I saw a weird effect on the underpass and had no idea of it was intentional or a graphics bug. Either way it was fun.

I tried to play Fire Break but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

While in Alane Wake 2 case and I finished it long ago but never bought the DLCs.

I was already at the wic and I secretly wished dylan didn't bowed down to fbc immediately and become so "right", I was hoping that he was just a lesser evil compared to the hiss, and there are no right ones, just grey characters.

And as we progress further in game, the more fbc people and higher up succumb to the hiss and the world becomes weirder and more shattered as the hiss tighten its grip on the world, and Dylan have to put down people that are close to him and in the end it was just Dylan/Jesse and the Hiss slug it out for survival and deciding the fate of the world...

Is there any difference? I know on the tutorial screen for conversations it said on timed replies if you choose to do nothing, that will be your reply. Yet there's also still an option seemingly for no reply. Is that just to get rid of the prompt quicker if you know you will not reply? So far I haven't found myself wanting to do either of them -- neither for feeling like that would be Dylan's response (what I try to base most my replies off of) or just wanting to hear certain dialogues, so apologies if the answer is clear and this is essentially a useless post.

I didn't remember the inclusion of a few pieces of concept art! I won't share them (other than the small glimpse) in case they're all the same so everyone else can discover them for themselves. I'm just so excited to have it!

After Control Resonant I wanted to re-visit the hiss Incantation and see if there’s anything new to glean from it. Examining it line-by-line and all that. Though I’ll begin with some prefaces.

First preface is that I’ve always thought that The Hiss Incantation can be separated into three stanzas separated by the repeating line “After the song, time for applause.” For this analysis I will associate it with the idea of three acts/games. Most of my re-examinating is thus trying to see if it fits into a 3 game hypothesis and the new revelations we’ve had about Jesse Dylan Faden. 

Second preface is that I believe that these lines can have multiple interpretations even if most of the time I’m only discussing one. Their interpretations seem to change when you treat them individually or try to relate them to just one game.

~~~

Stanza 1 - CONTROL

Assumptions: It is an address to the FBC/Director. It is related to CONTROL.

1 You are a worm through time.

2 The thunder song distorts you.

3 Happiness comes.

• Lines 1-3 feel like a declaration. You are nothing to time, our sound changes you, we will make you happy.

4 White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye.

• Your eyes are ordinary, but have signs of being diseased/seeing anew. Not yet corrupted.

5 Through a mirror, inverted is made right.

• Your reflection is correct, the opposite of you is the better/correct you.
  • Whilst I believe this is primary to the hiss itself I’ll throw in that it may refer to Jesse and Dylan being inverted in personality, Dylan is hiss, Dylan is right.

6 Leave your insides by the door.

• Self-multilation as a choice for entry. It’s formal, business-like, the same way you would leave a coat. Very FBC.

7 Push the fingers through the surface into the wet.

• The other world is an easy barrier to break into, but still disconnected, break it.

8 You’ve always been the new you.

9 You want this to be true.

• Lines 8-9 are ordinary. This change has always been here, you want this change.
  • Another stretch in the audience, maybe it could refer to Jesse Dylan Faden Split, considering the siblings' memories seem rather repressed.

10 We stand around you while you dream.

11 You can almost hear our words but you forget.

12 This happens more and more now.

• Lines 10-12 reference how Trench was corrupted. You are already compromised, we are trying to teach you the chant in dreams but you forget. 12 has a sense of deterioration, the dreams were ever constant.

13 You gave us the permission in your regulations.

14 We wait in the stains.

15 The word that describes this is redacted.

• Line 13-15 are directly addressing the FBC. You already let us in, we are already in the stains/margins of your documents, you don’t know because it is redacted/on a need-to-know basis.
  • The hidden world you created gave us the jungle in which to ambush you. Not knowing about The Hiss is what made people not put on the HRAs, they couldn't fear a threat that's redacted.

16 Repeat the word.

17 The name of the sound.

18 It resonates in your house.

• Line 16-18 Addresses the FBC again. The Hiss is self propagating, it does a cult-like chant. Join the hiss.

19 After the song, time for applause.

• The end of a song/story.

Conclusion on Stanza 1

The first Stanza appears to be about the nature of the corruption. How they got into the FBC, not necessarily a motive besides happiness. It can address Trench and the FBC as a whole. Considering the first game is about The Hiss it makes sense that it would be directly about them. An incantation that begins with a declaration.

~~~

Stanza 2 - CONTROL Resonant

Assumptions: It is addressed to Dylan. It is related to CONTROL Resonant.

20 We build you till nothing remains.

• Notably Trench says this to Dylan about the Prime Candidate Program.
•  We create/give to you until you are no longer you. The FBC built Dylan until they broke him. The Hiss built up Trench's walls until he had no one.
  • Note: Even though Darling is more associated with the Hedron I think it owes to its nature. In service of a goal (defeating the hiss) it actually propagates the hiss and destroys everything around it. i.e. the patterning caused the evacuation, the evacuation made a target for the hiss to grow stronger.

21 The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you.

• “You can’t unscramble an egg.” Symbolic of the relation between Dylan and Jesse. The truth literally emerged from Dylan when he created the Gap Slide.

22 You are home.

23 You remind us of home.

• The oldest house is home, the oldest house is reminiscent of the slidescape. Or Dylan is reminiscent of it.
  • The red slide or 36 is home, a place with no escape, locked away until it's let out. Just like how lockdown lifting from the house allowed it to leave. The house is the new home?
  • Could also reference The Gap, Dylan’s desolate world isn’t home but is reminiscent of it.

24 You’ve taken your boss with your boss with you.

• Dylan’s taken The Board with The Hiss with him.

25 All hair must be eaten.

• Assumed Nonsense Piece, but I’ll try.
• One must consume the dead pieces that grew from themself. 
  • In reference to the fact that Dylan subsumed his corrupted self to take control. The Hiss appeared happy when he did, so it makes sense why it's a command. He was doing it to destroy The Hedron.

26 Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away.

• The conceptual reality behind this reality could be in reference to Dylan’s “take control” moment in the video game segment. You want to not be here, but want a natural force to take you without personal action. 
  • But “must” means that the hiss is making an assumption.
  • The Hiss is the force that dragged Dylan away the first time, but Dylan is experiencing it for the second time, so he chooses differently.

27 After the song, time for applause.

• Another phrase regarding an ending.

Conclusion on Stanza 2

It’s shorter but seems to almost directly address Dylan and his journey more so than the first stanza. Considering Resonant is also more about Dylan, it lines up under the game-stanza assumption. It does seem that The Hiss is supportive? Probably because the entire goal is "Kill The Hedron".

~~~

Stanza 3 - ???

 Now we’ve left the known into the unknown. 

Assumptions: It is addressed to Jesse [and] Dylan Faden. It’s focused on elements of the next game. The Hiss is not a liar (either it is detailing fantasies of success, or it’s a camera without timescale).

28 This cliché is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, the fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall!

• The repeating story element is your life flashing before your eyes or Death being unable to take you.
  • the first the second the third: Breaks the separation between backstage and story.
  • fourth wall: This breaks the separation between story and audience.
  • Fifth wall: less defined idea, either the concept of reality itself by being illogical, or breaking the separation between author and story.
  • Floor; no floor: you fall: Taking away the grounding of the story, the performer can’t perform/is no longer within the bounds of the story.
    • Implication is escaping the story/performance, but not by your own free will.

29 How do you say “insane”?

30 Hurts to be happy.

• Assumed Nonsense. But 29 is ironic, asking a question already answered.
• The hiss gives happiness, it is painful.
  • These two seem to express a level of negativity towards The Hiss. Potentially able to see it as aggressive mimicry, you can mimic an animal in distress to lure one in.

31 An earworm is a tune you can’t stop humming in a dream: “baby baby baby yeah”.

32 Just plastic.

33 So, safe and nothing to worry about.

• Almost feels like a response to the previous two lines.
• Line 31 Re-affirms the earworm of the hiss. Taking back control.
• The Comma in 33 redefines 32, it is just plastic so it is safe and nothing to worry about.
  • May refer to the slide projector/unknown object/game cartridge.

34 Ha ha, funny.

• Laughter, it may refer to the irony of it being safe. If so, then it’s another potential negative sentiment.

35 The last egg breaks now.

• An egg previously was symbolic of the Fadens' connection and truth, so this is the last truth about them.
  • The implication is that we are still missing something about the past, a single egg.

36 The hole in your room is a hole in you.

• The hole analogy of the first game referenced the gateway to the supernatural world.
  • The gap to the supernatural was already inside you, it’s not the world, it’s you.

37 You came and we let you in through the hole in you.

• Dylan uses this line to refer to Polaris.
  • You came to us and we used the already existing supernatural part in you to let you in.
• Could refer to future entering the home of The Hiss through connection to Hiss.

38 You have always been here, the only child.

• Directly addressing the only child? Jesse Dylan Faden?
  • May imply that a plot thing happens in the third game is related, last egg broken, the only child is here in some way.

39 A copy of a copy of a copy.

• Three copies, which means four entities. Or a recursive loop.
  • Jesse and Dylan are a copy of the Severed Circle protagonists are a copy of Jesse Dylan Faden. (but then that implies Jesse Dylan Faden is a copy of something, or a copy is somewhere else.)
    • The Severed Circle 2 Protags are maybe a copy because I assume that when choosing names (something in earthbound) Jesse Dylan Faden named one Dylan and one Jesse.
  • Maybe it’s related to resonances/persons/game/person. If we consider Jesse Polaris and Hiss Dylan as copies.
  • Or a recursive loop, Reality copied Severed Circle 2 which copied Reality.

40 Orange peel.

• More nonsense? This one is least concrete for me.
  • Oranges as in cleaning solution? We know a janitor/god. Could see the end of the CONTROL series being focused on the two of them taking his mantle in some way.

41 The picture is you holding the picture.

• The memory is of you remembering the memory, implying there is no original memory with you in it.

42 When you hear this you will know you’re in new you.

• But normally when you hear/understand the chant outside of half-remembered dreams you are corrupted by the hiss.
  • Once you hear this part you have listened to everything else, you are already corrupted.
• Don’t like the implications of this to address Jesse Dylan Faden.

43 You want to listen.

44 You want to dream.

45 You want to smile.

46 You want to hurt.

47 You don’t want to be.

• These last lines are contradictory desires, 43-46 are four wants that are about existence, both good and bad. But 47 says that you don’t want to exist.
• Two Interpretations, one for Hiss as a whole, one for our protagonists.
  • Reference to how The Hiss changes you until you are nothing. All the wants are things that The Hiss provides.
  • Reference to the potential of Jesse Dylan Faden potentially being recombined but not wanting to exist. Wanting to be separate. 
• Notably, there is no applause at the end of the last stanza, potentially hinting that The Hiss Incantation ends before the story does. Maybe it ends at some new metamorphosis, roll credits but there’s more story. Or the story repeats like a loop.

Conclusion on Stanza 3

This is the most predictive I’ll get here, trying to insert puzzle pieces before getting the picture on the box. In general if we go by this interpretation then something illogical happens in the beginning, related to reality/story itself and The Hiss loses its grip/power even more and tries to re-affirm itself. The connection between Dylan and Jesse is fully realized/revealed. Personally I would think the 3rd game would hopefully have an element of travel. Maybe entering slidescapes/thresholds and traveling to different AWEs related to the main plot. Maybe that’s why the hiss has to let you in, you came to it’s house to end things. And without the song’s end/applause, maybe you succeed.

~~~

Conclusion on the Incantation as a Whole

My perspective on The Hiss and its relation with reality is that it has difficulties invading realities on its own terms and needs to be let in (see: Mr. Door Dream). The Hiss also seems to have an ability to recruit instead of destroy individuals uniquely able to get rid of threats/spread the word (see: Trench, Dylan, The President Dream). It tells you that it helps you change for the better. It's almost aggressive mimicry, a cat mimicking the sound of a bird on a more intelligent scale. Maybe the mystery/almost-sense is a way to draw its targets into its trap of wanting to know. The Hiss also seem to have a level of precognition since Dylan doesn’t seem/have reason to lie about his dreams. The Hiss incantation may focus on Jesse and Dylan in parts because those are its threats/marks. You will be happy if you accept, it’s a boring game if you refuse/our reality is not realized. The irony of entropy offering certainty.

I do think this conclusion is far from complete without 3rd game context. I simply like the idea that each part, while together, can come to define the whole story from The Hiss’s perspective. But in an individual line capacity it is more like a guideline for existence, a mantra in a religion to repeat and apply as fit.

Control is one of my favorite games ever.

This was literally the only copy they had at my local Walmart, they didn't even bother putting it on the shelf. The guy didn't even know they had it at all.

I had to leave this subreddit for a while to avoid spoilers since everyone else has been playing the digital copy and already beat it. I look forward to playing this when I get the time!

I am asking about the unopened fast travel door in the middle of the map. This is in The Park zone and I am unable to access it by any means. YT videos haven't been helpful. If you know how to access this please let me know.

In the original Control, there’s a Dead Letters collectible called “White Kitchen,” written by Lorraine Fitzgerald. She describes a strange phenomenon in which she sometimes finds herself standing on dark stone beneath a completely white sky when she’s in her tiny kitchen.

In CONTROL Resonant, one of the Physicist’s audio logs features him getting increasingly frustrated with his neighbor, Mrs. Fitzgerald, who keeps knocking on his wall because he’s making too much noise.
The name Fitzgerald immediately reminded me of the letter from the first game. Could these two stories be connected?
I’ve seen people suggest that the Physicist discovered a way to create a portal to the Astral Plane, but I wonder if there’s another explanation.
My theory is that he didn’t create a portal. What if the apartment building itself is a Place of Power, with an existing connection to the Astral Plane? Lorraine appears to access this strange space through her kitchen, while the Physicist may have encountered the same phenomenon from his own apartment.
As a physicist, he tried to explain what was happening through scientific theories and research papers. Perhaps his ideas were dismissed as the ramblings of a madman, even though he was observing a genuine paranatural phenomenon.
That would fit the world of Control pretty well: something that sounds completely insane can turn out to be real.
If someone has already posted about this, sorry for the repost. I can imagine this might be an obvious connection for some players.

Resonant is the first Remedy game I've played, and boy have I been missing out. I bought a Control/Alan Wake bundle yesterday after finishing Resonant, and today I've been burning my way through Wake. Yeah, it's a bit dated, but I've enjoyed the game so far and can't wait to finish it and start Alan Wake 2 and inevitably Control. Feels strange playing the series so out of order, and I know Wake is technically a different game in the same universe, but I wanted to nudge folks into checking out the Wake games if they didn't know or hadn't gotten around to playing them.

Wake is a shit writer, lol, but the game has a charm to it. I've read that he's meant to be a basic writer who pumps out slop, and now he's being forcibly tasked with writing something outside of that comfort zone, so that's why the writing in the game is so cliche. I get some Twin Peaks vibes and such from the game (the coffee shop is so similar to the one in TP).

These devs really care about their games. It's refreshing.

I can't find the post now, but somebody shared a picture of an apparent figure during the flashback scene in the Gap standing behind the Faden children. I thought it was just negative space being misconstrued as a solid form, a Rorschach of light and shadow.

I was wrong.

I rewatched the flashbacks and caught the figure for a couple frames: distinct, hands outstretched, two trails of light flowing from its eyes, robed, curling horns.

What the helvetti are we looking at here?

Just playing around with screenshots for now, but this game desperately deserves a robust photo mode. Remedy's lighting and atmosphere never miss.

Anyone find any in-game lore as to why they had an anti-platelet medication in P6 training program? This seems way too specific to not be explained!

Can the former be Jesse Dylan Faden? Former meaning "the former child"? The note found by Jeese that was written for Ash Jr was signed F, as in Faden? don't have too much to based this on but was watching a video about Former and about his intentions and where is he now and this idea came to mind.

I had pre ordered for PS5 on disc but apparently the pre order bonus was locked to the digital? Also the digital upgrade pack (which I’m pretty sure doesn’t include the pre order bonuses either) isn’t available for some reason!

Hoping that both things become available

Obviously, a lot of the appeal of these games is the wild and mind-bending situations you can be in. But what are some you would love to see in the third game?

1. Buildings that constantly rearrange themselves.
Imagine walking down a street and watching an entire building fold in on itself, turn sideways, and unfold into something completely different. Doors move, hallways stretch, staircases twist around, and entire rooms slide through walls. Think Doctor Strange's fight scenes. Sort of like the small glimpse got of this in the first game, but mass scale.

2. An open world where reality is constantly changing.
I'm not talking about a normal open world with a bunch of map markers and side quests. I want to explore because I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to find. You could walk into an apartment building and discover that the inside is bigger than an entire city block. You could find a subway station that only appears during thunderstorms, or a street that leads somewhere completely different every time you walk down it. Imagine returning to a neighborhood you've already explored, only to discover that the buildings are diffrent.

3. Anomalies that spread throughout the open world.
What if you discovered an Object of Power in some abandoned building and decided to leave it alone? A few hours later, you return to find its influence spreading across the surrounding streets. Cars are floating, buildings are changing shape. You could investigate the source, contain it, try to use it, or ignore it and deal with the consequences later.

4. Enemies that remember how you fight.
Imagine an enemy that survives multiple encounters with you and starts adapting to your tactics. Keep throwing objects at it? It learns to redirect them. Constantly dodge its attacks? It starts predicting where you'll move. Granted this is more of a AI change.

5. Objects of Power that mess with your abilities.
What if some Objects of Power didn't give you straightforward new abilities, but instead changed how your existing abilities worked? Even if temporarily (like you fix it with a puzzle or its timed). One might reverse your controls. Another could make you float uncontrollably. Another might cause every object you throw to return to its original position. You'd have to figure out how each one works before you could use it properly.

6. The ability to possess people or become objects.
This is something I'd really like to see explored. I know we had things kinda like this on small scale of course. But imagine expanding that concept into something much more involved. What if you could possess ordinary people, temporarily seeing the world through their eyes and interacting with things Jesse normally couldn't? You might need to possess a security guard to access a restricted area, or take control of someone who's unknowingly carrying an anomaly. Or imagine being able to transform yourself into objects. Like you have to become a desk to trigger a pressure plate.

7. An entity that follows you throughout the game.
Imagine occasionally noticing the same person standing in the background of different locations. Sometimes they help you. Sometimes they interfere with what you're doing. Sometimes they just watch. Eventually, you discover they're not following you through the city. They're following you through different versions of reality. Maybe they even unlock a power, skill...etc.

8. Enemies that aren't necessarily evil.
Imagine spending hours hunting an entity that's apparently murdering Bureau employees, only to discover it's killing people who have been infected by something much worse. Now you have a choice. Destroy it, protect it, or help it accomplish whatever it's trying to do. The Bureau might consider it a threat, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Bureau is right.

9. Make the environment a weapon.
Fully destructible environment! Enoug said.

10. Open portals to changed timelines.
So imagine you have an ability to open a portal or "snap" to an alternate version of where you do. So let's say you're standing in front of a building; it's boarded up and run down. Doors chained shut. You use your power and you snap to a version of it form the past, where it was accessible, you can now go inside to do a mission, get an item...etc. This would make you want to explore this everywhere; it would offer so much content, without having to make higher levels (in a literal sense).

11. You can switch between Jesse and Dylan (or someone else).
You both have your own skills, weaknesses...etc. Dying to a hard boss? Maybe the other person is better equipped to take them on. Someone you have to talk, won't give you a keycard because they don't like you, switch to the other person.

I know it’s just a gameplay feature but was wondering if anyone had a fun in-universe explanation. In the first game I assumed it was related to Polaris protecting Jesse.

I wanted to go a tiny bit more in depth on what Jesse/Dylan would look like if they took the other’s place :-)!!

(Dylan’s control 2019 outfit is based somewhat on Nick Marster’s concept art jacket)

I beat all the resonants but haven't fully leveled the zones. When you look at the level rewards, the world feat cap increase says it adds them in the next resonant cycle, but if there's no more resonants, how do I start a new cycle?

I'm a supposed to get two sets of prints???