Control AWE Expansion Gets Trailer, Release Date; First 15 Minutes Debut This Week

Update: The first 15 minutes of Control's AWE expansion will be revealed during an upcoming livestream. On Thursday, August 13 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET, Remedy will showcase this opening portion of the DLC ahead of its release later this month. Read on for a look at what we know about the DLC so far.

Original story: As promised, Sony showcased a ton of upcoming PS4 and PS5 games during its latest State of Play. During the stream, we also got a brief new look at the second DLC for Remedy's mind-bending, critically acclaimed Control: the AWE expansion, which arrives later this month.

In true Control fashion, the new AWE expansion trailer--which you can watch below--featured some cryptic imagery that was hard to make sense of, but it further hinted at a connection to Remedy's Alan Wake series. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Remedy shed more light on the expansion and what players can expect from it.

According to Remedy, AWE stands for Altered World Event. These "occur when paranatural forces breach our world." As the studio explains:

"Sometimes, AWEs are minor and go unnoticed. However, sometimes AWEs cause catastrophic events. Historically, the Investigations Sector was where the Federal Bureau of Control's dangerous work of searching for AWE cases was coordinated from, and where evidence was stored… until things went horribly, horribly wrong, and the sector was sealed off years ago."

It falls on Control protagonist Jesse Faden to enter this sector and reclaim it from the mysterious creature that has taken it over. As part of her mission, she'll need to explore the AWE cases that were investigated here, and she'll be able to use a new Service Weapon form called Surge, which Remedy describes as "in essence a sticky grenade launcher."

This ability will particularly come in handy when battling the Hiss Airborne Ranger, a new enemy type being introduced in the AWE expansion. The foe is able to fly and attack Jesse from afar using a shotgun.

On top of that, the AWE expansion is introducing a new Altered Item that will let players replay four boss fights from the campaign as well as the beloved Ashtray Maze. The item sits in the Investigations Sector and resembles an arcade machine. Remedy is also adding a new horde mode and "a few other surprises" to the game.

The AWE expansion releases on August 27. It's the second and final piece of DLC for Control, following the Foundation expansion, which recently hit Xbox One back in June (following its PS4/PC release earlier this year). Remedy has also confirmed that Control is coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X.