Control is available now, and like Quantum Break before it features a number of challenging boss battles. This guide will tackle each major boss, detailing strategies and show you videos of how to get ‘er done.
Spoilers obviously follow, so read at your own risk.
Most of these major bosses come as a result of side missions — because you can tackle them in a different order than I did, I’ve made handy links to the boss you may looking for some help with. Enjoy!
Anchor | esseJ | Former | Mold-1 | Tommasi
Anchor boss guide
- Side Mission: The Enemy Within
- Location: Sealed Threshold Hall
Once you fly into the boss battle area (yep, you need Levitate for this), take note of your surroundings. There’s a platform to the north, west, south and east. Each platform has a bunch of clocks on it already.
When the Anchor shows itself, grab a clock and be ready for it to expose its core to you. Throw a clock at its core, and then rinse and repeat. Hiss Charged and Hiss Rangers will spawn; prioritise the Charged first and use their corpses to get some health back if needed.
The key here is to be patient and ensure you have enough energy at all times to fly and evade attack.
You’ll earn the Living Archetypes Achievement or Trophy for beating Anchor.
esseJ boss guide
- Side mission: Self-Reflection
- Location: Synchronisity Lab (through the Mirror)
After you’ve entered the Mirror Altered Item, check out reflective surfaces to cause Jesse’s mirror, esseJ, to spawn.
A number of esseJs will attack you; take them out one by one and just be mindful to dodge her attacks. As Jesse points out, the copies are rather inferior.
You’ll earn the Altered Manifestations May Occur Achievement or Trophy for completing this.
Former boss guide
- Side Mission: Fridge Duty
- Location: Panopticon
I honestly died more times during this encounter by absent-mindedly falling through a hole in the floor rather than by taking damage from this formidable-looking boss.
Former has two major attacks: the launching of orbs and the lunging of a tenctacle. You can choose to shoot or evade his orbs, or even throw them back at him. Make sure to save enough energy to evade the tentacle, and watch out for holes in the floor. Seriously. For this reason, use Levitate if you’ve got it.
You’ll earn the Astral Phenomena Achievement or Trophy for beating Former. You’ll also fight Former again a second time (hint: Flamingo) and the fight is largely the same.
Mold-1 boss guide
- Side Mission: Old Growth
- Location: The Pit
This fight drove me insane, and mostly because my abilities were underlevelled when I tried to complete it.
In the video below, I had my Health, Energy, Launch and Levitate maxed and I barely made it alive. To start, use cover and launch the explody orbs at Mold-1’s centre tentacle. As he takes more damage, he’ll start to drop those explody orbs on the ground and also emit poisonous gas from the floor. On top of this, you’ll have to avoid physical attacks from the beast as well.
Try to be aggressive and finish this as quickly as you can; when he gets aggro, use Levitate to keep off the floor (but be mindful of those tentacles).
You’ll earn the Aggressive Growth Achievement or Trophy for beating the beast.
Mr. Tommasi boss guide
- Side Mission: Mr. Tommasi
- Location: Sterling AWE
This also was a tough fight, but mostly because of a lone Hiss Distorted rather than Tommasi himself.
Tommasi’s not too hard, in actual fact — he has a shield and occasionally will lob two projectiles at you. Rarer still, he’ll lunge at you with a physical attack. Damage him, keeping behind cover to avoid the projectiles, but be ready for when he spawns adds. Hiss Charged will contantly spawn and seek you out, and that one Hiss Distorted has a nasty habit of sneaking up on you under cloak; one hit from it can shave off most of your health bar.
When the Distorted spawns, try to take it out as quickly as possible, then turn your attention to other spawns. Rangers pop in too; concentrate on them to boost your health while avoiding Tommasi’s projectiles. Be patient with this one.
You’ll earn the Head of Communications Achievement or Trophy for beating Tommasi.
Control is available now on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4.
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