Table of Contents
Part 1: Welcome to the Oldest House
Posted 16 January 2026
There are spoilers for Control as well as the trailer for Control Resonant. Read at your own risk if you haven't played the game.
Welcome to the Oldest House
The Oldest House, headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control. 34 Thomas Street, New York City – an address that doesn't exist in reality. Clearly inspired by 33 Thomas Street, the AT&T Long Lines Building: a windowless, brutalist skyscraper that's supposedly used as an NSA surveillance station.
The Oldest House can't be found except by people who are looking for it, and Jesse Faden, our protagonist, definitely is. Her younger brother, Dylan, was taken by FBC agents 17 years prior, and she's been trying to find him ever since. The trail of clues (or, rather, Polaris, a being who's been with Jesse for quite a while) has finally led her here.
When I first played this game, I didn’t bother turning around and looking out onto the street from the lobby. I did that this time, and found something pretty interesting: a poster on the bus stop labeled "THE HOUSE", with what looks like a tall, skinny tower, or a pole and a hand pressed against it.
Jesse enters the House, finds out there's some kind of lockdown going on, and meets a friendly face: the janitor, Ahti, who tells Jesse she's here for an interview to become the janitor's assistant. He points out the location of the elevator. That elevator is in the lobby, where you start the game, and does not exist until Ahti mentions it. Ahti also responds to Jesse's inner monologue, which Jesse doesn't notice.
The elevator takes Jesse into the Executive Sector. She isn't there very long until she hears a gunshot from the Director's Office – Zachariah Trench, director of the Federal Bureau of Control, has shot himself for some reason. Polaris directs Jesse to pick up the gun – the Service Weapon – and Jesse is taken to the Astral Plane, given instructions (and a combat tutorial) by the Board, and becomes the new director of the FBC.
The Service Weapon currently takes the form of a gun, but the Case File Service Weapon (OOP1-KE) mentions that it may have taken other forms in the past: Excalibur, Mjolnir, Varunastra. The Board itself refers to the service weapon as
Now, I've seen people theorize that the weapon that Jesse stabs (if that's what she's doing) Dylan with in the Control Resonant trailer might be the service weapon, but I don't really think that's the case. The Service Weapon can only be bound by people who are trying to become the director, and while Dylan was an actual candidate, I don’t think he would be too willing to do the work of (a) The Board and (b) the FBC.
"I'm happy to be here", says Jesse, standing over the corpse of a dead man whose blood is splattered all over the floor and desk.
Jesse receives a strange message from Trench, telling her that there's something threatening the Oldest House, and she's got to keep the Bureau safe. Upon leaving the Director's Office, we see that that threat is some kind of menacing red light, which Polaris prevents from infecting Jesse. We fight out first real enemies, which Jesse later names the Hiss, and receive another message from Trench, telling Jesse to reach the Hotline.
By the way, I'm playing with ray tracing turned on and the game looks amazing.
Jesse fights her way through more Hiss until she reaches Central Executive, removes the Hiss influence from the Control point, and finds out that a couple of people have holed up in a safe room. One of these people is Emily Pope, the assistant of Dr. Darling. We don't know who he is right now, but he becomes a very important person throughout the game.
Emily explains that the Hiss somehow got into the building and have infected everyone who isn't wearing an HRA. Emily's urging, Jesse tries to purge the Hiss from one of the floating FBC employees, but it doesn’t work and the person ends up dead.
Jesse tells Emily that her hometown was the site of an event (an Altered World Event) that the FBC came in and covered up. It's apparently very classified, and Dr. Darling, who created the Hedron Resonance Amplifiers, the HRAs, knew a lot about it – but he's missing. So did Trench – and he's freshly dead, even if he is talking to Jesse somehow.
The next mission is to find the Hotline, an old Bakelite telephone used to communicate directly with the Board.
Part 2: Unknown Caller
Posted 23 January 2026
Unknown Caller
The path to the Hotline takes Jesse through the Executive Sector – into the Cafeteria (where there are Hiss) and then Dead Letters (which is very ominously red until the Control point is cleansed). Dead Letters is the location of the first Threshold Kids episode you can find, although I didn't find it in this particular playthrough until later on. I wasn't too focused on collectibles at the time. It's also the location of a Dr. Darling video about the Floppy Disk Object of Power.
After going into the next location, the Communications Department, Jesse finds the Floppy Disk in the Pneumatics room, launching objects at Jesse. Once she gets to the Floppy Disk, she's able to cleanse and bind it, which grants her the best ability in the game: Launch.
Launch is probably the best form of telekinesis I have ever encountered in a video game. Of all powers, it has the potential to cause the most damage, especially when upgraded fully. Ever wanted to throw three entire forklifts at the same time? Well, Launch allows you to do just that.
Even the Board refers to it as a Nuke.
Afterward, it's time to practice using Launch against some Hiss. Then there's the first boss fight of the game in the Mail Room.
Usually, in a video game, you receive a power and then use that power to your advantage against the next boss or miniboss. However, the boss faced in the Mail Room, Tommasi, is a floating Hiss, and the floating Hiss are really, really good at dodging things that are launched at them.
Also, floating Hiss (including Tommasi) tend to launch objects at Jesse, which does just as much damage to her as she does launching objects at them. This boss fight actually made me drop the game for almost a year and a half since I could not get through it without dying. It wasn't until I figured I could turn on immortality that I picked up the game again.
After "defeating" Tommasi, he flies up into the ceiling and makes his escape. We’ll see him later on, in another part of the House.
In the Hotline Chamber, we see another message from Trench, as well as a light cord hanging from the ceiling. Pulling that Cord three times sends Jesse to the Oceanview Motel and Casino, which connects various parts of the Oldest House.
The doors to the east of the Lobby (the area where Jesse starts out every journey through the Oceanview Motel) have different symbols on the doors: a spiral, a black pyramid facing down, a white pyramid facing up, rectangles nested inside each other, two circles overlapping with a dot in the middle, and two broken circles with a line at the bottom.
The spiral represents Alan Wake, while the overlapping circles are for Vanguard, one of Remedy's canceled projects. These two broken circles are the symbol for Control Resonant, which is also seen in Alan Wake 2's Lake House DLC.
I believe the black pyramid represents the Oldest House, or the Board. It's the door Jesse uses to get back into the Oldest House once she solves the Oceanview Motel's puzzle. The white pyramid, on the other hand? I have no idea. It could be Former, or the Blessed Organization (we will learn about both of those things later), or something else.
Back in the House, Jesse picks up the Hotline and receives a message from the Board. She's then sent to an obstacle course in the Astral Plane that introduces (but does not name) the Astral Spikes, which can't be harmed or killed and instead have to be avoided.
At the end of this obstacle course, you find the Hotline. If you actually follow the trail of particles leading upward, you'll see the inverted black pyramid that represents the Board. I didn't do that in my first playthrough. I wonder how many people never actually looked up?
Another vision of Trench directs Jessie to find the other heads of departments: Darling, Tommasi, Salvador, and Marshall. Darling is missing and Tommasi is possessed by the Hiss, so we already can't account for two of those people.
Back in Central Executive, Jesse talks with Emily and is sent off to the Maintenance Sector to lift the internal lockdown so she can reach the other sectors.
Part 3: Directorial Override
Posted 30 January 2026
Directorial Override
Upon entering the Sector Elevator, Jesse hears Ahti's voice telling her to meet him in Maintenance. Since the internal lockdown is still going on, the only place available for the elevator to go is the Maintenance Access Corridor.
Ahti has his own office, with signs pointing helpfully toward it. There is a break room with flashing red lights across the hall from the Janitor's office, and in that room is another Object of Power: The Merry-Go-Round Horse, which grants Jesse the Evade power once she binds it.
After that's done, Jesse heads to the Janitor's Office and meets up with Ahti, who points Jesse in the proper direction to get the internal lockdown lifted. But first, Jesse needs to fix the NSC Power Plant as it's malfunctioning due to the Hiss.
Ahti gives Jesse level 2 clearance and also points out the board in the Janitor's Office, where sidequests will show up from time to time as you progress through the game.
Did you think this was one of Ahti's directly translated Finnish-to-English idioms? Well, as we learn later, it isn't.
After leaving the Janitor's Office, there's another vision from Trench, who states that it's the director's duty to keep the lights on.
Now Jesse gets to the NSC Power Plant, which has the ominous red flow of the Hiss. There are no Hiss at the moment, and an FBC guard tells Jesse to talk to Arish, who's chief of security. He explains that the Hiss are messing with the energy converters and the coolant pumps of the NSC, which Jesse needs to fix.
Fun fact: the elevator in the coolant pumps doesn’t play too well with some GPUs. This is how it looked with my old GTX 1650:
There are plenty of Hiss to fight at the energy converters and coolant pumps – including the very annoying exploding floating Hiss – but Jesse gets both systems fixed and returns to the Power Plant, were there are, once again, more Hiss.
There is a sidequest reached through the NSC Energy Converters, A Good Defense, that grants the Shield power. It's an obstacle course that can be completed with the abilities Jesse has right then, but I found it much easier to do once I'd obtained Levitate and upgraded Launch a little.
Finally Jesse can lift the internal lockdown, which has to be done in the NSC Control Room. The lockdown is lifted using the Service Weapon and all the other sectors become available. But Jesse wants to go back to Central Executive and tell Emily why she actually came to the Oldest House.
Jesse explains she has a brother, Dylan, and they found a Slide Projector in their hometown, Ordinary, when they were younger. Some things came through that Slide Projector, including Polaris, who's been with Jesse ever since. The FBC came to Ordinary and grabbed Dylan, but Jesse got away.
Emily has never heard of the Slide Projector, but knows that Trench and Darling were both involved in the Ordinary AWE. Information about it is in the Containment Sector. Emily does have some information for Jesse: the test results she obtained earlier matched with P6 (who Jesse assumes is Dylan) and Hedron, which Emily assumes is connected to the Hedron Resonance Amplifiers.
Marshall, Head of Operations, went to the Research Sector to ensure the FBC could create more HRAs. Jesse assumes that this is now her best chance to find Dylan, so heads off to the Research Sector through the Sector Elevator.
There's an ominous message from Ahti when the mission ends, saying he'll come calling when the time is right. He helped Jesse, now she'll need to help him at some point in the future. I really do thinks this refers solely to the sidequests you find in the Janitor's Office and nothing else...unless it's some kind of link to Control Resonant. But that's something none of us will know for months.
Before going off to the Research Sector, I went back to the NSC Power Plant to talk to Arish. He's got things to say about various subjects, including the NSC Power Plant. He doesn't know what it is (it's classified), just that it can never be opened. Also, the Hiss really want to get inside it.
Later on, we learn that NSC stands for Northmoor Sarcophagus Container. Northmoor is one of the previous directors of the FBC, who lost control of his powers and "agreed" to be contained in the NSC as an energy source. No date is ever given for that occurring, but Northmoor was appointed as director in 1964, so I'm assuming it was sometime in the 70s or 80s. As these status monitors show, he's still alive.
The NSC we see in-game isn't the first one; it's NSC-02. NSC-01 contained Northmoor for some time before he caused it to vanish. It can apparently be seen when you're undergoing Expeditions in the Quarry Threshold, but I never thought to look around enough to find it.
The NSC-02 suppresses Northmoor's ability to make it vanish, but with the Hiss invasion going on for seven years at the beginning of Control Resonant, I can't help but wonder if some of the maintenance that keeps the NSC functioning simply would get neglected in favor of more pressing concerns. If the Hiss get in, and Northmoor then gets out – not just out of the NSC, but out of the Oldest House – that would be a serious concern. And, maybe, a really interesting boss fight.
Part 4: Old Boys' Club
Posted 6 February 2026
Old Boys' Club
The Sector Elevator now leads to the Research Sector. Jesse steps out into Central Research and is greeted by a video of Dr. Darling welcoming visitors from other parts of the Oldest House.
This is one of the areas of the game where ray tracing makes a huge difference. There are a massive number of reflective surfaces in Central Research, which actually made reading some signs (and the map) a little difficult.
As pretty and impressive as it is, I feel like the ray tracing gets a little too distracting sometimes. The text on this map is barely readable at certain angles.
After fighting off some Hiss and destroying some Hiss clusters (red cube-like things that block off areas), Jesse can now proceed to Parapsychology to find Marshall. But before that, I did some exploring in Central Research. There are plenty of documents to find, another video by Dr. Darling, and at the very bottom of Central Research, an acoustic room where you can listen to My Dark Disquiet by Poets of the Fall. The lyrics are on a chalkboard right outside.
Poets of the Fall are the real-life band that perform all of Old Gods of Asgard's songs in the Remedyverse. This particular song isn't an Old Gods song, but we will hear an Old Gods song later in the game.
Though, that does raise the question: if the Old Gods didn't perform this song in-universe, then who did?
After going through the doors to Parapsychology, we get a message from Marshall, who's in trouble. The straightforward path to Marshall is blocked by the Hiss, so Jesse has to take a different route through the Sector. As you may have guessed, there are plenty of Hiss in the way.
This route takes Jesse through the Astral Exhibition, which contains multiple videos by Dr. Darling explaining the Astral Plane, a diorama of part of the Astral Plane, and behind that diorama, a video projection of...something, presumably in the Astral Plane.
One of those Darling videos explains that an Astral Spike came back from the Astral Plane with an FBC agent, and now they keep it in the Astral Exhibition. Except with the Hiss and the lockdown, it's gotten out of containment and Jesse needs to put it back in.
Astral Spikes can't be harmed, so Jesse has to lure it in and wait until it's in the right place before closing doors quickly enough that it can't follow her. This can be difficult to time properly if you aren't properly making use of Evade.
Outside of the Astral Exhibition is a loudspeaker that Jesse tries to use to communicate (unsuccessfully) with Marshall. After going through Parapsychology, fighting off some Hiss, and cleansing a Control Point, the area returns to relatively normal, and Jesse can use an intercom near the elevators to finally, properly talk to Marshall.
It's a very brief conversation where Marshall says she'll send the elevator, and then more Hiss appear. Even Jesse is annoyed by this. The elevator (if you look closely, it says PAINE ELEVATORS) takes Jesse to a part of Central Research that can't be reached without Levitate. One you get that power, there is no reason to use the elevator anymore.
Marshall and her people are currently holed up in Luck and Probability. Marshall isn't at all surprised to see Jesse, or that Trench is dead, or that Jesse is now the Director. She gets right to the point: they need to make more HRAs, but the lab isn't secure and they need Jesse's help.
Jesse's sent in to the Ritual Division, where there are rangers fighting off Hiss. It's a very red area and remains red until all the Hiss are defeated and Jesse cleanses the control point. Keeping the rangers alive tends to be pretty difficult – not just here, but in other parts of the game where rangers show up – and I think I've ended this fight with one alive at most. That’s because there are two phases to this fight. The first phase has Jesse fighting regular Hiss, and the second has a named Hiss (a miniboss) with some regular Hiss.
Jesse can now proceed to Protective Studies. There is a rubber duck Altered Item stored here. Remember the duck. It doesn't have any plot significance whatsoever, but it does show up later.
The HRA Lab is past a hallway. Jesse needs to solve a very simple puzzle to get in (the answer is right there) and then activate the HRA machine. Naturally, the machine isn't working and Jesse needs to fix that by completing another puzzle: putting the correct punch cards in the correct terminals. The symbols on the whiteboards, as well as the notes in red marker, show the correct sequence.
Marshall and her people arrive at this point. Marshall also does this thing that's common in modern video games where she comments on what the player needs to do to solve the puzzle without actually giving the player any time to figure things out. Bit annoying, really.
Jesse turns on the HRA machine and it destroys the Black Rock prism sample they have. Now they need more; Darling's got another lab in the Maintenance Sector where he keeps the prisms.
Before Jesse heads off to Maintenance, she asks Marshall about Dylan. Marshall won't give Jesse any answers until the HRA machine is fixed, which Jesse reluctantly admits is the right thing to do. Once Jesse has a new Black Rock prism, she'll meet up with Marshall in Central Executive.
When the mission ends, we're treated to a vision – perhaps – of Trench watching a video of Darling, where he seems to have predicted the Hiss invasion, and created the HRAs to counter it.
After that, Marshall opens up a door that leads directly back to Central Research. No more taking the long away around now!
Part 5: Threshold
Posted 13 February 2026
Threshold
Black Rock Processing, where Jesse needs to go next, is in the Maintenance Sector. There's a door conveniently labeled "Black Rock Processing" in Central Maintenance, and through that door, some Hiss, a warning about the Tennyson Report (potentially written by Arish), and then some platforming, which has to be one of my least favorite things about video games.
That platforming is followed by another trip to the Oceanview Motel. This time, you can hear some people talking outside the entrance to the Motel. Somehow they've managed to find the location, which the FBC has never been able to do.
It's now possible to cross the Firebreak into the Atlas Chamber.
The Atlas, which I somehow don't recall seeing at all because the fight against the Hiss took up too much of my attention, is a geometric "sculpture" created by the Oldest House. It changes form when it isn't observed, and seems to be made of the same of the same stuff as the House. What is its purpose? What does it represent? The FBC doesn’t know, and I have no clue, either.
There's a control point in the Atlas Chamber, a Dr. Darling video, and some rangers (who assist Jesse in the fight against the Hiss) and Arish. Arish has news: Black Rock Processing is nearby, but there are Hiss in there, just like everywhere else in the Oldest House. Jesse tells Arish to take his rangers to Central Executive, and she'll handle the Hiss.
In that same room with Arish is a document authored by Marshall about Trench's recent behavior. He and Darling were both acting strangely, with Trench suddenly hostile to Darling about the Hedron project – a project he personally approved.
Down the hall, a Hiss "monster", as Arish called it, appears. It's a new kind of Hiss – one that can turn invisible and suddenly appear right before it attacks. They're pretty annoying the first few times you deal with them, but once you know what to look for (they do leave a slight disturbance in the air when they're invisible), you don't have to wait until they appear before you can attack them.
Inside Dr. Darling's lab, there is a video about the Quarry Threshold, which is where Black Rock comes from. That’s where Jesse heads next.
Actually getting to the Quarry Threshold requires crossing back into the upper levels of the NSC, where you get to see what "NSC" stands for and what it's powered by: Northmoor, one of the previous directors of the FBC.
Yes, the FBC is using their old director as a power supply because he produces too much heat. I'm sure there are no ethical issues with that whatsoever, and that Jesse herself wouldn't be worried that something like this could happen to her.
There are Hiss to deal with at the entrance to the Black Rock Quarry, and an Astral Spike that is thankfully very easy to avoid. In order for Jesse to get a prism, she needs to set off a couple of explosives – after defeating some Hiss, of course. After that, it's back to Marshall to get HRA production back online. Getting out of the Quarry is actually more annoying than getting in, since there are now a few more Astral Spikes to deal with.
Now that Jesse's given Marshall the Black Rock her team needs, she's willing to talk about Dylan. Dylan was brought to the FBC and groomed to be the future Director, but his powers (who Jesse supposes were given to him by Polaris) "changed" him and the FBC abandoned that plan. Dylan is in the Panopticon in the Containment Sector.
Marshall then leaves to check on something she can't let the Hiss find. This is the last we see of her in the main game.
Jesse is now free to prioritize finding Dylan, so it's time to head off to the Containment Sector.
Part 6: My Brother's Keeper (1)
Posted 20 February 2026
Before we go on to the main mission, an aside
At this point, there were a few side quests available, including Dr. Yoshimi Tokui's Guided Imagery Experience. This mission was formerly a PS4 exclusive, but was added to the Ultimate Edition version of the game in 2025.
The most interesting part of this quest (aside from Dr. Tokui being voiced by Hideo Kojima) is that Tokui was apparently considered for the Prime Candidate Program, which is used by the FBC to choose potential Directors. This is the same Prime Candidate Program that Dylan (labeled P6) was part of.
In the Hypnosis lab is an X-ray lightbox that's causing some FBC agents to do nothing but stare at it. It's an Object of Power which grants the Seize power once Jesse binds it. This isn't a power I used very much in my first playthrough, and I've made an effort to actually use it in this one. Honestly, I can't tell how much of a help the allied Hiss are.
The last bit of side content isn't a quest. The Luck and Probability lab contains a hidden puzzle that, when solved, rewards an outfit. This whiteboard shows what you need to do in order to solve the puzzle. Naturally, I had issues and needed to repeat some steps a few times in order for it to work. This wasn't an issue with the game – it was an issue with me and my lack of ability to remember what I just did.
My Brother's Keeper
Finally, it's time to find Dylan. So, Jesse takes the Sector Elevator to the Containment Sector and-
Actually, no, there's one more detour I took before I went off to Containment. I went into the Board Room to talk to Emily Pope. Emily and Arish have new things to say from time to time, so you may want to check in with them after finishing a few main missions.
Emily's most interesting conversation is about Black Rock. The FBC uses it mostly for containment, but she thinks it could have potentially useful combat applications. I believe she specifically wants a knife. Jesse's inner monologue during this scene mentions "mad scientists" by name.
Unsurprisingly, the Hiss have made it into Containment. There are plenty to deal with until Jesse cleanses the control point in Logistics. There is also a strange, bright yellow light above the emergency shelter in the entrance of the sector; we see that same color of light in other parts of the building. Like a lot of things, it's never explained. It's just there.
Wait, it's another detour
In Logistics is a person calling for help: Horowitz, an injured ranger. He and his squadmate, Wells, were chasing a runaway Altered Item in a nearby threshold (which he refers to as "The Clocks"), but only he made it out of the Oceanview Motel and back into the Oldest House. This starts a sidequest, A Matter of Time, which I usually do immediately as it opens up a large part of the sector.
The puzzle in the Oceanview Motel has to do with clocks; there is a clock in the lobby that shows a time that the clock in currently open room must match. The hard part of this is getting the clock hands to stop at the correct time, as there's a tiny bit of delay between you pressing the button to stop the clock and the clock hands actually stopping.
There are plenty of clocks in the threshold. In fact, there's one room and a hallway that are entirely filled with clocks. For some reason, I never took a screenshot of it (and I can't seem to find good images of it anywhere on the internet), so you'll have to take my word for it.
Wells is alive, and leads Jesse out of the threshold. He somehow has level 9 clearance, which no one else in the game does – not even Jesse by the end of the game. There are two level 9 doors in the game, and both are in this mission, presumably to stop the player from breaking the game by jumping into places they shouldn't be.
Jesse and Wells fight through some Hiss, climb over a bunch of clocks, and make it back into Logistics. Unfortunately, Horowitz's HRA was damaged when he was injured, and now he's possessed by the Hiss. After defeating Hiss-possessed Horowitz, Jesse directs Wells to Central Executive. I don't actually know if he shows up there as a unique NPC.
The Altered Item that was causing issues in the threshold is still at large, and we receive a sidequest, The Enemy Within, to deal with it. It isn't possible to complete this sidequest until Jesse gets the Levitate power, so I went back to the main mission.
My Brother's Keeper
From Logistics, Jesse heads to Security. There is a Wall of Honor listing names of fallen FBC agents (actually Remedy developers).
We can't take the straightforward way to the Panopticon, so Jesse goes into the Medical Wing, which, oddly enough, has mold growing on the walls (and floors, and ceilings) in some places. Some of it will explode if you shoot it. There are also mold zombies, which I will admit severely startled me the first time I saw them. I was not expecting mold zombies in this game.
There is a document labeled "Mold Autopsy" that explains a little, but we won't discover what's going on until we enter what I like to think of as the Mold Dimension.
Back in Security, Jesse finds a monitor that shows that Dylan's cell has been breached. She's worried (with good reason) that the Hiss has gotten to him and hopes that Polaris can somehow protect him.
There is a light switch cord in Security. Pulling it the first time shows a brief vision of Dylan's face. According to something I read years back, this was a bug, not something intentional by the developers! If that's true, it's one of the most appropriate bugs to ever exist.
This time, screaming can be heard in the Oceanview Motel and Casino. There is also blood coming out from under door 223, which seems to be where the screaming is coming from. Who's screaming? Why is he screaming? How did he get here in the first place? I suspect those questions will never be answered.
After solving the puzzle in the Oceanview, Jesse ends up in front of a Firebreak that leads to the Panopticon. She enters and hears…some humming? There are some people alive here, too.
That's something we'll get to in the next part. This mission is one of the longer ones. I had to split it in half!