When Anime Meets the Paranormal: How Evangelion Echoes Through Control

It was a rainy afternoon in the studio when the conversation turned to something most fans wouldn’t have guessed: an early‑2000s anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion. The room fell quiet, not because the topic was obscure, but because the parallels to Control suddenly felt uncanny.

“We were trying to make a game that felt both intimate and cosmic,” says Sam Lake, Remedy’s creative director, during the IGN Live 2026 panel. “Evangelion was this massive, existential roller‑coaster that tackled identity, trauma, and the unknown—all things we wanted to explore in the Federal Bureau of Control.”

From the get‑go, the developers admit they were fascinated by Evangelion’s blend of psychological drama and over‑the‑top action. The show’s protagonist, Shinji Ikari, is a reluctant hero thrust into a world where the line between reality and something far stranger blurs. That core tension mirrors what players experience as Jesse Faden, who steps into a shifting building that seems alive, constantly rewriting its own rules.

One striking influence shows up in the way Control handles its “Objects of Power.” In Evangelion, the giant mechas—Eva units—are both weapons and extensions of the pilots’ psyches. Remedy took that idea and turned it on its head: the strange objects in the Oldest House are less about firepower and more about the subconscious. “We wanted the items to feel like physical manifestations of hidden fears,” explains art director Olivier Tureaud.

Visually, the homage is subtler but still there. The game’s color palette—muted grays punctuated by harsh reds—echoes Evangelion’s use of stark, industrial environments contrasted with blood‑red flashes of emotion. Even the architectural absurdity of the Oldest House, with its impossible geometry, feels reminiscent of the series’ surreal background art where corridors loop back on themselves like a dream you can’t escape.

But perhaps the most poignant borrowing lies in the theme of “instrumentality” – a concept from Evangelion where humanity merges into a single consciousness. In Control, the idea translates into the Bureau’s attempt to contain the “new weird,” a force that threatens to collapse reality into a single, unknowable entity. Both narratives ask: what does it mean to be an individual when the world itself is constantly shifting?

The interview also touched on the challenges of weaving such an influence without it feeling like a copy. “We didn’t want a direct reference,” says narrative lead Anna Fricke. “Instead, we asked ourselves what Evangelion does that resonates with our story, and then we built something original from that feeling.” The result is a game that feels fresh yet familiar, like a whispered nod to fans who recognize the undertones.

Fans in the audience reacted with enthusiasm, shouting out favorite Evangelion moments while cheering for Control’s own iconic scenes. It was clear that the cross‑medium inspiration struck a chord, proving that storytelling can leap from anime to interactive media without losing its impact.

In the end, the developers left the panel with one key takeaway: great art, no matter the form, has a way of echoing across genres. Whether you’re watching a mecha pilot grapple with inner demons or exploring a shifting government building, the core human questions remain the same.

So the next time you pick up your controller and hear the distant hum of the Oldest House, listen closely. You might just catch a faint echo of an 80’s‑style synth line, a reminder that the anxieties and hopes that powered Evangelion are still humming inside the walls of Control.