The gameplay in Remedy’s Control revolves around the unique abilities of the main character. Players take control of Jesse Faden, the head of the Federal Bureau of Control as she fights to suppress the invasive Hiss.
Jesse has a host of supernatural abilities at her disposal, earned through binding various Objects of Power in the game. The player has the chance to unlock all six throughout the game. However, only two come in the game’s story. The rest come from side missions.
Looking at both the game’s already flourishing Wiki page and Gamers Heroes’ guide on the matter, there’s a lot of info about what Objects of Power, what side missions, and descriptions about the abilities.
Abilities
Jesse’s abilities are almost all telekinetic. As part of the game, Jesse earns the first Object of Power, the Service Weapon, in the beginning. This ability promotes her to the director of the Federal Bureau of Control and forces her to deal with the hostile, invasive Hiss. From there, she earns more skills through other objects of power in the game.
Launch is the first ability given to Jesse in the game. It is a telekinetic ability where Jesse levitates an object in front of her to throw it at a target.
As the name suggests, Jesse uses Shield to pull objects from the environment to create a barrier in front of herself, absorbing incoming damage. Shield comes through a side mission called A Good Defense in the third mission in the game. The Object of Power to look for is called Home Safe.
Evade allows Jesse to increase her movement speed for a short time so she can dodge oncoming attacks or get close to enemies. Evade can be found in the third mission, in the side mission A Merry Chase. The Object of Power associated with Evade is the Merry Go Round Horse.
This ability is a combined skill that gets unlocked on its own but can be combined with Levitate to create a secondary effect. Jesse already has the Melee skill as she already gets the Object of Power required, the Service Weapon, early in the game. However, once Levitate unlocks, the Melee ability can get improved to Smash. This ability uses a telekinetic power to bolster the damage and effect.
Depending on your source, the name of this ability might differ. However, it does the same thing. Seize, or Compel, takes control of weaker enemies, forcing them to fight temporarily for her against other enemies. Depending on the enemy under Jesse’s control, it may also give other boosts to Jesse. The example given in the description is if the controlled enemy can heal others, it heals Jesse while under Seize. This ability is in the Captive Audience side quest in the fourth mission. The Object of Power associated with it is an x-ray lightbox.
The final ability is Levitate, obtained in the sixth mission, and comes from natural progression. There’s no Object of Power associated with this one. Levitate allows Jesse to use telekinesis to lift herself into the air and drift over large areas. It is a required ability for navigation later in the story.
These are all of the abilities at Jesse’s disposal in Control. All but two are unlocked in side quests, forcing the player to search for them and complete additional missions if they wish to get all of them. Arguably, it is worth it as it makes the game more enjoyable and improves the gameplay with all of the skills at hand.
