedule
I had the same reaction
He does this sometimes.
When I was watching a playthrough of Control I really appreciated that they didn't go with an everyman protagonist. It would have been so easy to add drama by making Jesse suspicious of the Bureau and try to work against it or making the Bureau a shadowy _villainous_ government organization, but keeping the Bureau sinister yet generally benevolent while Jesse takes to the Bureau and its mission is just way more interesting.
This channel is, as far as I'm aware, the best place for videogame commentary that exists in the current media landscape. It's intelligent, comprehensive and, above all, highly entertaining. Please keep up the great work.
Noah, Matthewmatosis, and Joseph Anderson are all of similar very high quality. They all have different approaches and discuss different things but they’re 3 of my favorite content creators ever.
The delivery reminds me a little bit of a podcast, actually. Noah is relatively softspoken, at least compared to the average Twitch streamer or clickbait UA-camr. He has some dynamic range, but his is a voice that I find that I can listen to with earphones that are on or in my ears for hours on end without feeling annoyed or distracted from whatever task I am performing.
Hard disagree on your comparison. Noah rises far above those two reviewers. For one, he's capable of stringing together references to more than just games, often including his reading and real life experiences. And he strives for a unique perspective, free from the hype and clichés that you find everywhere else on UA-cam.
GodlessXVIII I may agree with you on Joseph Anderson but Matthewmatosis is arguably the best game reviewer on UA-cam. Matthew generally focuses on mechanics whereas Noah focuses on themes and narratives. They’re both excellent at what they do but simply have different priorities for their reviews. It shows because Matthew leans more towards arcade games, action games and puzzlers whereas Noah leans towards rpgs and open world games.
Unfortunately Noah is a hardcore leftist, SJW, and liberal type, with that clouding his work at times. If a topic deals with men, in general, he'll have a tough time with it.
I am deeply suprised that you managed to talk about this game without talking about the SCP wiki; and honestly, I'm glad you did. The video, I think, struck at the heart of what makes both great; the bizzare, the dreamlike other that lays somewhere just out of reach. Its not horror, though it can be horrific, and its not an endless list of items and abilities, though there are many. Its a hole, behind a poster, that many of us can't get enough of. Thanks for the great video; my favorite of the three, and the other two were very good. But this one struck me as you having something you really wanted to say.
I would recommend Lost Room mini series, Control is basically a game version of it more so than of SCP Foundation.
Chloe Pechlaner
Ah yes a fellow intellectual.
@LAR Games the creators have mentioned it by name, and its referenced pretty explicitly. The upcoming expansion is literally called "Foundation".
I was constantly thinking of the SPC foundation, but I often also thought of how different they are. His review of Control is, in essence, if SCP had a storyline following the actual Agents that run the foundation, and not the creatures themselves. The SCP game is a great example of how focusing on the bizarre objects over the people is great content for a horror game, because they are alive and coming to get you; but Control is a great example of how to tell human stories with a backdrop of supernatural, which is the essence of storytelling.
@@MegaVidFan1 You're missing out on half the wiki if you think thats all the Foundation wiki is. The Tales and the Canons are some of the best stories on the web, and Control's story is compelling in a similar way to The Ouroboros Cycle, which is a series of SCP's and tales that form a complete narrative.
While there are a lot of good youtubers that do game analysis I’ve come to view your videos as a gold standard for level headed and well reasoned analysis. I really appreciate your videos and the time you pour into it. Thank you.
Hear, hear!
Not only that, but legitimately literature level script writing and inexhaustible reference to even the most obscure pieces of media. The other youtuber i find equal in the effort of research and drawing parallel is jacob geller. His videos are different, more in the style of essays taking a specific aspect of a game and try to analyze it from many artistic or cultural viewpoints. I love them both, but honestly Noah's level of writing is just the best i have ever seen on youtube. His quality is on par to something like The Atlantic which i consider gold standard of in depth fact reporting or opinion pieces.
You are a worm through time.
The thunder song distorts you.
Happiness comes.
White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye.
Through a mirror, inverted is made right.
Leave your insides by the door.
Push the fingers through the surface into the wet.
You've always been the new you.
You don't want this to be true.
We stand around you while you dream.
You can almost hear our words but you forget.
This happens more and more now.
You gave us the permission in your regulations.
We wait in the stains.
The word that describes this is redacted.
Repeat the word.
The name of the sound.
It resonates in your house.
After the song, time for applause.
We build you till nothing remains.
The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you.
You are home.
You remind us of home.
You've taken your boss with your boss with you.
All hair must be eaten.
Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away.
After the song, time for applause.
The cliche is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, the fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall!
How do you say "insane"?
Hurts to be happy.
An ear worm is a tune you can't stop humming in a dream: "baby baby baby yeah".
Just plastic.
So, safe and nothing to worry about.
Ha ha, funny.
The last egg breaks now.
The hole in your room is a hole in you.
You came and we let you in through the hole in you.
You have always been here, the only child.
A copy of a copy of a copy.
Orange peel.
The picture is you holding the picture.
When you hear this you will know you're the new you.
You want to listen.
You want to dream.
You want to smile.
You want to hurt.
You don't want to be.
I loved this chant, it added so much to the atmosphere. Even better, I was playing the game in english, but the chant is set to your system's language, in my case not english. It made the chant sound truly alien in relation to everything else
Oh gods! It broke through! Panic stations everyone!
SPOILER!
It turns out that was written by Alan Wake himself, which made it all more amazing.
Noah! I know some devs who made this and just FYI the game has dynamic difficulty: difficulty super smooth because the game will adjust up and down based off how you're doing.
I just finished the game. Props to the devs, I literally had no clue that's what was going on, it's implemented so damn smoothly
My partner played Control last year, and we were both riveted. I wouldnt let him play if I wasnt there, because I wanted to see the story unfold! Immediately after the maze section, we both looked at each other and exclaimed "That was awesome!", right before Jesse said the same thing :)
I'm really happy you found as much to love in Control as I did. I felt like a crazy person for talking this game up as much as I did after I finished it, and this video is really validating.
It's really odd that Control seemed so slept on, I did see it got very prompt and widespread comments on reviews saying "this score is invalid, it runs badly so it's a bad game" though
If you loved CONTROL you might really enjoy ECHO (Which is similarly mysterious and unique, and sadly truly went under the radar)
I've never played anything else quite like it.......While It's definitely best to go in blind with ECHO, I found a gameplay vid that shows how it opens.... 👍
ua-cam.com/video/DL5bUz5GSfs/v-deo.html
Control seems to know very well what a story is, that it teaches people patterns of behaviour and existence. And it does so very well, with a lot of moments for the player to "look into a campfire" and be mesmerized by the flames. The game almost seems to give a scientific description, to find order in the chaos everyone always lives with. Rather than how horror tells stories, where the unknown is something to be afraid of - a fair assesment which will help some people - society at large and their adoption of scientific knowledge really makes Control's story drive home a point that the unknown is something to be explored.
Outside of an all-encompassing story such as one provided by religion, or cults, or scientology or anything else, there really is no always-applicable, healthy story which is interesting to tell and exciting to listen to; no morality to stand by. Perhaps Control, or at least Noah's description of what the story is along with the visuals, show us a way into the future of story telling where everything that is narratively and experientially possible to convey in a medium is used to its fullest effect. A book cannot keep a reader's waning attention, a reader will inevitably lose thought and have to re-read a page at times; yet, the mesmerizing visuals of Control allow it to even capture those moments of listening to- or experiencing its story.
Coming back years later to say that I hope he does alan wake 2.
No review or discussion of Control I have yet seen framed it quite like this, or examined it through the lenses that this video brings up. That kind of insightful commentary that can swing my point of view on a game around to a new angle is what makes me excited for every new upload. As always, I'm looking forward to the next batch, but for now I'll be quite happy re-listening to these most recent three.
These weeks, when Noah posts many videos in short succession, are the weeks I enjoy the most.
Damn Noah is REALLY spoiling us this week😍
I almost feel dirty about how excited and happy i get seeing each upload. I literally feel like a spoiled sugarbaby.
If you’re having trouble with one or more bosses, try not aiming while shooting. With that I mean just using the reticle, not zooming in. This helped me so much after dozens of failed attempts. It makes switching between shooting and throwing quicker, does not reduce damage, and keeps your field of view clear. Try it, seriously.
Otherwise: Stay levitated as much as possible. And keep switching between shooting, throwing and dodging.
^ This tho. I died multiple times against the former because I was too focused on the eye and not the floor that falls.
WHAT IS HAPPENING????? WHY IS HE RELEASING SO MANY VIDEOS?????
He probably wrote a bunch back to back
He does that sometimes. Not complaining though.
Armed Wombat not at all!
He is ascending.
He is preparing for Doomsday
Man, this was such a good review, and also felt so good after so many years of ignoring and then playing Alan Wake 1, American Nightmare and Control just before Alan Wake 2.
it's so gratifying.
Control was my 2019 Game of the Year. It had so much & I loved it all, every image & every sound!! Gods this game is fantastic. I can't wait until they wrap up/ delve into Alan Wake in the "AWE" DLC.
Disco Elysium took it for me, but Control was up there. Amazing game.
For AAA, Control was number 1. Pathologic 2 is way too amazing to not be my game of the year for 2019 though, even if I enjoyed Disco Elysium a lot.
I think we can all agree that there were a lot of stand out games in 2019. I stick with DE, but that's not to take away from Control or the Outer Wilds and on and on
Derlaid yes, I concur. I have to say though that other than Control, Sekiro & Metro: Exodus would make my top 3 but there was SO MANY amazing titles that were released in 2019: great year for gaming.
@@UponDemise666 Haha yeah. Until 2019 I think my favourite year of games released was 1999 oddly enough. Starcraft, Freespace 2, so many classics now.
I was convinced to play this by someone calling it the best Jedi game they've ever played. Yep, you do feel like a Lightsaber-less Jedi in this game
It's matched with a Warehouse 13 objects (except the OOPs are created by events not people) and Twin Peaks-esque characters.
You feel you need to switch between your sidearm and powers and are always pushed to success
Also, that dance is just... beautiful
I can't believe Noah read out all those names in different locales three times for each video. Absolutely incredible honestly. The videos themselves sure as others pointed out, but also standing there and reading from that book when he could have probably just used the same cut for each video? Amazing.
“I’m slow, I’m clumsy, I never remember to block” this is why I will always watch your videos, we are the same you and I 😂
A third video AND about Control? This is amazing!
I also remember another Control (and Anatomy) video by Jacob Geller. It's interesting to see various interpretations. Just sharing this if you ever want to take a look. Yours, obviously, is more to the point, though, thankfully.
I went through your retrospectives on max payne and alan wake and ended here with control. It's interesting to contrast Jesse with Alan and Max. They're archetypes tragically trapped within their stories and stripped of agency while Jesse is actively searching for her narrative, was miserable outside of it, and is able to take control of her life when she accepts her role as The Director.
It feels meaningful to me that the remedy protagonist with the most agency is the first female one, like it's kind of an apology for all the dead wives.
After playing all of Max Payne, Alan Wake 1, and almost through Control... I never would have thought gender had anything related to the games.
I was waiting for this video, thank you! Glad to see the comparison with Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves - one of my favourite books. I knew there was some parallels and that's why I loved Control so much. It's also one of the few games where you WANT to read all the documents and snippets of text you find. The lore is so rewarding.
I'm curious what you have to say about Disco Elysium
Once again you've taken a game that I had no really desire to explore, and make it very appealing to me. Thanks Noah.
Also I have to admire your dedicated to reading our every $10+ Patreon donor every video. You say "some of the people", but my name has been read in every video since I started donating so I'm guessing that it's all of them.
secretly my favorite part of every video is when he says "Icannotfly".
Same!
God-damn you just sneak them in back to back like that. Lol
Oh man, another reminder to finally finish my copy of House of Leaves
That makes two of us. It's interesting but reading it feels like unraveling a massive ball of twine in that it can be exhausting after a while.
I'm not sure anyone ever really finishes House of Leaves, more like you eventually hit a point where you feel like you've read as much as you can and had to finally put it back on the shelf. You can _be_ finished with it, but you can't actually _finish_ it.
6:29 I always appreciated the symbolism of the objects. That floppy disk used to contain nuclear launch codes--which is why it gives telekinesis
Also the reason the power is called "Launch"
Thanks Noah, this was a pleasure to watch. I know some people have criticised you for covering a game on the Epic Store - don’t listen to them. That’s exactly like criticising someone for covering a game on the Xbox when they only have a PS4, or vice versa. If they don’t want to use the Epic Store, that’s on them, not on you. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Really? That's demented. Some people completely lose themselves in brand loyalty.
I see what you did at the very end there Noah you hiss possessed content creator! Over the past year you've become my favourite game reviewer, I used to swear by Matosis and found Joseph Anderson's videos extremely entertaining -- but your content trumps them all and I'm incredibly grateful for these 3 new videos. You're a treasure Noah!
@baileysmithful agreed. Noah is what Anderson pretend to be, and without the snotty, mean-spirited streak that Anderson has.
Is somehow curious about the game....then Noah Caldwell-Gervais decide to review it
Sometime the world is good to me
Impressed, a 40 minute video about control and not one SCP mention at all lol
*THREE* videos at once? My god, what's going on Noah?! Should we be concerned?!?!
"How to convince someone to buy a game in just 30 minutes: the movie"
I would have bought this game a while ago were it not for that piece of shit Epic exclusivity deal. >_>
Oh well. At least it's coming to Steam soon.
@@arnox4554 oh shit - is it?
Well then... i guess i have another argument for upgrading my rig then.
I finally have a PC that can play Control in great quality now, and immediately bought the game thanks to Noah. It's really cool. Great atmosphere.
I love the way you eloquently explain your thoughts and opinions on games and life. Stay healthy Noah!
and that's the batch completed
thanks noah see you next year
Be honest, are you posting these for the people who are stuck at home? It's exactly that sort of awesome gesture I'd expect from someone as thoughtful as you.
Inland Empire: Political turmoil, pandemics, three videos in one week. This is the end of the world, Harry.
Encyclopedia: Pandemic. He's talking about Covid-19.
Logic: Or, Noah's been working feverishly for the past months. Relax.
Authority: As he fucking should.
Empathy: Noah's not beholden to you. You're not even a patron.
Drama: I sure am.
Composure: *Poker Face*
Shivers: Somewhere in an old VW someone is editing a 3-hour video about Disco Elysium. A dog barks in the background.
Physical Instrument: If this turns out to be true I'm going to lick every door knob I see. I don't give a fuck.
Electrochemistry: Yeeee haaaw!
Volition: Please don't.
Suggestion: Noah's gonna read this and do it. He's a cool dude. He loves us.
I would kill for a video on Disco Elysium
Such a simple gimmick built into such an amazing narrative and tonal device. I'm almost certain that Noah would love Disco Elysium for that patently weird approach to inner dialogue and flavor text, as I did. I really hope that more games are built off that foundation.
Your wish has been granted!
I love how he recites the names of his supporters at the end. Such a class act.
In these last couple donation reads with you and a book it always seemed like some kind of arcane summoning of a communal will to act. I feel rather actualized now.
3 videos in what two days? Bless you Noah
18 minutes in, I must say that your glowing praise of the ideas and gameplay, as a massive fan of the Max Payne games, has sold me on Control. I'll have to come back when I've beaten it.
Damn duuuude, I JUST beat this game today! Perfect timing
This isn't about Control per se, but having just got out of surgery for an injury and being holed up at home in a COVID19-affected area, I wanted to say that your recent output has been a godsend to fight the old painkillers and social isolation blues. Thanks, man.
"Take Control" is by Old Gods of Asgard, though Poets of the Fall still manage to get some music in. Otherwise, amazing as always
Poets of the Fall did Take Control as Old Gods of Asgard
Old Gods of Asgard is the in universe name for Poets of The Fall.
@@saeednoor3828 I stand corrected.
@@saeednoor3828 This also ties nicely into the Poets of the Fall song they're studying in one of the labs in the Bureau. After all, it's not from their universe, but from ours.
Double comment: I *GREATLY* enjoyed this video you've made on Control. It definitely felt like someone was able to articulate all of the things that I was overjoyed about while playing Control, and I really appreciated the time and effort you put into it.
3 uploads back to back? You spoil us
Those particle swarms flying off of things on impacts and explosions are real satisfying to look at
And now that I've played (most) of the game, I knew watching all the way through to the end (even the credits) would be worth it. Nicely done, Noah.
Fun fact, those floppys still used as save icons in writing programs? They're called skeuomorphs, in essence a visual/physical simile. Maybe not so fun for you but I thought it was a riot.
Nice. That's a good word.
A better way of putting that would be a visual of an old form, used in modern form. Such as a digital mp3 player, placed inside a box resembling a jukebox, with the buttons controlling digital music functions, much like they would have controlled analog functions in the old day.
Thank you Noah for these three short vids this week. I imagine you wanted to say a few things about these games but couldn't pump them up to over an hour each. I appreciate the quality you put into each. Can't wait to see what you tackle next. Might I suggest Kentucky Route Zero?
3 videos from you in the span of less than a month apart. Stop man your scarring me with this consistent quality content.
Thanks for covering this game, pretty much my favourite game from last year. I'm honestly more excited for this year's two DLC expansions than many full games coming out, hopefully once it is out on Steam (and perhaps a PS5/XSX patch later on) more people can experience it for themselves
I finally finished my playthrough so I can finally watch this video. Your takes on games always bring wonderful perspectives and I was very happy to play this before watching because Control was one of my favorite experiences in recent memory. Not a perfect game and I did have a few spots where I just wanted to grind through battles to get to the good stuff, but enjoyed my time immensely. I look forward to your thoughts!
I've just completed the game but still have some stuff to clear up in The House.. Thankfully. I didn't want it to end. Feel like I've been here forever and will forever be here in some small way. Not quite sure what it is but it's been a really affecting game, like you said yourself - lingering long after playing.
Your videos have always been quite something, but man, you've really nailed it here. If I was half as articulate as you, this is how I would have liked to explain the game to someone.
Amazing and unique game, one that really took me by surprise.
I absolutely love your in-depth insights into games like this. They're a joy to listen to and time flies whenever I do so. References to literature and various TV shows and games make your commentaries really fascinating.
I was literally about to ask about this game after watching your alan wake video this morning
Remedy has always been great at musical combat moments in their games. Defending the stage in Alan Wake was amazing just as the Take Control segment was.
Noah, I have a lot of admiration and respect for you.
You do a tremendous work and i have to say that you have serious writing and narration skills. Beautiful mind. Cheers from Portugal !!!
Another well written and recorded video, many thanks.
Had this linked to someone in a reddit thread who was hating on the game to help them see the light.
I personally loved the game, but couldn’t explain why. And this video so perfectly encapsulated it. I also really appreciated the sub-analysis of winning/losing in games and your approach - it really resonated with me!
I think I speak for all of humanity when I say it has been a blessed few days with 3 Noah videos.
Noah, don’t know how you are managing it; but you are abso-fucking-lutely killing it. Can’t wait ‘till I have my own card to contribute to your patreon. Your videos make me happy.
Man your channel is wildy underrated! What a great game review about my favourite game of the decade! I really hope Remedy shows us more of the Control/Alan Wake Universe!
Those review videos are a pleasant surprise. Like suddenly having my favourite tv series dropped on netflix with plenty of new episodes.
I chuckled when he called Kafka "that guy"
You really are a fantastic writer.
This is quickly becoming my favourite videogame critique channel.
I very much look forward to your content. This time, however, I cant two of the three uploads because I cant expose myself to spoilers for The Outer Worlds or Control. Massive bummer.
It took me such a long time to realize the floppy itself is not really relevant in that particular object of power but what it contains: nuke Launch codes, and the power it gives is called Launch
This is really really well done. Thanks for putting this together, I loved it
love the ending in the credits HAPPINESS COMES!
I don't know why your uploading in such rapid succession and I don't care. I'm just happy to see you talking about another one of my favorite games of last year.
What is with this wonderful influx of content? Thank you Noah, my work shifts are greatly improved by listening to your videos!
I was thinking to myself, how the hell did I missed this, when did Noah make a Control video?! Then I saw when the video was posted. What a time to be in quarantine.
1st day of self-quarantine. Thank you, Noah!
Also: RIP Tyler Blevins. Noah Caldwell-Gervais remains the undefeated master of speaking nicely while still wrecking someone's shit down to a molecular level.
You have revealed so many good games to me that I had ignored or not heard of. I thank you for that. Just picked up Control and I love it.
The first DLC is coming on the 26th on PS4 and EGS.
Noah thank you so much for all these wonderful videos you've been uploading. Can't wait to see more!
I will watch this in it's entirety, first thing tomorrow morning. Definitely in my top 3 games of last year.
Finally finished the game so now I can dive into this video. Had it on my list for ages! Awesome work Noah!
How about a look at Knights Of The Old Republic? Love your videos Noah!
Wonderful as always Noah. Took me a while to get around to watching this one since I didn't want the experience spoiled for myself. I thoroughly connected to the dreamscape in this game. I show the messiness I try to battle in mind in a visually pleasing way.
If the boss fight that locked you down is the one im thinking of heres a little trick I discovered.
The enemies in this game actually do have a vision cone that determines how they react to threats. Why is this important? The flying bastards with the shields thats why.
These dicks will dodge almost any projectile coming at them, making them the biggest pain to deal with when a shielded targets main weakness is a telekinetically thrown projectile, so when the game gave me a weapon form in the manner of a shield busting grenade launcher I immediately tested firing a round behind my target, grabbing it mid flight, and slamming it into their back.
Makes those flying shield guys almost tolerable.
Thank you for all this content to help me pass the quarantine!
Love hearing you talk about disliking hard/overly technical aspects of games. I also hate hard games and I like seeing other gamers admit to that too. Absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting to re-do a fight dozens of times until you get past it. I just play games to relax...
Dude has the best narrator voice. Right up there with the narrator for G.V.M.E.R.S
Omg you pronounced it perfectly! ❤ Wonderful video, totally missed this game
Love your long videos. I have not played this game - but from your narration and the games focus on dreams and cosmic unknown, it certainly looks very interesting.
This channel has some of the most charismatic level design on youtube.
God Damn it man. I have essays to write why do you make me stay up another 45 minutes with your amazing content?
2x playback speed, bud. It works on all the devices I've tried it on. Doesn't detract from ad revenue for the content creator either, as far as I'm aware. If, as you're suggesting, you are paying attention to the speaker it's not too difficult to follow along. It takes practice, to be sure, but with people like Noah who enunciate clearly and have a good story to tell as well as a way with words to get you there it's really an enjoyable challenge, if at all.
@@LayneLovesThings I think you may have misinterpreted my comment as something more than a joke.
Three Noah vidoes in a row? It is officially UA-cam Christmas!
stumbled across this review of this game I love and im glad I did. Enjoyable listen and wonderfully worded. ill be happy to watch more. Hope you are ready for the coming dlc!
Goddammit, Noah! I appreciate all the uploads, and we ALL have COVID amounts of time off work to watch them, but I can't fucking keep up! Don't stap! :D
Hey Noah, if you feel like "bureaucracy tackling the paranormal" is your jam I would highly recommend the "Monday Begins on Saturday" novel by the Strugatsky Brothers - pretty much exactly that, except in a communist setting (thus much slap-dash haphazardy ensues).
I really like the themes in stuff like this, SCP, Delta Green, or the Laundry Files (though I haven't actually read the latter yet), the combination of the supernatural, often Lovecraftian otherworld and intense and mundane bureaucracy. It fits the theme of feeling lost in something greater than you that you can't really get a good handle on, both in the supernatural and in the man-made, and I think it reflects how the "modernist" ideas of organization, structure, and scientific experimentation kinda feed into a sense of alienation as much as the cosmic horror ideas do. We don't treat the supernatural as wonders, and we don't deal with them very personally, we study, we catalog, we experiment, we write it all down in technical manuals and pass it on to the new hires. We assign everyone tasks and emesh them in hierarchies with supervisors in departments, we give them a budget and accountants, we lock it all in an iron cage and demystify it with experiment, we analyze it with statistical tables. It builds an interesting contrast, feels more relevant to modern anxieties about the world, and contrasts nicely with the source of these ideas of magic and power and horror, and the mix of things being so recognizable and feeling so specific and real to us makes it easy to make the player/reader/whatever feel everything is subtly wrong.
With stuff like Threshold Kids and some of the great environments in the video, plus all the interesting sounding side-quests, this seems like something I should definitely play some time.
Damn Noah, you're knocking these out rapid fire! Cheers!
So glad to hear this opinion validated--I keep trying to relate over how actually great this game is, and I keep getting lukewarm responses from other players such as, "Yeah, it was a standard Remedy shooter." I didn't try it til fairly recently myself, since that meh-level of enthusiasm seemed to be about status quo amongst those who'd already played it, so I also slept on it, and only finally snagged it when I had a specific hankering for a high-budget, non-open world action game, and thought to myself, "Oh yeah, there was that SCPish/X-Files thing awhile back," and only by collusion of a narrow ass hankering and my preexisting interests in particular did I even end up trying what's turned out to be my favorite action game, open world or not, in fucking years.
I also see a lot of people writing off the writing, as if it can be safely taken for granted that it's all standard schlocky B-fare. But I really do propose that it's got more going than schlock--its allusions to Jung are well researched, and are maybe more interesting, and less schlocky, if you're well researched in Jung yourself. There's also an attempt to recreate what I think is purely the best parts of the SCP universe and ethos, while discarding all the parts which are hammy, self-parodical, or otherwise ill-fitted and jarring--all the inevitably rougher edges of a true communal effort. It's the best-possible-SCP so far as I'm concerned, and it makes a solid effort to imply a sort of underlying quantum set of mechanisms for all the phenomena you encounter, no matter how apparently disparate and outlandish they all seem at first. They all do operate on a basic understructure, which the writing really didn't have to bother with, especially if most folks were just going to read it as schlock regardless. I've said about this game before, I'd almost enjoy it just as much if it were a point and click adventure game, or even text-based, just because piecing together the various data points into an increasingly cohesive, yet alien, understanding of the gameworld is so much of the primary fun... but then, it really does have some above-standard action, and in that way, yeah, it is a standard Remedy shooter. Plus, if it was a text thing you wouldn't get the Dr. Darling videos.
I think too many people slept on this game, is what I'm saying, and not just because they had middling computers. I'm frankly surprised, since apparently all of a sudden the whole world loves Twin Peaks (though I confess, I've long thought that a fad).
Anyway, always love the videos, but in this case only moreso because, like I say, I feel validated haha.
I liked your discussion on the combat and difficulty, I think Remedy honed a lot of this from Quantum Break which had similar “fairness” except when it came to boss fights.
I feel very compelled to try it out. Thank you for always making these games always seem larger than they first might seem at first look