Remedy Entertainment has quietly revived Control: Ultimate Edition with a substantial free update that brings proper HDR, VRR and 120Hz output, an “Unlock Frame Rate” option, visual-quality improvements for PS5 Pro, and previously locked content (three outfits and a Hideo Kojima–voiced side mission) to current-gen consoles after arriving on PC earlier in 2025 — a patch that both modernizes the 2019 cult classic and raises important questions about how late-era support should be handled.
Control launched in August 2019 to critical acclaim for its paranoid storytelling, inventive telekinetic combat, and cinematic world design. Remedy’s follow-ups and spin-offs (and the studio’s ongoing roadmap toward a full sequel) have kept the franchise in the spotlight, but the original game’s next‑gen potential was only partially realized at release. Remedy issued a major PC patch (version 1.30) in March 2025 that added HDR, improved ray-tracing presets, ultrawide support and the Kojima mission; consoles have now received the same treatment with a console-facing update rolled out in October 2025.
This piece unpacks what the update actually does, how it affects visual fidelity and performance on PlayStation 5 / PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S, what the unlocked content means for players who missed pre-order and deluxe bonuses, and the risks and trade-offs players should understand before flipping settings on.
Why this matters: unlocking exclusive content five years after launch is a player-friendly move that reduces fragmentation of the player base (and is a goodwill gesture for late adopters). It’s also a practical way for Remedy to refresh interest in the title ahead of its sequel.
That said, players should approach the new options with measured expectations: HDR will require calibration, 120Hz isn’t an automatic experience unless your hardware can sustain it, and toggling Pro-specific features like PSSR may trade off frame rate for visual detail. Remedy made sensible choices — especially the decision to let players toggle PSSR — but the studio could have further smoothed the path to 120 FPS by shipping a tested low-fidelity 120 Hz preset.
For anyone who has put Control on the shelf, this update provides a strong reason to return: it’s a rare example of a developer re-investing in a completed game in ways that respect both the art and the player’s hardware. With Control 2 still on the horizon, this refresh does double duty — keeping the original relevant for newcomers while giving veteran players a polished, modern-feeling way to revisit Jesse Faden’s strange, incandescent world.
If you plan to jump back in: check your display settings, update console firmware, toggle the Unlock Frame Rate option in Control’s graphics menu, and spend a few minutes calibrating HDR — the results are worth the effort, but they rely on correct system and display configuration to shine.
Source: Windows Central One of my favorite games from 2019 just got a big update
Background
Control launched in August 2019 to critical acclaim for its paranoid storytelling, inventive telekinetic combat, and cinematic world design. Remedy’s follow-ups and spin-offs (and the studio’s ongoing roadmap toward a full sequel) have kept the franchise in the spotlight, but the original game’s next‑gen potential was only partially realized at release. Remedy issued a major PC patch (version 1.30) in March 2025 that added HDR, improved ray-tracing presets, ultrawide support and the Kojima mission; consoles have now received the same treatment with a console-facing update rolled out in October 2025. This piece unpacks what the update actually does, how it affects visual fidelity and performance on PlayStation 5 / PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S, what the unlocked content means for players who missed pre-order and deluxe bonuses, and the risks and trade-offs players should understand before flipping settings on.
What’s in the update — the short technical summary
- HDR support (native HDR rendering on consoles and PC) and SDR pipeline bumped to 10-bit, which reduces color banding and lets modern TVs/displays show a wider, more accurate range of luminance and color.
- VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and 120Hz display output added for PlayStation 5 / PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S, plus an Unlock Frame Rate toggle that removes previous caps for Quality and Performance modes (or Performance mode on Series S). This enables the game to target 60–120 FPS where GPU/CPU budgets allow.
- Visual improvements including improved Temporal Anti-Aliasing (TAA), a new Ultra ray-tracing preset (PC), PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) support and improved reflections on PS5 Pro, and overall texture/shadow filtering tweaks.
- Previously locked content unlocked: three outfits (Astral Dive Suit, Tactical Response Gear, Urban Response Gear) that were pre-order exclusives, and the mission “Dr. Yoshimi Tokui’s Guided Imagery Experience” — featuring voiceover by Hideo Kojima — which was previously restricted to the PS4 Digital Deluxe edition.
- Bug and quality‑of‑life fixes, such as grenade indicator update rates, mod sorting, and audio fixes on cinematics.
Why HDR and 10‑bit SDR matter for Control
Better luminance and fewer artifacts
Control’s art direction leans heavily on contrast: bright light piercing dark concrete, neon reflections, fog and particle effects. Native HDR enables displays to present brighter highlights and deeper blacks simultaneously, which makes the game’s lighting look more dimensional. Similarly, upgrading SDR rendering to 10‑bit reduces visible color banding in gradients (skies, volumetric fog, post-process effects), a problem players have complained about on older ports.Caveats: calibration and TV compatibility
HDR is not an automatic win for every player. HDR behavior depends on:- whether your TV/monitor correctly reports PQ/HLG metadata,
- how the console or GPU maps in-game luminance to the panel’s peak brightness, and
- whether the in-game HDR slider and your display’s picture mode are calibrated.
120Hz, VRR and the unlocked framerate — what it actually means
The technical change
The update adds VRR and 120Hz display output, and — crucially — an “Unlock Frame Rate” option that removes the artificial caps Remedy originally applied to Quality and Performance modes on console. That means the game can run at variable frame rates beyond the former limits, and can output a 120Hz signal to compatible displays. In practice, this allows the title to approach or hit 120 FPS in constrained scenarios (low GPU load, small scenes) but performance will vary depending on scene complexity and hardware.VRR + 120Hz = smoother perceived motion, not always 120 FPS
Variable refresh rate prevents tearing and smooths perceived frame-to-frame transitions. When paired with a 120Hz-capable display, VRR helps make dips in frame delivery less noticeable. However, VRR doesn’t magically increase your frame count — it synchronizes the display’s refresh rate to whatever the game is producing. In short:- If the game outputs 120 FPS and your display supports 120Hz, you get true 120Hz motion.
- If the game varies between 90–120 FPS, VRR makes those fluctuations far less jarring.
- If your GPU can’t reach high frame rates, you still benefit from VRR but won’t see 120 FPS.
Console differences to note
- Xbox Series X: unlocks frame rate limits for both Quality and Performance modes where possible; Series S unlocks Performance mode limitations.
- PS5 / PS5 Pro: adds VRR and 120Hz support and PS5 Pro specific features (PSSR, improved SSR in Performance mode, anisotropic filtering improvements). PSSR is a console-level upscaling/quality mode that smooths edges and improves hair/vegetation — sensible for Pro hardware, but it may slightly reduce framerate.
Content unlocked: the Kojima mission and outfits
Remedy made two notable decisions with this update: first, to widen access to cosmetic pre-order rewards; second, to make the PS4 Digital Deluxe–only Kojima mission available to all platforms. That mission — Dr. Yoshimi Tokui’s Guided Imagery Experience — features voiceover by Hideo Kojima and can be accessed by collecting the Dr. Tokui Tapes collectible in the Extrasensory Lab. Kojima reportedly recorded the lines in 2019; the cameo is an Easter‑egg link between Remedy and Kojima’s mutual 2019 releases.Why this matters: unlocking exclusive content five years after launch is a player-friendly move that reduces fragmentation of the player base (and is a goodwill gesture for late adopters). It’s also a practical way for Remedy to refresh interest in the title ahead of its sequel.
Practical setup: how to enable HDR, 120Hz and VRR on consoles (quick, actionable steps)
- Ensure your display supports HDR and 120Hz over the port and cable you’re using (HDMI 2.1 or a 120Hz-capable HDMI 2.0 implementation, depending on your display).
- On Xbox Series X|S: Settings → General → TV & Display options → set TV to 120Hz (if available), enable VRR in the console settings, and in Control’s graphics menu toggle “Unlock Frame Rate” and HDR. Restart the game if necessary.
- On PS5 / PS5 Pro: Settings → Screen and Video → enable 120Hz Output and VRR, then in Control’s graphics options enable the new unlock frame rate toggle and HDR. For PS5 Pro owners, check PSSR in Control’s options if you want improved edge quality at potentially lower framerate.
- Calibrate in‑game HDR sliders where present; if the picture looks blown out or too dim, consult your TV’s HDR picture presets (Game, HDR Game, or custom modes work best) and adjust in-game brightness/tone mapping.
- If encountering issues, toggle HDR/VRR off to test, and ensure the console firmware and display firmware are up to date.
Performance and visual trade-offs — a balanced view
- Higher frame targets can expose systemic timing issues. Unlocking the framerate risks exposing animation or physics edge cases that were tuned to a specific frame budget. Remedy patched several indicators and UI timing bugs in this update, but players should expect occasional oddities in rare scenes.
- PSSR/Pro enhancements are quality-for-performance trade-offs. PS5 Pro’s PSSR improves edge smoothness and hair/vegetation detail but can cost performance. Remedy explicitly warns that PSSR “can slightly impact performance,” and provides a toggle to retain the original look. Users should benchmark performance with and without PSSR enabled.
- HDR is implementation-dependent. As noted above, not all HDR implementations are equal; some players will see a dramatic improvement, others may need to spend time calibrating. If your setup doesn’t support HDR reliably, 10‑bit SDR improvements will still reduce banding.
Why this matters for players and the franchise
- Preservation and discoverability: unlocking locked content and modern rendering features keeps Control relevant and visually competitive on today’s displays. This lowers the barrier for discovery among new players and encourages replays.
- Sequel positioning: Remedy confirmed work on Control 2 as a full action-RPG; maintaining and modernizing the first game is both goodwill and a tactical move to keep the IP active while the sequel develops. The update functions as a soft reminder that the franchise is still alive.
- Community and platform parity: closing the gap between deluxe/pre-order extras and the wider player base reduces fragmentation and the perception of paywalled content tied to early adopters. It is a positive move on community relations.
Critical analysis: strengths, risks, and missed opportunities
Strengths
- Meaningful technical modernization: adding HDR, VRR/120Hz and better TAA nearly six years after launch materially improves the experience for owners of modern hardware. Multiple outlets confirmed these additions across PC and consoles.
- Content democratization: offering the Kojima mission and three outfits to all players is a goodwill gesture that also serves as effective marketing for a franchise heading toward a sequel.
- Polished console parity: bringing parity to PS5 and Xbox after a PC-first patch reduces platform disparity and shows long-term post-launch stewardship.
Risks and limitations
- Late delivery of basic features: HDR arguably should have been part of current-gen console upgrades or at least included at the PS5/Xbox launch back in 2021; releasing it in 2025 invites justified community grumbling about missed opportunities. The delay also means many players bought the game before these improvements were available, and some might feel the porting/staggered upgrade strategy was handled poorly.
- Performance inconsistency: unlocking the framerate is not the same as optimizing for 120 FPS; heavy scenes with ray-tracing, reflections and particle effects will still be GPU‑bound and can produce uneven frame pacing. Players chasing 120 FPS may need to lower fidelity settings (or disable PSSR on PS5 Pro).
- HDR and TV variability: inconsistent HDR implementations across TVs can mean that some players actually prefer SDR; Remedy’s changes help, but display-specific calibration remains the user’s responsibility.
Missed or ambiguous elements
- Lack of a targeted performance profile for 120 FPS: a “120 FPS mode” with a clearly documented target quality compromise (e.g., low RT, reduced shadows) would have helped players who want consistent high frame rates. Instead, Remedy provides unlocked caps and leaves tuning to the player. This gives flexibility, but lacks a one-button, tested configuration for 120 FPS reliability.
- Limited guidance in the UI on HDR/120Hz calibration: given how finicky HDR can be, an in-game HDR calibration utility or simple presets would have been helpful for non-expert players.
How to evaluate whether to replay now
- If you own a 4K HDR TV or a 120Hz gaming monitor and you value visual upgrades, this update is a compelling reason to revisit Control.
- If you have a PS5 Pro or a high‑refresh Xbox and prefer a fluid frame rate, enable VRR and Unlock Frame Rate and test with and without PSSR/ultra RT features. Compare frame pacing and select the balance that suits your playstyle (visual fidelity vs. smoothness).
- If you’re especially invested in preservation or are a completionist, the Kojima mission and the unlocked outfits make replay worthwhile.
Final thoughts
Remedy’s 1.30 update for Control: Ultimate Edition is an exemplar of thoughtful, late-stage post-launch support: it modernizes rendering for current hardware, increases parity across platforms, and unlocks previously gated content — all without charging players. Those are unequivocal positives for a community that prizes both technical fidelity and developer responsiveness.That said, players should approach the new options with measured expectations: HDR will require calibration, 120Hz isn’t an automatic experience unless your hardware can sustain it, and toggling Pro-specific features like PSSR may trade off frame rate for visual detail. Remedy made sensible choices — especially the decision to let players toggle PSSR — but the studio could have further smoothed the path to 120 FPS by shipping a tested low-fidelity 120 Hz preset.
For anyone who has put Control on the shelf, this update provides a strong reason to return: it’s a rare example of a developer re-investing in a completed game in ways that respect both the art and the player’s hardware. With Control 2 still on the horizon, this refresh does double duty — keeping the original relevant for newcomers while giving veteran players a polished, modern-feeling way to revisit Jesse Faden’s strange, incandescent world.
If you plan to jump back in: check your display settings, update console firmware, toggle the Unlock Frame Rate option in Control’s graphics menu, and spend a few minutes calibrating HDR — the results are worth the effort, but they rely on correct system and display configuration to shine.
Source: Windows Central One of my favorite games from 2019 just got a big update
