Control Physics Engine From Remedy Wrapped in Mystery

Remedy Entertainment, the creators of titles like Max Payne, Alan Wake, and Quantum Break, are now focusing on polishing their latest project, Control (first uncovered during E3 2018). As the development keeps progressing, it’s becoming more and more apparent that manipulating objects or indeed anything physics-based is going to be an important segment of the gameplay. Recently, game director Mikael ‘Mixu’ Kasurinen talked more about what kind of tech the devs are using to push these physics to the limits and beyond.

“We have an awesome physics engine, that’s what I can tell you. We’re using middleware, but I’m not sure it’s information we can release yet,” said Kasurinen.

He added, “I feel like there’s an opportunity with physics-based gameplay that I think some games have attempted in the past—great games like Psi-Ops and Second Sight, which we really like—but it was also limited in a way. I’m not saying Psi-Ops is a bad game, but they took an approach where you felt the limitations of the physics. We didn’t want to have it like, ‘Here’s this table you can pick up, but you can’t pick up the chair.’ We wanted to have it so if it looks like you can pick it up, you can. If it looks like you can destroy it, you can.”

Recently, we’ve also seen how players will be able to employ body throwing mechanics in Control. It goes beyond that even. Kasurinen explained that players can also throw huge objects. The main character, Jesse, threw a forklift in a demo that was showcased during gamescom 2018. Even that won’t be the end of it. They have promised that the heroine will be able to manipulate objects even larger than forklifts. At any rate, no matter what you throw, the environment will react accordingly to your actions, which, of course is where the new physics tech comes in.

We’ve seen quite a lot of Control at this point, and we are pretty impressed with what the devs have in store. During this particular project, the devs have also emphasized the importance of pushing the envelope when it comes to narrative design.