Control Resonant is a direct sequel to 2019's Control — but creative director Mikael Kasurinen has confirmed the sequel is built to stand alone, so you don't need to play the original first.
That said, the story hits harder when you know what came before. This recap covers the events of Control and its Foundation and AWE expansions, and ties them to what we know about Control Resonant — without major spoilers for the 2026 game's twists.
This page recaps the full story of Control, including its ending. If you plan to play the first game yourself, do that first — it's a short 11–13 hour story. Come back here afterward (or if you've decided to skip straight to the sequel).
The Setup: The Federal Bureau of Control
The Control universe is built on a simple, eerie premise: sometimes ordinary objects become paranatural. A refrigerator that's always cold. A flip phone that answers itself. A rubber duck that bends gravity. The Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) is the secret U.S. government agency tasked with containing these "Altered Items" and "Objects of Power," researching the paranatural, and keeping the public in the dark.
The FBC is headquartered in the Oldest House — a Brutalist skyscraper in Manhattan that's older than the building itself, shifts its interior layout, and exists only for those who know how to find it. It is, in every meaningful sense, alive.
Who Is Jesse Faden?
You play as Jesse Faden, a young woman who arrives at the Oldest House looking for answers about a traumatic childhood event — the Ordinary AWE of 2002 in Ordinary, Maine — that killed her parents and left her younger brother Dylan in FBC custody.
What Jesse doesn't expect is to walk in on a full-scale paranormal emergency. The Bureau's Director, Zachariah Trench, has just died under mysterious circumstances, and the entire building is being consumed by a hostile paranatural force called the Hiss. When Jesse picks up Trench's weapon — the Service Weapon — it bonds with her and she becomes the new Director of the FBC.
The Service Weapon is a paranatural "Object of Power" that serves as both a sidearm and a symbol of the Director's authority. Only the chosen Director can wield it. In Control Resonant, Jesse's brother Dylan wields the Aberrant — a shapeshifting melee weapon with five distinct forms. The two weapons are related; the Aberrant is the sequel's evolution of the concept.
The Hiss Invasion
The central conflict of Control is the Hiss — a resonant, hostile force from another dimension that has corrupted most of the FBC's agents and is reshaping the Oldest House from the inside. The Hiss speaks in a chanted incantation that runs through the entire game, and it's characterized by a kind of resonant, vibrating invasion of reality.
Jesse fights through the Oldest House to:
- Cleanse the Hiss from each sector, using her growing paranatural abilities (levitation, telekinesis, mind control).
- Restore the Board — the mysterious extradimensional entity that empowers the FBC and the Director.
- Find out what happened to Dylan, who has been a Bureau test subject for fifteen years.
The Board, the Former, and Hedron
Control introduces two opposing paranatural entities:
- The Board — a pyramid-shaped, inverted-triangle entity that grants the Director power and is the FBC's silent patron. Its symbol is everywhere in the FBC's branding, and it's the reason for the FBC mark you'll see throughout this site.
- The Former — a former member of the Board, banished, and now a dangerous third party.
- Hedron — the source of "resonance" that empowers Jesse, hidden deep in the Oldest House.
The Hiss, it turns out, was originally a sample Trench brought back to study — and his accidental exposure is what let the invasion loose. The story's central tragedy is that Trench, trying to protect the Bureau, doomed it.
The Ending of Control
Control's climax reveals that Dylan was the FBC's original candidate for Director — the Bureau believed he had the stronger connection to the Board. But Dylan was unstable, traumatized, and ultimately consumed by the Hiss during the experiments meant to harness him. By the time Jesse reaches him, Dylan is lost.
Jesse defeats the Hiss-corrupted Dylan, contains the invasion, and accepts her role as Director. The Oldest House is partially restored. Dylan survives, but is in a coma — the sequel's protagonist.
The Foundation DLC
The Foundation expansion takes Jesse below the Oldest House to the Bedrock — the literal foundation of the Bureau's power. It reveals that the Board's pyramid is anchored to a vast structure of Black Rock, a paranatural mineral. The Former has been interfering with that foundation.
The DLC ends with Jesse fully committing to her role as Director — she stabilizes the Foundation and locks in her authority, even as the Board remains cryptic and manipulative.
The AWE DLC: The Alan Wake Crossover
AWE is where Remedy's connected universe becomes explicit. The expansion centers on an Altered World Event (AWE) that occurred in the town of Bright Falls — the setting of Alan Wake. Alan Wake himself, trapped in the "Dark Place" since 2010, has been writing reality from inside it, and his writing has been leaking into the FBC's files.
Key reveals in AWE:
- Alan Wake is alive, in the Dark Place, and has been manipulating events from within fiction itself.
- The Hiss and the Dark Place may be related — both are extradimensional threats that leak through narrative.
- The expansion ends with a teaser for a future crossover, which the sequel cycle has since made good on in Alan Wake 2.
How This Sets Up Control Resonant
Here's what we know about the connection between Control and Control Resonant:
- The sequel is set roughly seven years later, in 2026 in-universe. Dylan has awakened from his coma.
- Jesse Faden has disappeared. Dylan is searching for her — the central mystery of the game.
- The setting moves from the Oldest House to warped, Hiss-corrupted Manhattan. Whatever happened after Control let the paranatural out.
- Dylan is the new protagonist, wielding the Aberrant — the five-form melee weapon that's the sequel's signature.
- Creative director Mikael Kasurinen has confirmed the sequel stands alone — you can follow Dylan's story without having played Control, the AWE DLC, or Alan Wake 2.
Jesse and Dylan are siblings, both marked by the same childhood AWE. The first game ended with Dylan comatose after being consumed by the Hiss. The sequel opens with Dylan awake and Jesse missing — and that gap is where everything you'll play actually lives.
Do I Need to Play Control First?
No. Remedy has built Control Resonant as a standalone story — Dylan's perspective as a newcomer to the active conflict means new players can pick up the lore as they go. But the experience will reward returning players:
- The Aberrant's relationship to the Service Weapon
- The Board and the Former — what they are, what they want
- The Hiss, and how it keeps leaking back
- The Alan Wake connections
If you have time before September 24, 2026, Control Ultimate Edition (base game + both DLCs) is a 20–24 hour playthrough and the single best preparation. If you don't, read this recap and you're in good shape.
FAQ
Is Control Resonant a sequel to Control?
Yes. It's set about seven years after Control and follows Jesse's brother Dylan as he searches for the missing Jesse in a paranatural crisis consuming Manhattan.
Do I need to play Control before Control Resonant?
No. Creative director Mikael Kasurinen has confirmed the sequel is built to stand alone. Returning players will catch more references, but new players won't be locked out of the story.
Who is the protagonist of Control Resonant?
Dylan Faden, Jesse's brother. In Control, Dylan was a comatose former FBC test subject; in the sequel he has awakened and is the player character.
What is the Hiss?
The Hiss is the hostile resonant paranatural force that invaded the Oldest House in Control. It remains a central threat in the sequel, with a corrupted Manhattan as its staging ground.
Do I need to play Alan Wake 2 to understand Control Resonant?
No. While Remedy's connected universe (the "Remedy Connected Universe") ties the games together, Control Resonant is written to be playable without prior Alan Wake knowledge. The AWE DLC for Control is the canonical bridge if you want the full context.
What is the FBC?
The Federal Bureau of Control — the secret U.S. agency that researches and contains paranatural phenomena. It's the organizational backdrop of both games, and its inverted-triangle logo is the brand mark you see throughout this site.
The Bottom Line
Control ends with Jesse as Director, the Oldest House partially restored, and Dylan comatose. Control Resonant opens seven years later with Dylan awake and Jesse gone — and the seven-year gap is exactly where the sequel lives. Whether you play the original or just read this recap, you're set up for September 24, 2026. Pair this with our beginner guide and pre-order guide and you're ready to go.
