Is Control's difficulty fucked or am I just a really poor player?

[NTGYK]

As I've gotten older, I've got less and less time to put towards gaming, so now I only spend time on games that I'm super excited about from devs I love, and Remedy is on that list. I love their world building, combat, and story telling, and for the most part, Control does this all splendidly to the part where it's in my running for GOTY.

BUT

I fucking hate this game's difficulty spikes. Like, I genuinely am at the point where I'm about ready to give up and just watch the ending on YouTube because this late mission enemy wave bullshit is just pissing me off. I've died 20 fucking times at this Heston Siphon bullshit level, and to be frank, I'm sick of putting in time to something that's just no longer fun. I love the combat, but this same level has grown fucking tedious. There's been a few difficulty spikes here and there that have been aggravating, but this has reached the point that I feel like walking away from it, and it's a shame because I genuinely find the story very engrossing.

Like, why was implementing difficulty levels just not a consideration here? I'm not so proud that if I'm not having fun that I won't lower the difficulty. I've done it in the past for a few games because I'm doing this to have fun, not to be a goddamned masochist. I've been at this level for nearly an hour, just dying and having to redo it again and again from this save point, and really, I'm just sick of it now. I don't know if I missed a mod that would help here or if I should be using a different weapon setup or what but after the high that was the Ashtray Maze, this is the lowest low of this game.

I love Remedy, I love their games, and I wanna support them, and I'll keep supporting them in the future because I love their ambition, but seriously, fuck this shit.

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

The difficult along with the poor optimization makes it brutal at times

 

[Deleted member 46948]

I don't consider myself a super skilled twitch gamer anymore, but I didn't have any real trouble with Control, even oneshot all the optional bosses (including the Former, though that was mostly dumb luck).
I stacked health mods and launch damage mods, a lot of fights can be solved quickly with strong offense and just having a shit ton of hp.

Edit: that being said, I really think almost all games should have difficulty and accessibility options.

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

It took me a while to adjust to it because it's a shooter that relies entirely on utilizing abilities in rhythm rather than the peak-a-boo shooters we've been force fed for 15 years.

You aren't crazy, there are difficulty spikes in the game, especially for the bosses, there's all kind of cheap bullshit in the game, there's a boss that's up in the air, so you obviously have to look up, but then it destroys the ground underneath you and if you fall its a 1 hit ko.

You have to find the abilities and guns you're comfortable with and utilize your mods to enhance those.

 

[unfashionable]

hah yeah only part that seemed unfair

I cheesed it. just hang back and take out difficult enemies one at a time. running back to pick up health where necessary

was time consuming but worked

 

[NTGYK]

It took me a while to adjust to it because it's a shooter that relies entirely on utilizing abilities in rhythm rather than the peak-a-boo shooters we've been force fed for 15 years.

You aren't crazy, there are difficulty spikes in the game, especially for the bosses, there's all kind of cheap bullshit in the game, there's a boss that's up in the air, so you obviously have to look up, but then it destroys the ground underneath you and if you fall its a 1 hit ko.

You have to find the abilities and guns you're comfortable with and utilize your mods to enhance those.

Click to shrink...

I've upgraded Launch to max, Pierce to max, and I use these two in addition to Grip, and that's served me well, and I'm definitely comfortable with the rhythm of these three along with the dash ability and I make liberal use of flight, but I still can't push past this section and I'm just tired of trying now. It definitely leaves me feeling a bit downcast.

 

[Deleted member 46948]

hah yeah only part that seemed unfair

I cheesed it. just hang back and take out difficult enemies one at a time. running back to pick up health where necessary

was time consuming but worked

Click to shrink...

Also, this. Just snipe as many enemies as you can from the previous platforms before you cross over.

 

[Cyanity]

I think you just gotta git gud, OP.

Spoiler

I've only watched others play control and think OP is probably right about the difficulty spikes

 

[Resetta Stone]

Yeah the difficulty is pretty wayward, especially if the framerate tanks. Things are alleviated somewhat by upgrading the throw ability damage and energy/health. Upgrade Grip and the Charge gun if you can.

 

[Deleted member 679]

Are you using a lot of hip fire? It's probably the most generous hip fire I've ever seen in a TPS, easily beating the Uncharted series.

It's why mods that enhance headshot damage are so good, you get them like 80% of the time by hip firing.

I should mention I play it on PC, though. Some framerate issues on console probably make it harder. I don't get why they don't just drop the resolution a lot more for stable performance. My PC usually outperforms the PS4 Pro in multiplatform games, and I play this game at 720p.

 

[ReginaldXIV]

Are you playing on a console?

Never had issues with any particular section of the game, but I also played on PC with extra smooth frame rate and m/kb controls

 

[Deleted member 11976]

The side bosses in the game were my least favourite parts mainly because of the weird difficulty spikes. I left a bunch of them until after the credits and, when I was maxed on most skills, I found them to be much easier. I think my frustrations with the boss fights would've been eased with a modal prompt, upon death, asking if you wanted to try again and immediately reload to the beginning of the fight.

It's still one of my favourite games this year but every time I recommend it to friends I preface it with a warning about saving the side bosses until much later in the game.

 

[GymWolf86]

is not really that difficult and you are kinda of a god by half game.
shitty performance are more annoying than the game itself.

 

[Lakitu]

Im not there yet but I am really hating the constant slowdown when theres so much happening on screen.

 

[pargonta]

I enjoyed the challenge, and would often smirk at the enemy combonations, knowing that someone decided to design it like that in order to be annoying

 

[senj]

If youre talking about what I assume you're talking about (the Hedron chamber), then yeah, that's the single hardest part of the game. The third platform wave destroyed me a couple of dozen times easily because it's a real skill check of your shields (get them up the second one of those enemies spins down and preps to toss at you, and be prepared to dodge and float back out of range ASAP when they collapse )

it also helps if you float out of range, chip down the other enemies health with your gun, and then mind control them.

 

[Jebral]

I loved, and I mean LOVED Control, but I must admit you are correct and at the very end when I was *right there* and it kept throwing waves at me.... I said fuck it and downloaded a trainer.

Also agree about those optional bosses, some places it just goes too far. Why would anyone anywhere think a boss that makes you look up but destroys the floor is a good idea?

 

[ChristianM]

Agree, there is some really awful difficulty spikes towards the end of the game. The most annoying part is that you can play to almost perfection but one small mistake, or frankly even just bad luck, and your dead because of those teleporting enemies that can one shot you. And then you will have to redo multiple waves of enemys. Fuck that. The worst kind of game design.

 

[Deleted member 49319]

Are you using a lot of hip fire? It's probably the most generous hip fire I've ever seen in a TPS, easily beating the Uncharted series.

It's why mods that enhance headshot damage are so good, you get them like 80% of the time by hip firing.

I should mention I play it on PC, though. Some framerate issues on console probably make it harder. I don't get why they don't just drop the resolution a lot more for stable performance. My PC usually outperforms the PS4 Pro in multiplatform games, and I play this game at 720p.

Click to shrink...

Agree with this, the generosity makes aiming down meaningless in most situations. All I need to do is spamming trigger and pay attention to health.

 

[kambaybolongo]

Control is a poorly designed and frustrating game. I stoped playing because of one of the side bosses and haven't looked back.

 

[Kyuuji]

hah yeah only part that seemed unfair
I cheesed it. just hang back and take out difficult enemies one at a time. running back to pick up health where necessary
was time consuming but worked

Click to shrink...

Yep, just take time and be careful. Worth noting you can always drop down to the middle and work back up if there's health there leftover from the starting enemies. I found the game's difficulty to be on-point with the exception of this and the second Tomassi fight where anything other than hiding and cheesing was rough.

 

[Jamrock User]

I got my ass kicked in the early parts. Which kinda forced me to level up health over everything else. Eventually everything stabilized, except for those optional bosses. Fuck em all.

 

[Rumenapp]

That part almost made me quit the game.

I just went and did a bunch of side missions and returned to it a bit later. Still difficult especially the last one when you have a bunch of enemies of all types coming for you.

Spoiler

Former and the last Tomassi fight were tough as hell too

 

[Weebos]

I was surprised they didn't include any difficulty options in this game.

 

[eXistor]

Can't say I agree. I found it to be mostly easy (except the optional post-game

Spoiler

Tomassi MK2 fight

I had to cheese that one. Telekinesis is super-op, I just throw anything and everything and it usually kills enemies in one or two hits. Even bosses generally go down very quickly.

 

[chrominance]

Took a while to realize which section you were talking about. Yeah, that's the worst part of the game, and the biggest issue I found with it is that the checkpoints are absolute garbage there. Fuck up once and you could be redoing half the level.

I eventually cheesed it by sniping, it works to clear out pretty much all the enemies and you can easily mo. If your Pierce is fully upgraded you should be able to get through with a little patience, though it can get pretty nerve-wracking when you're near the end knowing one slight fall will set you back a ton.

In general, part of what made that section hard for me was that the rest of the game, you're encouraged to make use of your mobility and your powers to make things happen, but the Siphon will destroy you if you try to do this because either you fall off a platform or you run out of stamina and suddenly can't throw things or shield or whatever, and then that's it for you. It really seems to want you to play the game differently, and it's not really obvious that this is the case.

 

[NTGYK]

I was surprised they didn't include any difficulty options in this game.

Click to shrink...

I don't know who was responsible for this decision at Remedy, but fuck that guy.

 

[NTGYK]

Took a while to realize which section you were talking about. Yeah, that's the worst part of the game, and the biggest issue I found with it is that the checkpoints are absolute garbage there. Fuck up once and you could be redoing half the level.

I eventually cheesed it by sniping, it works to clear out pretty much all the enemies and you can easily mo. If your Pierce is fully upgraded you should be able to get through with a little patience, though it can get pretty nerve-wracking when you're near the end knowing one slight fall will set you back a ton.

In general, part of what made that section hard for me was that the rest of the game, you're encouraged to make use of your mobility and your powers to make things happen, but the Siphon will destroy you if you try to do this because either you fall off a platform or you run out of stamina and suddenly can't throw things or shield or whatever, and then that's it for you. It really seems to want you to play the game differently, and it's not really obvious that this is the case.

Click to shrink...

Checkpoints in general in this game suck I've found.

 

[chrominance]

Checkpoints in general in this game suck I've found.

Click to shrink...

AMEN.

 

[AgentOtaku]

You aren't crazy OP

It legit has some.... Questionable difficulty spikes that will definitely sour the momentum at times.

 

[Deleted member 679]

I don't know who was responsible for this decision at Remedy, but fuck that guy.

Click to shrink...

The game's director was responsible for that decision, with Sam Lake's approval.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

the game has really rough spikes. it also doesn't always make clear what the best way to win a boss fight is.

Most of the game focuses on shooting, right? Well...the best way to kill bosses is by throwing things at them. Literally chucking debris does orders of magnitude more damage than your most powerful gun variant. Once I realized that, just about everything was trivial (save 2 specific fights).

 

[Certinfy]

Don't really think I had any issue with the difficulty at all. Game was pretty easy throughout with very few sections which were challenging.

 

[Kupo Kupopo]

no, you're not a poor player, op. either that, or i am, too...

i completed & enjoyed control. i also completed & enjoyed prey. but both games, imo, went overboard with combat, & neither game really needed to, as they would've both been just as enjoyable, if not even more enjoyable, without as much of it...

 

[HustleBun]

It's not just you, the game has very sudden difficult spikes- bosses in particular.

Salvador boss fight took me over a month.

He's the boss that you face

Spoiler: ability/story detail

during the My Brother's Keeper mission, right before you reunite with Dylan for the first time and earn the hover ability.

Despite the frame rate dips, stutter and very ugly character facial animations, I was loving Control before I reached that boss fight. I died 20 times before looking it up and learning that most people struggled with this boss. Many claimed to have put the game down permanently which only discouraged me further.

I finally got past it last week and I'm back to enjoying Control despite the issues I mentioned. The world building is incredible and I'm getting to the real meat of Jesse's backstory right now. I can't wait for the Alan Wake tie-in game.

But yeah, you're not crazy and you don't suck. The game has very unfair difficulty spikes.

 

[xtib81]

Didn't notice any particularly difficult part honestly. Upgrade your health and never stop moving

 

[MadeULook]

I found Control to be a mostly easy game. Only times I died is when I was being a little too careless in combat. Except for one part.

Spoiler: Control Spoilers

The part where Jesse tries to save Polaris. That part kicked my ass and took me longer than I care to admit.

I also 100% agree that the checkpoints are awful. Dying was the worst because of how much I had to trek back sometimes. There was a couple times I just said, "Nah, fuck that, I'm done for tonight." lol

 

[imbarkus]

I mean, the part you're stuck on is pretty much the final battle, OP.

I for one appreciated the challenge. Drop a bunch of perks into health and shield, mix up your tactics.

tge only part I felt was unfair was the optional boss who kept punching holes in the floor I would fall through. But, again, respeccing to favor levitation served me way better than just trying to get good.

One of my favorite games this year.

 

[ethranes]

if you're on a PC, use a trainer if you just want to get through it

 

[The Silver]

Haven't gotten to the part you're talking about but the fight with the Former was very annoying. I don't know what asshole designed that fight but screw em, stop blowing up the ground for an instant death when I have to always look up and jump/hover to fight and dodge the boss. Other than that I've been fine.

 

[Basileus777]

The encounter design in the game just gets worse and worse as you progress. I'd go so far as to say that the combat is just outright bad after the first 1/3 of the game.

 

[chrominance]

I found Control to be a mostly easy game. Only times I died is when I was being a little too careless in combat. Except for one part.

Spoiler: Control Spoilers

The part where Jesse tries to save Polaris. That part kicked my ass and took me longer than I care to admit.

I also 100% agree that the checkpoints are awful. Dying was the worst because of how much I had to trek back sometimes. There was a couple times I just said, "Nah, fuck that, I'm done for tonight." lol

Click to shrink...

If I'm not mistaken, the fight in your spoiler is exactly where the OP is stuck, heh.

 

[TRUE ORDER]

I'm no pro or something like that but I didn't find it that difficult tbh, there are some parts though where you have to cover or try to evade more before going all out.

 

[MadeULook]

If I'm not mistaken, the fight in your spoiler is exactly where the OP is stuck, heh.

Click to shrink...

Heh, your right. I only skimmed the OP to be honest. Guess I missed that haha. That'll teach me to read the whole thing next time.

 

[Deleted member 56580]

Control's first boss is the only thing that is annoying to deal with if you go the shooter route

You don't need to shoot your gun to wipe everything in the game, just throw stuff with telekinesis, its utterly broken

 

[MazeHaze]

It's not just you, the game has very sudden difficult spikes- bosses in particular.

Salvador boss fight took me over a month.

He's the boss that you face

Spoiler: ability/story detail

during the My Brother's Keeper mission, right before you reunite with Dylan for the first time and earn the hover ability.

Despite the frame rate dips, stutter and very ugly character facial animations, I was loving Control before I reached that boss fight. I died 20 times before looking it up and learning that most people struggled with this boss. Many claimed to have put the game down permanently which only discouraged me further.

I finally got past it last week and I'm back to enjoying Control despite the issues I mentioned. The world building is incredible and I'm getting to the real meat of Jesse's backstory right now. I can't wait for the Alan Wake tie-in game.

But yeah, you're not crazy and you don't suck. The game has very unfair difficulty spikes.

Click to shrink...

Yep same here. I was stuck on that boss for two weeks, easily tried it 20 times. It wouldn't have been so bad, but you have to run past respawning enemies every single time and they can occasionally hit you with a rocket or shots, at which point you might as well kill yourself and try again cuz theres no health on the way to the boss

This game did not benefit from these darksouls style checkpoints at all and they take the game down a lot for me. Control is a 7/10 game that could have easily been an 8 or 9.

 

[ColonialRaptor]

Is there no adjustable difficulty in control?

 

[Arklite]

After Ashtray Maze, that's pretty late in the game, did you skip a lot of side missions and are under powered? Jesse is seriously buff by games end so it's hard to give advice other than use your mobility as much as possible. The power that posses enemies is also great for taking the heat off of you.

 

[Papercuts]

It's super uneven to me, yeah.

The issue is for the most part with your abilities you almost feel like a god that can't get hit. But when you DO, you actually can't take too much before you actually die. This leads to one small thing spiraling out and leading to your death.

Which is kinda whatever, but the game just doesn't use checkpoints for reasons which can make very frustrating scenarios happen. The endgame sequence almost completely tanked the game for me when I died near the end and had to redo everything.

 

[Zem]

haha I'm playing this now for the first time and I did earlier think "have I put this on the hardest difficulty by mistake?". The game really forces you to use all your different skills and the energy replenishes fast enough that it isn't a pain to do so, I'm actually kind of loving the difficulty in this game.