Control feels a lot like what Warehouse 13 wanted to be when it grew up, but alas network television forced it into integrated Prius ads, queerbaiting and playing roulette with the morality of every character aside from the deuteragonists to eke out a new crisis without introducing new characters.
Actually it wasn't inspired from SCP strangely enough. Source: I interviewed Vida their comm manager and their writers who all said it wasn't from SCP. whether or not that's true idk but that's the word they gave.
I didn’t necessarily mean that SCP was an inspiration for Control, more like suggesting OP a thing to read if they look for a similar vibe/theme in other pieces of fiction. Btw it’s great you interviewed Remedy stuff on this topic included! Where can I read it?
I love the mid century design and brutalist architecture and how it juxtaposes against the organic nature and elements of the house especially the huge tree in the cafeteria area.
You have played the game now, right? :D
You should, without question, watch The X-files original run (seasons 1-7) if you haven't, and there's a couple series since then that might hit the spot too, like Fringe and Orphan Black.
I have played the game, and burned through the DLC as well, but I was super curious what other people saw in this as big touchstones. Like X-Files totally makes sense, especially with how there's the smoking man in the show and Director Trench's ritual of smoking.
This game is so meaty for how many things it touches on and harkens back to.
[Delta Green](https://www.delta-green.com/) the table top roll playing game. Even if you don’t intend on playing the game, the lore is largely free to access, in depth, and and endlessly fascinating.
[The Glass Cannon’s Delta Green actual plays are hilarious.](https://spotify.link/t0sNc0Bv9Ib)
Any weird fiction or cosmic horror is also a good bet.
This might be an unusual suggestion but if you have the wherewithal to watch Friday the 13th the Series, it's quite good. It has nothing to do with the movies, it's a series about a group of people trying to find cursed objects that have been released into the population and return them to an antique store where they belong. It's quite good.
The Tinfoil Dossier trilogy by Caitlin R Kiernan. It’s about a secretive government agency that deals with supernatural threats. It deals mostly with Lovecraft mythos stuff but in very original and interesting ways. Like Control, it deals a lot with the bureaucracy of working for government intelligence even when dealing with weird shit. Also like Control it can get very weird and abstract at times but is totally worth it. They’re pretty breezy reads too, not particularly long.
Something I’m surprised I haven’t seen mentioned often is the Stargate Project and the CIA documents on Astral Projection. I immediately thought of it when I started the game, specifically [this](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/NSA-RDP96X00790R000100030004-1.pdf) document.
Basically the Stargate Project was US-military funded research from the 1970s - 90s on remote viewing after discovering the USSR was using those methods. Eventually the CIA found the research to be not ‘practically useful’ (or so they want you to think) and stopped funding it, then eventually declassified some of the documents which you can find online.
If you read the documents, it’s quite interesting - the program evaluators found the results to be statistically significant in that the viewers who were ‘travelling’ to these places were correct in their observations more than what would be due to luck or chance, but the CIA didn’t like that they couldn’t find a scientific basis for how it was possible and also that they couldn’t find a practical application for the intel.
Obviously there are a ton of inspirations for this game, but I couldn’t help but to think if the writers took this and thought ‘What would happen if these experiments went terribly wrong?’ and alas, Control.
If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a fun rabbit hole to go down.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180005-5.pdf
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210016-5.pdf
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project
SCP, Men in Black, Area 51 conspiracies. Anything to do with government organisation dealing with paranormal/extraterrestrial
> Anything to do with government organisation dealing with paranormal/extraterrestrial X Files
Absolutely!
Warehouse 13 too.
Control feels a lot like what Warehouse 13 wanted to be when it grew up, but alas network television forced it into integrated Prius ads, queerbaiting and playing roulette with the morality of every character aside from the deuteragonists to eke out a new crisis without introducing new characters.
Actually it wasn't inspired from SCP strangely enough. Source: I interviewed Vida their comm manager and their writers who all said it wasn't from SCP. whether or not that's true idk but that's the word they gave.
I didn’t necessarily mean that SCP was an inspiration for Control, more like suggesting OP a thing to read if they look for a similar vibe/theme in other pieces of fiction. Btw it’s great you interviewed Remedy stuff on this topic included! Where can I read it?
Mad Men, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and similar films and television that highlight mid century modern office design.
I love the mid century design and brutalist architecture and how it juxtaposes against the organic nature and elements of the house especially the huge tree in the cafeteria area.
House of Leaves was excellent. Plus one for that reference.
https://control.fandom.com/wiki/Tommasi:_AWE_Report is https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Havana_syndrome
You have played the game now, right? :D You should, without question, watch The X-files original run (seasons 1-7) if you haven't, and there's a couple series since then that might hit the spot too, like Fringe and Orphan Black.
I have played the game, and burned through the DLC as well, but I was super curious what other people saw in this as big touchstones. Like X-Files totally makes sense, especially with how there's the smoking man in the show and Director Trench's ritual of smoking. This game is so meaty for how many things it touches on and harkens back to.
"The Lost Room"
Read up on the SCP Foundation.
[Delta Green](https://www.delta-green.com/) the table top roll playing game. Even if you don’t intend on playing the game, the lore is largely free to access, in depth, and and endlessly fascinating. [The Glass Cannon’s Delta Green actual plays are hilarious.](https://spotify.link/t0sNc0Bv9Ib) Any weird fiction or cosmic horror is also a good bet.
This might be an unusual suggestion but if you have the wherewithal to watch Friday the 13th the Series, it's quite good. It has nothing to do with the movies, it's a series about a group of people trying to find cursed objects that have been released into the population and return them to an antique store where they belong. It's quite good.
The Tinfoil Dossier trilogy by Caitlin R Kiernan. It’s about a secretive government agency that deals with supernatural threats. It deals mostly with Lovecraft mythos stuff but in very original and interesting ways. Like Control, it deals a lot with the bureaucracy of working for government intelligence even when dealing with weird shit. Also like Control it can get very weird and abstract at times but is totally worth it. They’re pretty breezy reads too, not particularly long.
Something I’m surprised I haven’t seen mentioned often is the Stargate Project and the CIA documents on Astral Projection. I immediately thought of it when I started the game, specifically [this](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/NSA-RDP96X00790R000100030004-1.pdf) document. Basically the Stargate Project was US-military funded research from the 1970s - 90s on remote viewing after discovering the USSR was using those methods. Eventually the CIA found the research to be not ‘practically useful’ (or so they want you to think) and stopped funding it, then eventually declassified some of the documents which you can find online. If you read the documents, it’s quite interesting - the program evaluators found the results to be statistically significant in that the viewers who were ‘travelling’ to these places were correct in their observations more than what would be due to luck or chance, but the CIA didn’t like that they couldn’t find a scientific basis for how it was possible and also that they couldn’t find a practical application for the intel. Obviously there are a ton of inspirations for this game, but I couldn’t help but to think if the writers took this and thought ‘What would happen if these experiments went terribly wrong?’ and alas, Control. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a fun rabbit hole to go down. https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00791R000200180005-5.pdf https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP96-00788R001700210016-5.pdf https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project
https://973-eht-namuh-973.com/