Control surprised the gaming world when it released last year, offering exciting combat and incredibly fleshed out lore to keep players engaged in the story. It was also full of secrets, including one that Control players worked to solve for an entire year before finally getting their reward.
Control’s new AWE expansion, which focuses completely on further integrating Alan Wake into the Control narrative, has finally allowed players to solve the mystery of the Ashtray Maze. The Ashtray Maze was without a doubt Control’s best sequence, playing a memorable song in the background while players progress through increasingly trippy enemy encounters.
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The song, “Take Control,” contained a secret message that players quickly took note of. The song’s lyrics talk of a duo in a “drunken, fevered state” before outright describing where players would go in the eventual easter egg quest. While it could not be started right away, the hunt for answers was finally able to begin with the release of the AWE expansion. With the lyrics ready, players had all they needed to find the mysterious “polar star” and “Red Room” mentioned in the song, a task that would surely prove easier than understating Control’s complex story.
When chasing the AWE DLC’s main antagonist, another character from Alan Wake, Jesse can shoot a hole in a wall and fly up into a room to find a radio playing Take Control. Yet another wall is destroyed, and a diamond-shaped pathway like the one mentioned in the song takes players to a clock. From here, they need to input a code from Take Control into the clock, with the numbered sequence being what originally tipped off fans regarding the song being something more.
The clock solution leads to the polar star and then the Red Room, where a cord is pulled to take Jesse from the Oldest House to the Oceanview Hotel. In the same area where players came numerous times in the main story and expansions, easter egg hunters finally get their answers as to what the hunt was all about. Ultimately, the quest leads to answers regarding the Alan Wake band “The Old Gods of Asgard” (who also sang “Take Control”) and where they ended up after the original Alan Wake game. Wake himself shares that the two singers found themselves in Valhalla, a cleverly named retirement home. With the two games now connected, and another Remedy game in the same universe coming soon, it is clear that the studio is building a massive shared universe for players to explore.
While this small piece of lore on its own would be a bit lackluster for a year-long hunt, players who solved the puzzle will also receive one of Control’s best personal mods to help in their future encounters. The mod, titled aerobics, allows health regeneration on every use of the evade ability. The mod marks the end of a fun and unique puzzle, one that helps prove why Control is such a special and underrated game.
Control is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions are also coming.
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