| “ | Dream-like haze. | ” |
The Oceanview Motel & Casino is a Place of Power connecting between various different locations. The Federal Bureau of Control theorizes it to be a gateway to alternate dimensions and Thresholds.
Background[]
Discovered through an Altered World Event which occurred in Butte, Montana in 1992, the motel has many rooms leading to unknown locations, but visitors are only capable of returning to other areas of the Oldest House. The motel operates on dream logic, behaving differently from ordinary reality. It nearly always appears to be daylight outside whenever someone is traveling through the motel, and it is impossible to enter or leave it by any means other than a light switch cord.
Additionally, Jesse Faden, upon entering the motel for the first time, remarks that compared to the numerous other motels she has been to, the Oceanview "feels like all of them, like something recognized from a dream."
Despite its unusual characteristics, the Bureau has not ruled out the possibility of the Oceanview Motel being a physical location somewhere on the Earth. Currently, they have dispatched agents to conduct a nationwide survey of U.S. roadside motels in order to find the Oceanview, though this does not appear to have succeeded as of 2019.[1]
Door symbols[]
The hallway on the right from the entrance of the Oceanview Motel has six doors marked with symbols Despite extensive experimentation, the Bureau has only ever managed to open one door: the door marked with an inverted pyramid (the symbol of the Board), which leads back into the Oldest House at various points. In base game Control, this door is the one opened by Jesse any time she needs to navigate the motel.
Of the other five symbols, only two are given any additional information in Control:
- The door with the spiral symbol only appeared after Alice Wake was brought to the Oldest House for an interview in 2017 (which simultaneously triggered the outbreak of the Thing-that-had-been-Hartman and the lockdown of most of the Investigations Sector.[2] It is used during AWE, which leads to Jesse receiving a vision of Alan Wake in the Dark Place; references to a spiral in Alan Wake 2 also suggest that the symbol is connected to Wake and/or the Dark Place.
- The door with the overlapping circles may be connected to a suspected Altered World Event which happened in the town of Keystone: Bureau agents investigating a separate AWE found the town completely deserted, with the overlapping circles symbol printed on various buildings.[3]
- The control2 symbol was seen in Alan Wake II’s DLC: The Lake House, appearing on a door that seemingly leads to a location in the Oldest House where Dylan Faden is being held.
In the Control game files, each of the symbols has a name which may allude to their greater role within the Remedy Connected Universe.
| Symbol and file name | ||
|---|---|---|
  |
  |
  |
| alanwake | control2 | doors |
  |
  |
  |
| pyramid_black | pyramid_white | vanguard |
- "control2" refers to Control 2, the sequel to Control, which is currently in an early development stage.
- "vanguard" refers to Vanguard, a cancelled free-to-play multiplayer game developed by Remedy in agreement with Tencent. Vanguard was cancelled and rebooted as Kestrel, a premium multiplayer game, in November 2023. However, Kestrel was also cancelled in May 2024 while still in an "early concept stage." Per CEO Tero Virtala, this was done to prioritize Remedy's existing franchises.[4] It is unclear whether or not Vanguard or Kestrel were intended to be tied to the Control franchise, and to what extent.
Events of Control[]
During one of Jesse Faden's visits, a man can be heard outside the motel trying to get the attention of any employees inside before deciding the building is empty and telling his wife that they will find lodgings elsewhere.
During another of her visits, a visceral scream can be heard, and a blood stain in front of room 223 can be seen.
Although the Oceanview is nearly always encountered in bright daylight, it appears to be night time as Jesse travels through it from the Investigations sector, likely synchronous with Alan Wake's experiences in the Bright Falls AWE.
Notes[]
- There are three key fobs available: the fob for the key which opens the Black Pyramid door back to the Oldest House is itself a black pyramid. The key to the Janitor's Closet (Finnish Tango) has a small block of wood, and the key to Polaris is a rounded rhombus shape commonly used for motel fobs.
- The final time Jesse visits the Oceanview (during Take Control), Jesse picks up a key. The key is marked "102." The door it opens is typically marked as room 227, although that number is covered by a portrait of Jesse at this time.
- The key cubby behind the lobby desk indicates this version of the Oceanview has at least four floors with 21 rooms each, for a total of 84.
- In Alan Wake 2, a location called the Oceanview Hotel features as an area in the Dark Place, which Alan explores during the chapter Initiation 5: Room 665.
- Five of the symbols seen on the doors of the Oceanview Motel can be seen on inaccessible doors in the Oceanview Hotel. The spiral symbol, which both AWE and Alan Wake 2 suggest to be related to the Dark Place, does not appear. While for the most part these room numbers are unique between Alan Wake 2's Hotel and Control's Motel, Room 226 is both the Hotel's "control2" room and also the Motel's third openable door, closest to the Casino door.
- Room 103 has the "doors" symbol.
- Room 107 has the "vanguard" symbol.
- Room 112 has the white pyramid.
- Room 211 has the inverted pyramid.
- Room 226 has the "control2" symbol.
- During the chapter, Alan Wake is led to Thomas Zane, who is staying in Room 665 of the hotel. Their meeting scene includes a brief appearance of Jesse Faden and Casper Darling, whose faces briefly flash on a TV, followed by the Night Springs show title. This scene is reminiscent of the cutscenes in AWE which depict Wake and Zane meeting (which included a brief scene of Darling and Night Springs appearing on a TV screen), though the room layouts are different and Wake and Zane have the same appearance in AWE.
- Five of the symbols seen on the doors of the Oceanview Motel can be seen on inaccessible doors in the Oceanview Hotel. The spiral symbol, which both AWE and Alan Wake 2 suggest to be related to the Dark Place, does not appear. While for the most part these room numbers are unique between Alan Wake 2's Hotel and Control's Motel, Room 226 is both the Hotel's "control2" room and also the Motel's third openable door, closest to the Casino door.
- In the chapter Return 5: Old Gods from Alan Wake 2, Pat Maine can be heard talking about the history of Bright Falls when his room in the Valhalla Nursing Home is entered. He talks about a World War 2-era bunker built by the government, which he says was abandoned and is now being called the "Oceanview Hotel and Spa" by local teenagers who use the bunker as a hangout.
- The strange and distinctive lighting found within the Oceanview was inspired by contemporary artist James Turrell.
See also[]
Gallery[]
