Alawar, the indie studio behind The Last Gas Station (2026), Beholder: Conductor (2025), and Do Not Feed the Monkeys (2018) is back with the release of another game. This new game, which draws inspiration from other security guard simulators such as “Papers, Please, and SCP paranoia,” is called Control 51. In Control 51, players take on the role of a “security officer deep within Area 51” who is believed to have a relatively easy job. As this officer, players must “scan the staff, verify clearances, and decide who can enter the elevator and who absolutely mustn’t leave.”
This task proves harder than it seems, especially since this officer does not have the clearance to be told the specifics about the areas they explore. “Whether it’s laboratories, anomalies, inhumane experiments, or something alien—you’re not supposed to know.” As the elevator descends, players end up even deeper into the restricted government zone, growing less confident about the humanity of the creatures around them, as well as their own.
While the full game came out today, August 12, 2026, it has been in development for a some time, having been listed on Steam since this past May. Control 51 also had a demo that participated in Steam Next Fest, an annual festival for indie developers to showcase demos to prospective players.
Alawar took to Steam early this morning to launch Control 51 and list some changes they have made to the game since Next Fest. “Attention, agents!,” proclaims the announcement, in letter form. General modifications and additions include “more to inspect,” “extended storylines,” “more secrets below,” and “overall content expansion.” The team also left a redacted teaser in their announcement, which can not be deciphered easily. It reads “We can’t wait for you to discover everything Security 51 has to offer, including █████, █████ and a few things we’re definitely not authorized to discuss.”
Control 51 is currently available on Steam for both Mac and Windows users. Although it was just released today, the game already has 98 ‘mostly positive’ reviews. The live developer gameplay is currently streaming on Steam, while the trailer can be found on YouTube or below, courtesy of GameTrailers.