Control: Resonant Side Stories: All Locations & Walkthrough

Control: Resonant includes 18 side stories. Most will not trigger on their own. You need to explore each district, speak with the right characters, or simply reach the correct spot. Only a few unlock directly from the main story. This page covers where each side story begins and how to complete it.

Not yet verified: Mission steps, rewards, and puzzle solutions below are adapted from third-party walkthrough coverage (VGTimes, September 2026). Confirm names, objectives, and choices in your own save—patches can change routes or rewards.

• Freeze Frame
• Panopticon Service Request
• Crossing the Threshold
• Mapping the New New York
• Unsupervised Science
• The Complete Set
• Urban Survival
• The Last Taxi
• The Party Won't Stop
• Carbon Copy
• Into the Valley of Death
• Zoe's Briefing, New Growth, Maintenance Protocol
• Pope's Research
• A New Directive
• Notes: Every Dog Has Her Day

A dedicated camera and instant-photo collection guide may cover every shot; here are the essentials for starting and finishing the quest.

• Start: One of the earliest triggers is on the second floor of the Lookout Tower near Zoe. You can also pick up cameras in other districts to begin the quest.
• Each area has two instant photos. Use the photos to infer where to go, then find the special AWE camera on location.
• Approaching the camera head-on freezes you briefly, then it vanishes. A reliable approach: let it catch you once to reset the encounter, then circle behind it and shut the lens.

Go to the Field Panopticon southeast of the FBC Field Office and talk to Langston to start the quest.

• Repair the security terminal: replace two server modules and the satellite dish, then boot the console.
• The containment labels are wrong. Tell Langston the category is D and the number is 04.
• Cycle radio channels until the broadcast mentions the New York World's Fair, then place the radio in containment cell E-05.

Rewards include the Untapped Feeding Bottle artifact and the Aramid Work Suit appearance.

The quest begins after Dylan finds a body near the loading dock in Central. The dock sits west of the FBC Field Office.

• Follow the trail through Central, find Wilson, and decide what to do with AVP-3.
• Rewards depend on your choice—save before the decision if you want both outcomes.

During Welcome to Manhattan, talk to the worker beside the first cartography beacon to start the quest. Beacons are spread across Manhattan; activating each one reveals that district on the map. You will naturally finish most objectives while exploring.

Standalone walkthrough: Mapping the New New York.

Downtown

• Beacon: Rooftop south of the exit from the Oldest House. Use the freight elevator. Worker Thorne stands beside the beacon—talk to him.
• Sensor 1: Slightly north of the beacon; look for the “Speed You Can Trust” sign on a neighboring building.
• Sensor 2: Northeast, beside a small rusted water tower; nearby green table and three floodlights.
• Sensor 3: Southeast on a fenced rooftop basketball court. A fast travel door is here—activate it immediately.

Central

• Beacon: Top of an orange office container west of the main plaza, north of the Downtown checkpoint.
• Sensor 1: Slightly north, on a blue container roof.
• Sensor 2: Northeast, on an orange container near the Verconn building entrance.
• Sensor 3: East, on an isolated blue container beside a pile of yellow spheres.

Evacuation Zone

• Beacon: Rooftop south of Main Street, near a fast travel door. Sensors are far apart and the area is dark and rainy—easy to miss blinking lights.
• Sensor 1: Rooftop across the street to the north.
• Sensor 2: Due east, very close to the beacon.
• Sensor 3: Southwest, across the southern street beside another “Speed You Can Trust” sign.

West Incursion Zone

• Beacon: City square center, beside the House of Mirrors theater.
• Sensor 1: Southwest corner of the square, west of the theater, near a street sign.
• Sensor 2: East street corner beside the theater—visible from sensor 1.
• Sensor 3: Northeast, middle of a north–south street; look for Atlantis and The Badger storefronts.

The Park

• High-level enemies and heavy mold—reveal the map and leave quickly if you are under-leveled.
• Sensor 1: Northwest of the beacon; if Park Valley Gate is unlocked on the west edge, head northeast from there.
• Sensor 2: Ground level to the north, in a mold-filled ditch between a shack and a tall building.
• Sensor 3: Southwest—drop from the beacon roof to a low building; sensor sits above wall graffiti.

Underpass

• Go to the huge white-lit spire southwest of the zone entrance and activate the fast travel door there.
• From the platform’s southeast edge you can see the beacon, three sensors, and powerful Screechers below—clear the enemies first.
• All three sensors sit on top of the north, east, and south pillars around the beacon.

Unknown

• Prep: Find one of Pope’s supply orbs near the elevator in the starting area. Drop the container and break it. Place a probe in the nearby red circle and another at the far end of the zone to spawn a platform—Shift across.
• Jump from the platform toward the building cluster; halfway down you will see the beacon. Treat that floor as “lower” for the steps below.
• Sensor 1: Jump to the red-brick building with Yo graffiti, hug the right side; sensor on the nearby roof.
• Sensor 2: Under the roof above the beacon. Shift on the nearest roof and face the white-brick graffiti building; if you see the red “Bus Only” sign on the street below, you are aligned.
• Sensor 3: Same elevation as the beacon—Oldest House roof, bright white floods, and deflated yellow spheres nearby.

Discover any FBC testing facility to unlock this quest. The closest to the starting area is in Central, inside the underground tunnel east of Patterned Factory.

Standalone walkthrough: Unsupervised Science.

Testing facility locations (six total)

• Downtown — pipe on the first floor of the Derelict Construction Site. Vending machine puzzle.
• Central — pipe in the excavation pit southeast of Patterned Factory. Four energy-core puzzle.
• Evacuation Zone — pipe below the Survivor Bunker gate; reach via parking near the Unauthorized Mine? marker. Vending machine puzzle.
• West Incursion Zone — pipe in the central road excavation pit. Vending machine puzzle.
• The Park — sewer route on the east side, follow the lava-layer road. Five energy-core puzzle.
• Unknown — pipe in the excavation west of Twisted Rooftops. Five energy-core puzzle; opens in Act III.

Puzzle rules

• Three facilities use vending-machine rules: each time an object crosses the yellow line its state changes. Once it becomes a vending machine, slot it before it crosses again.
• Three facilities balance energy between cores. Finish the Unknown facility last to open the Threshold.
• In the Unknown Threshold, investigate Dr. Titus Grant’s body to complete the arc.

Start at the auction house in northwest Downtown. Collect four SINKKI D50 speakers from the auction house, construction site, café, and Curio Museum, then retrieve the subwoofer from the Oldest House and return the full set to the auction house for the ritual.

Standalone walkthrough: The Complete Set.

Reward: Untapped Bout Guard artifact.

Read the Investigation Order document outside the trapped parking garage in southern Evacuation Zone. Easy to miss if you never explore the southern suburbs.

Rewards: M1 body armor appearance and the Untapped Heart Rate Monitor artifact recipe. Longest side story in Evacuation Zone—roughly half exploration, half combat, same quest giver with three chained requests.

• Go to southwest Evacuation Zone (map marker: Unauthorized Mine?).
• Find the underground parking under the large yellow sign; hot dog stand beside the entrance.
• Read the Investigation Order on the crate before the entrance to add the quest to your log.
• Tip: Unlock fast travel at Main Street and Survivor Bunker before starting—you will cross the zone repeatedly.

Part 1 — Find the trap setter

• The garage is full of trip mines and patrolling Screechers. Mines respawn over time—detonating them does not permanently clear a path.
• Lure Screechers into blasts when possible.
• Exit through the far side from the entrance, turn left, enter the building with extra mines at the door.
• Use the intercom to talk to the survivor; Screechers interrupt—defeat them and return to the intercom.

Part 2 — Olivia and Grandma

• The survivor will evacuate if you bring Olivia and Grandma—they are not people.
• Olivia is a plant in Pulse Fitness on Main Street. Enter and open the first office door on the left; pick up the plant.
• Grandma is an urn in the survivor’s apartment in a northeast residential tower. Enter from the roof, elevator down. Door code: 8521.
• Return both items and talk to the survivor; he then sends you to find his brother.

Part 3 — The survivor’s brother

• Find the survivor’s car and take the keys—large angular vehicle at the northern end of Evacuation Zone, before the mold-blocked street.
• The key fob leads to his brother’s apartment key near Subway Fault.
• Hardest step: route through heavy mold. You need a framed photo of the brothers.

Finale

• Return to the bunker and use the intercom.
• Place the photo on the supply table beside Grandma and Olivia.

Begins when Dylan enters an anomalous taxi for the first time. One waits in an alley west of the evacuation building.

Seven taxis total—one per major district: Central, Downtown, West Incursion Zone, Evacuation Zone, The Park, Underpass, and Unknown.

Pick up in the northwest of the West Incursion Zone map at the Reported singing? marker. The front door is locked—enter from the roof with Shift (unlocked after Jesse Sightings: The Incursion Fault).

• At the karaoke machine, pick nine correct lyrics in order. Each wrong line kills a guest and can lock you out of a trophy. Correct lines always rhyme with the previous one.
• Input order: Right — Left — Right — Up — Left — Down — Right — Up — Right.
• If you miss a line, reload your latest save. If the trophy is already lost, load an earlier save (e.g. after Power Lines or Into the Sinkhole) and go straight to the marker.
• Rewards: gear, 1 Talent point, and the Be Who You Want to Be achievement.

Part 1

• In The Park, enter the mold-covered building west of the FBC base and find Heidi.
• Heidi gives you an apartment key. Rescue Hannah, return to Heidi for the Untapped Mother's Locket artifact.
• Roof routes are safer—streets have more mold; rooftops let you cross with minimal fights.

Part 2

• If Part 1 is done, Part 2 auto-starts when you return to the Oldest House after The Enemy of My Enemy.
• Talk to Dr. Flores near the field hospital, investigate the medical wing, then return to the sisters’ apartment.

Part 3

• Starts immediately after Part 2. Follow Hannah’s duplicate to the factory in The Park and defeat Mold Hannah.
• Rewards: Budding Mycologist trophy and Untapped Medical Alert Bands artifact.

Pope hands you this quest at the start of Recursive and Iterative in the Oldest House hall. Dylan descends into the sinkhole to find Langston’s missing cat Alfred—combat, vertical navigation, and a cat-focused puzzle.

• Meet Langston at the field containment in the Central field office; he asks for Alfred and gives you apartment keys.
• Follow the Abyss Ahead corridor through the FBC checkpoint; use Elevate down the shaft to the residential platform.
• Climb to the upper platform and talk to Agent Dombro (remember where he watches TV—you return later).
• Find the flickering TV—Alfred is not home. Take the feeder to the bedroom with the pet carrier.
• Fastest carrier bedroom: return to Dombro’s TV spot, jump into the apartment southwest of him. If the cat refuses the carrier, remove any plants; wait for Langston to confirm Alfred is inside.
• Investigate the screaming along the blood trail toward the center of the pit; jump down with the carrier and trigger Elevate near the bottom to land by the checkpoint totem. Fight in the room beside the totem—watch blue light to the south.

Maria boss and finale

• Maria cannot be fully defeated with normal attacks alone. At low health she hides in a window—use Call Cat at the right moment so Alfred rushes the wall. Three successful calls drive her back into the room.
• Place the carrier in front of the TV beside Dombro’s body to finish.

After The Hedron Link in late Act II, these three unlock together. Finish Zoe's Briefing first to open the other two.

Standalone walkthrough: Zoe’s Briefing, New Growth, and Maintenance Protocol.

Zoe's Briefing

• Return to the Lookout Tower in Central and talk to Zoe—short conversation.
• Unlocks Maintenance Protocol and New Growth. No other reward.

New Growth

• Find Dr. Underhill in her apartment; in the underground lab collect mold growth stimulant and test tubes.
• Apply stimulant to pulsing mold growth, follow glowing spore trails.
• Collect samples from three escaped test subjects; final choice: take the samples for Untapped Brass Dusters weapon form.

Maintenance Protocol

• Auto-starts during Zoe’s briefing after an alarm in the Oldest House lower levels. Go to Underpass 5 (nearest fast travel: Deepest Underpass).
• Intercom Morse for “in”: dot, dot, dash.
• Watch the projector video, then fix the switchboard. Strength upgrade in the upper-right room. Repair bulbs in any order:
• Volatile Bulb (east of Halfway Trail): dialogue — “Are you okay?”, “I won’t let them hurt you in combat”, “You deserve to be repaired”.
• Electrosensitive Bulb (below Research Stations): remove or destroy nearby power sources and batteries first.
• Plant-fearing Bulb (island north of Research Site): clear all mold around the bulb.
• Finale: return to the projector, enter the slide, choose: Where are you going? → Unstable bulb → Do you know how to get out? → Smash the bulb.

Auto-starts at the beginning of Act III and is required to advance Unknown story content. Find eight research orbs across Unknown; they drop antennas that must be placed in nearby red circles in the correct order to spawn gravity wells between islands.

If a story marker points to an unreachable island, progress Pope's Research first. Rewards: Budding Analyst trophy and a Resonant token for a sixth combat ability slot.

While exploring Unknown during Act III, Fred radios you—often while installing Pope’s relays. Talk to Fred to start. Requires progress on Sever the Hedron Links and Pope's Research. Only begins in Unknown; remaining steps are in Central.

Standalone walkthrough: A New Directive.

Central steps

• Field Office cafeteria container: talk to Fred through all dialogue until objectives update.
• Speak with FBC agents in the Field Office (any dialogue options).
• Talk to Langston.
• Ask Fred in the cafeteria what Vlad wants—Vlad wants his own Director’s office.

Office setup

• Sketch the real Director’s office, then arrange containment units in the Field Office to match.
• Fred will not move in until you hang the official Director portrait.
• Get canvas for Vlad; he repaints your portrait. Hang it in the office and tell Fred everything is ready.

Ending

• Langston suggests praising Fred to Zoe. Choose “I’ll help her understand”.
• Go to Zoe’s office near the Central checkpoint; tell her how good Fred is, then use the office radio so Zoe frees nearby frozen people.
• Lock Vlad inside. After he enters the containment unit, use the external panel beside Langston to lower the shutter.
• Reward: Untapped Whetstone artifact—craft a new artifact in The Gap.

Each district has a dog; approaching reveals her on the map. Each encounter asks you to find your plush—a small blue dragon toy always nearby.

Rewards: Untapped Reliable Wrench artifact (+15% raw damage) and Man’s Best Friend trophy.

• Clear side content near the Field Office first—Panopticon Service Request and Crossing the Threshold sit on the route toward Evacuation Procedures and give useful materials early.
• Complete Faults as soon as they open. Incursion Fault unlocks Shift; Subway Fault unlocks Reach. Without those abilities, several side stories are unreachable.
• Reveal district maps early (Mapping the New New York) to make Freeze Frame and Unsupervised Science markers easier to follow.

Trophy progress ties to specific side stories. Verify exact trophy names on your platform; VGTimes lists these completions:

• Panopticon Intern–style trophy: Panopticon Service Request, The Party Won't Stop, The Complete Set, A New Directive, Into the Valley of Death, Freeze Frame.
• Threshold Researcher–style trophy: Unsupervised Science, The Last Taxi, Crossing the Threshold.
• Budding Mycologist trophy: full Carbon Copy (all three parts) plus New Growth.