Control is off on new adventures through a cursed jukebox in the Expeditions update
The free update is live now
Remedy's spooky-ooky sci-fi shooter Control last night added the promised Expeditions mode, launched in the middle of The Game Awards, sending Jesse to fight through challenging combat arenas. That's the kind of trouble you'll get into when you go touching a cursed magical jukebox. If you want more spooky places to explore, a new way to get loot, and a whole lot of new violence, this is for you. If you want more story, you'll need to wait for the paid story expansions to start rolling. Remedy also announced that the first of those is coming on March 26th.
Expeditions are 25-minute timed challenges to clear four sections of spooky Black Rock space, completing objectives like finding items and capturing points. Three difficulty tiers are in, each throwing in random modifiers that affect the action - some helpful, some harmful.
You need to feed that cursed jukebox tokens to play, which can be crafted, earned by completing Bureau Alerts or Board Countermeasures, and received as rewards from Expeditions. Higher tiers cost more - and if you fail the Expedition, the jukebox keeps your cash.
"We've designed this to be the most challenging content in the game, so make sure your abilities are upgraded and that you've brought the best mods and the strongest Service Weapon forms with you," Remedy say.
See Remedy's Expeditions launch announcement and FAQ for more on this. See the Update 1.0.6 patch notes for details on a few fixes in the update too.
I'm into Control more for the supernatural spectacle and the cheery chatter than the combat. It's fun when Jesse is flying around casually squishing mooks with desks, but bosses in particular can be a tedious slog - or randomly a complete walkover. I'll wait for the new story adventures coming in paid DLC.
The first expansion is The Foundation, due March 26th. Remedy previously said it "will take Jesse into a new area of the Oldest House, the Investigations Sector, where the Bureau closely examines Altered World Events." The second expansion, AWE, looks like it may have more Alan Wake, Remedy's spooky novelist who makes a few appearances in Control.
Check out the night's other announcements and trailers on our Game Awards tag.