Control Resonant Orientation Walkthrough: Prologue Guide

Executive Overview: Seven Years Later, Inside Dylan's Head

Control Resonant is set seven years after the end of the original Control. The Oldest House has lost containment, an Altered World Event (AWE) has run amok in Manhattan, and FBC Director Jesse Faden is missing. Players take over Dylan Faden, Jesse's brother, a powerful parautilitarian who awakens from a seven-year coma with a strange metal rod jammed through his chest.

The Orientation mission is a sampler platter: it teaches combat, exploration, and upgrades, introduces the cast, and ends with the game's first Resonant boss. This walkthrough follows the IGN-verified mission path from Dylan's cell to the exhibition theater.

Quick Answer: Follow the green-lit doors out of the cell, grab both collectibles on the small table, skip the Level 18-locked Prime Candidate Training for now, and reach Central Executive for the combat tutorial. After the second Arena Encounter the Board grants a secondary Aberrant form; the Search for Jesse ritual across the CRT televisions grants Double-Jump, Elevate, then Rush. Beat The Artist at the Cassia Nomura exhibit, pick your Combat Ability, then use The Gap before leaving - choices become permanent.

Wake Up: The Cell and the Oldest House Interior

The story opens with Jesse watching over unconscious Dylan, then declaring it is time to go - and jamming the strange metal rod into his chest.
Lost in his mind, Dylan hears The Board, a group of paranatural beings tied to the Oldest House, explain that he has been called as their agent against a hostile phenomenon. Reach the obelisk and hold the interact key to return to the land of the conscious.
Check the small table near Dylan's cell for A Photo Of Dylan And Jesse and Notes On The Ordinary AWE Case File.
The path splits: Central Executive lies left; Prime Candidate Training on the right is sealed by a Level 18 lock you cannot open yet.
In the checkpoint room left of the closed gate, collect the Medical Report; open the terminal's big red button, then grab A Memo On Dylan Faden across the room and a Complaint Letter on a desk by the large pillar.
Before heading for the red emergency light, enter the bright white-light Safe Room: a Containment Guard Note sits on the bunk and a Resource Crate in the back yields Aberrant Slivers and Source.
Take the elevator down into Central Executive for the first real combat tutorial against the Hiss, learn Dodge, then sweep Director Jesse Faden's office behind the FBC insignia for Dimensional Research: Slide Repairs, Jesse's ID, A Letter From Emily Pope To The Director, and Jesse's Notes To Self. Exit through the broken lobby barrier into open air, take the radio from the floating Hiss-possessed agents, and meet Special Agent Zoe de Vera.

Resource Primer From The Prologue

Aberrant Slivers and other Aberrant-named resources unlock weapon upgrades; they come from Resource Crates and World Feats.
Source is the currency; vendors trade it for upgrade materials.
Enemies leave small blue Health Elements; large blue orbs scattered on the map grant bigger heals without fighting for them.

Choose Your Primary Aberrant Form

After the cell awakening you pick one of three primary Aberrant forms: Strike (fast, innate 30% Critical Chance), Glaive (scythe-like, multi-target pushback), or Cleave (axe-like, stronger from behind). Pick by playstyle - the other forms unlock later anyway.

Meet Zoe at the Hotel: Arena Encounters and the Secondary Form

Head south from the Oldest House toward the Hotel building. White eye icons mark points of interest; hold the prompt to open the comm wheel and report them to Zoe. Conversation choices never alter the story outcome - they only vary what information you get.
In the cross streets, watch for Large Health Elements and dead-end streets that force rooftop traversal.
The back alley triggers your first Arena Encounter: Barriers lock the area until the Heavy enemy falls, while drones keep respawning while any Heavy lives. Heavies show as larger Radar dots. Clearing it earns a Distorted Form plus Source, and the Board lets you choose a secondary Aberrant form - Crush, Drill, or Extend - all slower but able to apply Falter.
After a second Arena Encounter, vault the fence and chain rooftops (jump high, dodge mid-air) until you reach Zoe at the chasm overlook and learn the catastrophe is an AWE hostile to the Hiss.

Search for Jesse: The Ritual and Your Traversal Kit

Following frozen, shifting pigeons with Zoe, you find a rooftop vision of Jesse and enter a dimensional fault through a broken-window doorway. Inside the realm in-between, interact with the sequence of CRT televisions and retro consoles to complete the ritual:

The first television unlocks Double-Jump as platforms appear after Jesse's vision.
The second grants Elevate - jump and hold to rise and float over gaps.
The third grants Rush, a sprint with after-images (hold Shift) that later upgrades extend.
Rush through the tunnel of shifting objects before it closes, chain the platforming trials, and finish the final televisions to trigger the cutscene where Jesse confirms something leaked into the city. The ritual rewards the video collectible I Have to Go, filed under Jesse Faden in the Archives.

The Artist: Prologue Boss Recap

At the Source of the Patterning, climb into the mirrored exhibition theater showing half of a Cassia Nomura exhibit; the mirrored door opens the arena where the massive head - The Artist - drops from the ceiling.

Move	How to Handle It
Taxi Toss	Rush away at the last moment or Dodge as the cab arrives
Traffic Lights	Dodge the downward baton swing; hop and attack the face when the lights go horizontal
Cement Volley	Hop the first volley, Dodge the second, close distance
Object Barrage	Dash at an angle through the junk stream

When The Artist flies upward with chunks of street, stand on a dirt cloud, ride the asphalt chunk, and Double-Jump plus Elevate into her glowing underside to cancel the salvo. Finish with the Execution prompt when the icon appears over her head.

Defeating The Artist rewards the Untapped Badge, a Reset Item, a Living Shard, and Source, and lets you pick your first Combat Ability (Barrage, Volatile Anomaly, or Shield) - full numbers and phase strategy are in our dedicated The Artist Boss Fight Strategy Guide.

The Gap and the Prologue's End

Interacting with the cracked object leaves the training plane for the Gap, your home-away-from-reality where you upgrade weapons, unlock abilities, activate Artifacts, and reset skills. Hold down on the d-pad (or G on keyboard) to visit any time - but once you leave, unlocked forms and abilities become permanent. After the cutscene, Zoe arrests-style escorts Dylan to the FBC: he receives a Mobile Containment Device, and acting Co-Directors Emily Pope and Simon Arish brief him on the Patterning and the Resonant Entities it creates, asking him to hunt them - starting with the West Incursion Zone. Watch Darling's log A Fantastic Opportunity before the credits if you want the backstory.

Next Mission	Chapter	Zone
Welcome to Manhattan	Contain the Crisis	Downtown
Evacuation Procedures	Contain the Crisis	Evacuation Zone
Arish's Briefing	Contain the Crisis	Central
Power Lines	Contain the Crisis	Central

The parallel Search for Jesse storyline remains available from the Quest Log at your own pace.

Walkthrough Anti-Patterns

Ignoring the Archives tab: collectibles, tutorial refreshers, and Darling videos all live in the Archives; new entries are flagged with a red triangle.
Attacking the Heavy while drones chip you: kill respawning drones first for health orbs, then re-engage the Heavy with Falter-building secondary forms.
Leaving The Gap prematurely: form and ability choices are permanent once you exit, so plan the pairings before the first respec-costly mistake.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do my dialogue choices change the story?

No. Conversations offer reply options, but every branch ends in the same place; some replies simply surface extra information.

Can I skip Resonant Entities?

They are optional, and skipping them means fewer Combat Abilities - the game gets significantly harder without the unlocks.

What is the five-minute recap before the mission?

On the title flow you can watch CONTROL Recap, a short video summary of the original game's story before starting.

For weapon form math, read the Aberrant Weapons Guide; for collectible routing, see the Collectibles Guide.