The Reason Behind Taking Our New Hero Out of Control Resonant

Players of Control Resonant have expressed mixed feelings about the shift from the stark, brutalist environment of the original game, Control (2019). However, the connection each protagonist has with the building itself clarifies why this change was necessary. With distinct settings in each game, we gain a deeper understanding of Jesse and Dylan Faden.

This discussion delves into narrative developments that unfold in the latter half of Control Resonant.

Both games follow the story of siblings Jesse and Dylan, exploring their ties to a shadowy government agency known as the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), which is responsible for managing supernatural occurrences. As children, the siblings encountered the FBC after a catastrophic event, where they were seen as valuable subjects rather than innocent kids. Dylan was captured, while Jesse managed to escape.

Dylan endured nearly two decades of imprisonment, experimentation, and torture.

In Control, Jesse, now in her twenties, finally confronts the FBC and seeks out Dylan. The bureau operates from the Oldest House, a mysterious, windowless monolith in Manhattan that functions as an otherworldly entity with endless halls and its own bizarre laws of nature. This strange environment is one of my favorite video game settings.

Instead of becoming a prisoner like her brother, Jesse rises to become the Director of the FBC. Throughout Control, she develops her supernatural abilities and proves herself as a formidable force against the malevolent entities within the Oldest House, earning the respect of the FBC staff. Her ascent to leadership is not a mere stroke of luck; she truly earns her position.

Meanwhile, Dylan has been trapped and experimented on within the Oldest House for 17 years. During this time, he encounters a hostile entity known as the Hiss and, in a desperate bid for freedom, allows it to take control of his body. Unfortunately, the Hiss exploits him and his powers to spread its influence, leading to the catastrophic events of Control, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of FBC personnel.

In Control, Dylan becomes the face of the enemy, yet Jesse remains determined to rescue him from both the FBC and the Hiss.

By the end of Control, Jesse manages to purge Dylan and much of the Oldest House of the Hiss, but Dylan falls into a coma for seven years, setting the stage for Resonant.

When Dylan awakens in 2026, he discovers that the Hiss have escaped. Following a path of destruction, he steps outside for the first time in 24 years. To put it in perspective, he enters the Oldest House at age 10 and leaves at 34, his life consumed and distorted by the FBC and its researchers, particularly Casper Darling.

It’s no surprise that the narrative needed to venture outside. Unlike Jesse, who lived her life beyond the FBC’s grasp (the agency was aware of her whereabouts but chose to let her live as a control subject for Dylan), Dylan was imprisoned for most of his existence.

Upon his release, some FBC leaders immediately want to return him to captivity. Many hold him responsible for the events of the first game that led to the deaths of over 500 of their colleagues. While Dylan acknowledges the Hiss’s possession, he also feels guilt for succumbing to its influence. Throughout Resonant, he is often apologetic and seeks to appease the FBC.

Dylan is not his sister; he is the FBC’s captive, not its leader. Jesse’s story unfolds within the bureaucratic structure she now oversees, while Dylan’s narrative has already been etched into the fabric of the Oldest House. Players have witnessed his story since the first game.

Just as Jesse experienced the Oldest House for the first time, Dylan now encounters the outside world anew—a world that moved on without him. This reflects their differing relationships with the FBC. For instance, Dr. Darling, who had vanished into another dimension by the time Jesse arrives in 2019, was in charge of Dylan’s training.

While the first game presents Darling as a charming and brilliant figure through tapes Jesse discovers, Resonant reveals his true nature. He is a bully and manipulator, disregarding young Dylan’s pleas for freedom and subjecting him to physical abuse. In one tape, Darling berates Dylan, forcing him to run laps for failing to meet his expectations.

The likable scientist from the first game is gone, replaced by the abuser Dylan knows all too well.

Dylan’s escape from the Oldest House aligns with his desire to break free from the Bureau’s control. Jesse, however, embraces her role within the FBC. In Control, she reflects, “Everything here feels crazy, weird, but it feels right. Like how the world should be. I’m in an infinite building leading to different dimensions and I never want to leave. Even with all the horror, I’m happy. It feels sane. Or just the right kind of insane.”

Conversely, Dylan expresses a desire to never return. How could he?

Each game allows us to witness the Faden siblings carving out their identities. As Darling learned, Dylan’s transformation was never going to happen within the confines of the Oldest House.

While I appreciate the allure of revisiting the bizarre bureaucratic halls, I can’t imagine that being a possibility for Dylan, given his past and the FBC’s treatment of him. He could never become a whole person in that prison. I’m grateful we got to explore the strange world outside its infinite walls and see Dylan break free from his traumatic past, finally able to forge his own identity.