Start CONTROL Resonant with Orientation, then follow the Contain the Crisis missions until the game asks you to deal with the Hedron. Three Jesse Faults supply movement abilities that the story later expects: Orientation gives you Double-Jump, Elevate and Rush; the Incursion Fault gives you Shift; the Subway Fault gives you Reach. The Underpass Fault completes the Jesse ritual chain needed in the Oldest House. If a main objective appears to stop, check those quests and the required Resonant fights before searching the same room again. This route follows the main story through The Beginning epilogue and includes the Pope’s Research work needed to cross the Unknown.
Orientation: leave the Oldest House and beat the Artist
Choose a Primary Aberrant Form when Dylan wakes. Strike favors quick hits, Glaive sweeps through groups, and Cleave rewards attacks from behind. Your opening choice does not decide the whole run; later materials unlock more forms. Leave the cell through the green-lit doors. At the locked security gate, enter the room on its left and hit the control to open the way. Take the elevator, clear the first Hiss encounter, and follow the stairs toward the Thomas Street Exit sign. A second elevator and the hole in the wall take you outside.
Head toward the hotel indicated by the objective. Follow the street, turn right and then left through the alley, and clear the enemies that prompt your first Secondary Form choice. Use the dodge jump to cross the wider gaps on the route to Zoe, who is waiting beside a huge break in the street. Follow her into the alley and watch the birds: they lead across the building and through a window. Interact with the TV inside, cross the Fault to Jesse, and complete the ritual. The movement tutorial grants Double-Jump, Elevate and Rush. Use those abilities to reach the last TV and return to Manhattan.
Climb toward the patterned gallery. Either side of the buildings leads up to it; the door at the rear starts the Artist fight. Keep moving when the boss throws cars or rock waves. Its traffic-light swings cover the space directly in front of it, so dodge through the attack before closing for Aberrant hits. At the blue marker on its health bar, healing pickups appear and the Artist rises above the arena. Climb the new platforms and hit the glowing point underneath it to bring it down. After that, rocks fall along the path it slides across. Step off that line before following it. Winning moves Dylan into the Gap for his first Combat Ability choice. Pick the ability that solves the problem you are having: Barrage supplies range, Shield helps survival, and Volatile Anomaly supplies a throwable ally. The alternatives require a later reset or unlock; they are not all granted at once.
Welcome to Manhattan: map the route and restore Central Checkpoint
After speaking with Zoe and Pope, leave the Oldest House. The map initially appears blank because the Mapping Pylon is inactive. From the rooftops south of the exit, locate the three smaller dishes in the directions indicated by the large tower’s dishes. Activate each small radio, then the large pylon to reveal the district map. This step also begins the wider Mapping the New New York activity, but you can continue the story immediately.
Go southeast to the maintenance worker’s search area, defeat the Hiss, and move the electrical charge toward Central Checkpoint. Strike the powered box to take the charge onto the Aberrant, then run to the next box before it expires. One connection opens a garage containing the worker; the next goes by rooftop, and the last powers the checkpoint. Clear the Hiss that spawn, ride the elevators upward and meet Zoe in the Watchtower. Activate its fast travel door before descending to the supply route.
Below the tower, carry the charge from the lower floor to a box one level up, then take it across the room to open the onward passage. The first side room contains a Power Upgrade crate. Clear the Hiss in the large room and follow the FBC FIELD OFFICE sign. A Health Upgrade crate sits in the left room near the subway exit. Outside, continue northeast to the VERCONN Field Office and take the Level 1 Security Keycard from its desk. This also satisfies the opening keycard objective of Evacuation Procedures.
Evacuation Procedures: open the building and bring Arish out
From the Central Supply Route Station, take the road southeast into the Evacuation Zone. The Evac Building has a red Hiss formation above it and a blocked entrance. Follow the red trails to the Hiss orbs feeding the barrier. One is in front of the building. Another is southwest in an alley, behind enemies and a garage door: take a charge from the mapped Power Core Station to the rooftop box to open that garage. A further orb is north of the building near shielded floating enemies; use the nearby roof to reach it. Destroy the visible orbs until the front door opens. If the entrance stays sealed, follow a remaining red trail rather than repeatedly trying the door.
Take the left elevator to floor 12. Clear the large room, use the hallway marked by blue light, and follow the scaffolding. A Health Point crate is on the left when you re-enter the building. After the flashback, destroy the next orb to enable the elevator to floor 15. Cross the long red room, speak with Arish after the next sequence, and retrace your path. When the return elevator is interrupted, break the orb blocking progress. Arish then gives you a Level 2 Keycard. Open the nearby clearance door, destroy the orb in the earlier combat room, and defeat the new Hiss wave. Leave by the yellow-lit hallway and ride the elevator back to ground level. Exiting the lobby completes the rescue.
Return to the Field Office in Central for Arish’s Briefing. Arish starts Power Lines and Into the Sinkhole together. Their order is flexible, but both must be finished before the CFD plan can continue. The next story gate also requires the Central and West Incursion Zone Resonants. Use this point to collect Shift and clear those fights while their regions are open.
Get Shift and defeat the two Resonants needed by the CFD plan
Enter the West Incursion Zone and follow the Jesse vision to its Parking Garage. The garage door needs a security key. Search southwest for the WEAR’EM & WASH’EM shop, go into the alley beside it, and take the rear door near the laser hitting the ground. Interact with the floating body for the Parking Garage Security Key. Back at the garage, unlock the door, ride to the roof and drop down its central hole. Cross to the TV at the bottom to enter the Incursion Fault. Talk to Jesse and complete the ritual to gain Shift, the ability to align Dylan with gravity-altered walls and ceilings. On the return trip, Shift onto the wall behind the TV and follow it back up to the garage roof.
The West Incursion Zone Resonant is in the theater. At the first long gap, jump to the platform on the left, Shift onto the ceiling, and climb the wall to a balcony. From there, make the long jump to the scaffold attached to the next building. Continue shifting along the surfaces until you see the red EMPIRE sign. The subway tunnel to its left leads toward the theater entrance in the north. If the approach seems to end at an impossible wall, the missing step is usually the Incursion Fault’s Shift unlock or the scaffold jump from the balcony.
On the theater stage, the Dancer lunges and spins across the floor. Dodge its pounce, then punish the pause after a spin from behind. A falter window appears when the stage goes dark and the boss is outlined in blue. Use the finishing prompt, but stay ready: it rises for an encore. The second phase adds an aerial throw of two audience puppets before the Dancer dives. Keep moving through that sequence, attack during its recovery, and finish it at the next blue-lit falter window. The reward choice is Push or Ground Slam.
If you are also collecting the missable Be What You Want to Be achievement, the optional The Party Won’t Stop story is in the southwest of this zone. Enter its apartment from the higher street east of the marker, jumping to the roof. At the karaoke machine, choose the lines ending in this order: gasoline, stress, so fleeting, too long, move, fear, everything, higher and higher, Shout. A wrong answer kills a guest. Reload the last save immediately if that happens; completing the main theater objective does not repair the karaoke result.
For the Central Resonant, go to the Patterned Factory in northern Central. Inspect the marked pipes on its south wall, climb the east-side platforms to the roof, and break the wooden entrance. Clear the factory, take the elevator and follow the scorch marks down toward the furnace. At the flame-filled corridor, take the two side paths and destroy the magma sacs feeding the pipes before entering the arena.
The Deserter starts by tracking you with a lava stream. Rush around the arena until it stops, then get behind it for airborne hits. Its forward collapse also leaves a safe opening at its back. After its first health refill, dodge the volleys of three fiery projectiles and continue attacking from behind to avoid the frontal stab. When four magma sacs appear around the arena, destroy them immediately: the flames heal the boss while they remain. Finish the fight to choose Ignite or Inferno. This fight and the theater fight, along with the two CFD preparation missions, unlock Enemy of My Enemy. The optional Park Resonant can wait; its Mold Gate and reward are separate from this story gate.
Power Lines: calibrate three stations and the vanished platforms
Enter the Level 1 door east of the Field Office’s southern corner to reach the three stations. At Perimeter Station, take a charge to the northern shutter so you can collect the device behind it. Put three Calibration Units on the yellow taped squares around the Tuning Device. One unit is behind that shutter, one is at the dead end of the tracks, and one is upstairs opposite your entrance. The nearest square gets one unit; the two farther squares take the others. The central machine’s light turns green when you have placed them correctly.
At Factory Station, carry the unit from the shop near the entrance downstairs. Find another under the entrance stairs and a third on the train to the left. Arrange all three in the straight row facing the main machine and activate it. East Park Station hides one unit upstairs, one behind a gate, and one beside the device. Destroy the Mold covering the three placement squares. If the gated unit is inaccessible, interact with the main machine until it sends you into the upper room, break the gate panel there, and bring the unit down. Place all three and activate the device.
The exit now becomes a wall. Inspect the speaker and return to the platform; the spinning obstruction in the subway tunnel is gone. Clear the Mold and reach the Vanished Station. Platform B is your route to Platform A, but A must be calibrated first. Take the electrical charge from the upper room and use it to open the door, then collect its Calibration Unit. Break the Mold blocking the survivor area while that room has no power. Bring two units to Platform B and power both of its boxes to teleport to A. At A, move a charge to the box that opens the upper gate for another unit. Return power to the middle room so the Mold over a placement square can be removed; position A’s two units and start its machine.
Back at B, let power grow the two Mold patches that bridge the broken wires in the center. They must remain in place to conduct electricity. Remove power before breaking the two Mold patches on the outer device squares. Put a Calibration Unit on each cleared square and activate B’s machine. If the circuit stops working, check the center wire patches first: breaking them is different from clearing the side squares. Defeat the Mold that spawn and speak with Dr. Florez in the central area to finish Power Lines.
Into the Sinkhole and Enemy of My Enemy
In the Evacuation Zone, board the diving bell at the Sinkhole and start its descent. When it stops, clear the Hiss and restart it. The next interruption is an invisible miniboss. Watch the minimap and red lamps to find its approximate position, strike there to reveal it, and deal with the pair that follows. At the bottom, carry each of the four probe relays to its marked position on the buildings. The indicator blinks faster as you approach the correct place and turns green when positioned; activate the back of each placed relay. After the fourth, the diving bell rises out of reach and Hiss attack.
Clear the wave, then watch the large flying enemy. When it descends and pauses, jump onto its back and damage the orb. After it falls, climb the new platforms and follow the lit bell cord upward. Wait for the spinning refraction to open before jumping through. Near the top, TVs playing music mark the exit. Follow them outside. If the Enemy of My Enemy objective is still absent, check the quest log for Power Lines and the two required Resonants; completing only the Sinkhole does not start the CFD defense.
Meet Pope at Central’s Field Office, then Arish at the CFD platform by the Sinkhole. Defend the device against Hiss in the street, fight back toward it after being displaced, and return to the platform when the objective changes. Pull the switch at its rear. The next corridor changes gravity. Shift along its walls to follow the moving CFD, and use the HVAC wall to reach the central opening after the first enemies. In the large square area, destroy the three Hiss orbs on the walls, then jump across the middle platforms to the opened hole. Follow the CFD to the last switch. When it fails and Dylan is thrown back, run toward it again and use the interaction prompt to destroy the device. The story returns you to the Oldest House.
The Subway Fault, Underpass Fault and Recursions and Iterations
Get Reach before the Underpass route asks you to cross a grapple gap. Enter Railyard Street Station from the Evacuation Zone to start the Subway Fault. Descend past the trains, using the track sides or Shifted wall to stay out of their path. Past the Mold-filled tunnels, drop through the large train shaft to the platform with enemies opposite your entrance. The rear door leads to a TV. Speak with Jesse inside the Fault and follow the new Reach points to finish its ritual. On the way out, grapple upward through the shaft. Activating the Patterned Metro Tunnels fast travel door makes a later return easier.
Recursions and Iterations begins with Pope in the Oldest House lobby. Re-enter the Sinkhole through the laundromat, follow the PERSONNEL ACCESS marking and yellow tape down, and activate the Sinkhole fast travel door before dropping through the diving bell’s old opening. In the Underpass, follow the white lights tied to ropes toward The Spire. Activate The Spire door. At the Halfway Trail, the yellow-lit platform across the gap needs Reach. If Dylan cannot grapple it, go back for the Subway Fault now. At the beacon, inspect the bodies, search westward for the researchers and take Grist’s device after she disappears.
The investigation sends you back through two research sites and to Ayad. Follow the yellow tape up his tower. One charged cube is already in the room east of him; bring in three more from the shifting wall rooms and the platform to the east. Speak to Ayad after all four are together. Continue to the other research site, locate Grist near the southeast edge, inspect the recording at the western tower, then defend the transmission tower. Return to the cable car on the east side. Ride it across the chasm, follow the red beacons, and use Shift on the wall of the large open room to reach its far exit. At the Deepest Underpass door, take the final probe through the pipes, place it beside the tree and activate it.
Before The House in Distress, finish the Underpass Fault on Tubes Island. From The Spire, grapple across the Reach points to the island of orange pipes and activate its fast travel door. Clear the Mold above, enter the gap on the island’s west side, and take the white-lit passage to its TV. Inside, inspect the projected shadows on the right, left and center. Later, follow the wall projections of the children around the left route. Lead the Dylan projection down the right path, grapple back to the upper platform, then bring the Jesse projection from the lower right using Shift on the left wall. Follow Jesse through the remaining wall opening and TV to finish the ritual. This quest is the progression check that opens the Oldest House Fault later.
The House in Distress and the first Hedron Link
Meet Zoe at Executive Research by taking the Oldest House lobby elevator. Clear its Hiss room, take the lower south elevator, and let Zoe open the Main Observation door. If the route pauses here, complete the Underpass Fault first. Beyond Classrooms, carry a charge from the east side to the south door. The next room locks behind you. Match the patterns shown on its white screens by powering the wall cores in sequence: top-left, top-right and bottom-middle for an inverted triangle; all four corners for a square; then the middle row plus top-middle and bottom-middle for a cross.
Once the door reopens, take two charges back to Zoe and restore the main room’s power. Enter the west High Risk Chamber, meet Zoe at Director Training, clear the Hiss and use the TV in the Main Test Chamber. Follow the Fault path to Jesse, interact with the next TV, and stay on the path when its surfaces break away. Reaching Jesse again completes the ritual.
The Hedron Link starts after the interrupted ritual. Retrace the Prime Candidate Testing route, using secondary attacks or Fire and Mold effects against Hedron enemies that resist basic Raw damage. At the smashed cell, clear the new enemies, then use the intercom beside the Main Test Chamber to contact Pope. In that chamber, Shift onto either side wall and climb with the moving pillar. The passage onward is through cell gates near its upper end. Avoid descending the opposite wall, which looks similar but sends you back. Outside, climb the separated platforms; in the shifting hallway follow the red carpet. Interact with the Patterned TV in the Unknown, cross the Fault and fight the Hedron Parallel. Clear its smaller enemies while dodging projectiles, then damage the main body when it becomes vulnerable. Return by the elevator and report to Pope.
Sever the Hedron Links in the Unknown
Take the Oldest House elevator above Pope to Roof Access and return to the Unknown. Activate the Rooftop fast travel door. Pope’s Research appears as a side story, but its probe relays are the way across this zone. On an island, cut down its weather balloon, break the fallen crate, and pick up a probe. The minimap marks that probe’s correct red circle; its beeps speed up near the spot and its light turns green when placed. Put each probe in its own circle before using the Gravity Well that appears. The first well reaches the central island, where the map reveals the connections to the others. Repeat the process as you travel; if no well appears, check the remaining probe lights rather than jumping into open space.
The southern route near the Patterned Evac Building leads to one Hedron Link. Cross the platforms to its TV. Inside, defeat the heavy enemy pairs from Hedron Factor. At each blue health marker, clear the smaller enemies and avoid the mines it scatters; the heavy pair then returns. The northeastern island by the Patterned Field Office leads to the other link and Hedron Proxy. Dodge the brick enemies it sends out, then damage them after their charge. Watch the smaller enemies that join the last part of the fight. Either link may be finished first. Both must be severed for the main quest to advance.
The Unknown Resonant is another route through the region, reached by the Gravity Wells leading to the Field Office island. Answer the ranger call, clear their first room, and follow them to four moving sheds. Strike the shed that is out of step with the other three four times to open the door. For the later charged gate, take electricity from the side route to a midway box, then carry it from that box to the gate; the charge will not last from the original box in one trip. After the upper streets and a plaza ambush, enter the Field Office elevator with the rangers to reach the Co-Director. The reward is Command. This encounter expands your build, though the two Hedron Links are the stated main-story objective here.
You need enough Pope’s Research relays to open the Gravity Wells leading to both Hedron Links. Completing the side story itself takes all eight balloon sites; the main quest only requires the wells that reach the links. After the first island, the central map reveals the other balloon markers and shows how the Gravity Wells connect the islands. Most sites need two relays; one needs three and another needs four. Place each probe where its minimap signal and rising beep point, and wait for its light to turn green. When the eighth site is complete, Point 0 gains a yellow marker in the middle. Go to the southern island marked Evac Building and ride its Gravity Well through the central sphere. Click the left stick as you pass through to latch on, then use the interaction prompt inside the sphere until Dylan falls. That ends Pope’s Research.
Rebuild: assemble DYLAN and find the projector slides
Rebuild begins after the links. Move the letter D around the black-and-white screen to collect Y at the upper right, L at the upper left, A at the lower right and N at the lower left; return to the flashing center once DYLAN is assembled. In the retro flashback, take the backpack, leave the house, and go north to the General Store after the bully fight. Collect the donut, chips and soda, then travel northeast through the tunnel to the Dump. Five projector slides lie there: two on the left route, one near the water at the top, and two on the right, with a rat guarding the upper one. Bring all five back to the projector. Jesse’s ability can hit several enemies at once during these retro fights.
The first projected house has a window to inspect and a hidden passage through the shadowed wall where floor footprints lead. Inspect the dolls, then leave through the projector. In the next scene, walk until the area changes and return through the shed where you entered. The dark projection hides its exit in the upper-left wall. The following scene is short; leave it and return home, using fast travel if offered. Go upstairs to the bedroom. When the setting becomes the Oldest House, interact with Dr. Darling and collect the Dump’s five slides again: two left, one at the top, two right. Use the projector and pick up the flashing object on the right before leaving the room.
Back in town, go right to Sled Hill and enter the cave. Try the slide door, defeat the monster that appears, and enter the church projection. Defeat the enemy facing away and the next enemy on the route to reach the upper area. Return home, go upstairs and use the game console. After the scene, find Dr. Darling to the projector’s upper left and interact with the sparkle that follows. Travel back through Sled Hill’s cave and use its projector; then return to the Dump. When Jesse runs off, interact with Dr. Darling in the middle, take the shard after Trench’s scene, and follow the new scene at the Dump’s upper end. Use the projector again, head south to the school, and lead Dr. Darling back to it. In the final hallway, try the elevator, take the last shard, speak with Jesse and enter the projector room to return to the present.
Fight to the Core: cross all three Hedron arenas
From Red Sand Island, head for the northwest Gravity Well and ride it toward the Hedron on the map’s far west. The fight has three arenas and a separate health bar in each. You damage those bars by killing the enemies linked to the Hedron, rather than by attacking its large body throughout. In the first arena, dodge projectiles from the side where the Hedron is hovering. When linked enemies appear in the middle, attack them; the heavy enemies that join later also reduce the bar. After the bar empties, use the on-screen finisher on the Hedron and again inside its core.
The second arena adds lasers aimed at the floor near Dylan. Keep moving while dealing with the linked enemies that cross the platform and fire their own lasers. At roughly half the bar, some targets spawn on the other side. Use Reach on the floating platforms to grapple across, clear the remaining targets, then finish the center and core again. In the third arena, heavy enemies arrive in two waves and are the main way to drain the bar. When targets are out of reach, use the side Gravity Wells and Shift to reach the opposite area. Clear both waves, then use the center and core finishers a final time. If the fight stops your progress, Assist Mode can reduce Incoming Damage or increase Power Recovery Speed. It also offers Immortality and One-Hit Kills for story-focused play; Remedy says these settings do not block achievements and can be changed during play.
The End and The Beginning: return to Jesse
After the physical Hedron falls, The End opens in the Gap. Touch the wall of Dylan’s cell, then use Reach to grapple across the platforms toward the Hedron. Clear the first large group of Hedron enemies, with the Hiss fighting alongside you, then continue to a second large fight. Once it is clear, grapple toward the Hedron to end the mission. The Beginning starts with Dylan in his new apartment in the Unknown. Return to the Oldest House, go to Executive Research, and follow the path to P6 Holding, Dylan’s old cell. Enter and speak with Pope to complete the epilogue. You can then return to unfinished Zone activities and side stories; the Park Resonant, for example, is outside the required CFD gate.