The Central Resonant in Control Resonant: Location and Walkthrough

The Central Resonant is one of the first Resonant boss quests in Control Resonant, and it hides a surprisingly long stretch of maze-like tunnels under a single factory in Central. The route loops back on itself more than once, the tunnels are full of lava and snipers, and the whole thing ends with a fight against a boss that fills the room.

Quick answer: The Central Resonant takes place in the Patterned Factory in Central. Ride the red elevator down, destroy the three heat tumors in the furnace tunnels, then kill The Deserter in the furnace room.

The Central Resonant location: Patterned Factory in Central

The quest points Dylan at the Patterned Factory, the large industrial building in the Central district near The Park Checkpoint. It gets marked on your map once the quest is active, and the building is easy to identify from the outside by its patterned pipework and the steam pouring off it.

The usable entrance is on the southern edge of the building. Everything after that happens underground, in a furnace and sewer network that runs beneath the factory floor.

Requirements before The Central Resonant can start

The quest is seeded during Welcome to Manhattan, after you speak with Zoe at the Watchtower.
Evacuation Procedures and Power Lines need to be done before the factory area is reachable.
Opening the double doors inside the factory triggers the quest prompt and the first objective, Investigate the Steam Coming From the Factory in Central.
Enemy of My Enemy requires both Resonants to be dealt with: The Deserter and The Dancer, who is located in the West Incursion Zone.

Clear this quest before you spend real time in The Park. The ability you pick as a reward is a big help against the Mold there.

The Central Resonant walkthrough

Getting inside the factory and down the elevator

Travel to the factory marker and work your way around to the southern side of the building. A group of enemies is waiting outside; clear them before you try to interact with anything.

Find the orange switch on the wall and hit it. That opens the door beside it, which is your way into the factory interior.

Push through the double doors and clear the corrupted enemies in the generator room. Once the room is quiet, take the red elevator at the far end and press the call button to descend into the lower levels.

Destroying the three heat tumors in the tunnels

To complete the middle objective, trace the scorch marks and address the steam by destroying three heat tumors fixed to the pipework. Each tumor is in a combat room, and destroying them advances the quest log.

Leave the elevator and follow the pipe corridor ahead until you reach a long set of stairs. Climb it, turn right at the top, and go through the door beside the pipes into the sewer network. This long staircase is the hub you will keep returning to, so note where it is.

Entering the Furnace Tunnels — The industrial furnace chamber at the top of the long staircase, where the first growth sits on the pipes. Shown at 01:14 in 100% Guides’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Inside the network, take the first left and then a right to reach a red-lit room. Fight through the enemies here, including the flying snipers that perch above the walkways.

Navigating the Fire Tunnels — The lower brick tunnels run with lava and mix ground units with flying snipers. Shown at 01:43 in 100% Guides’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Exit through the other end of that room and turn right. This leads to a second red room where an enemy is planted on a pipe. Destroy that growth, mop up the rest of the enemies, then head back to the previous red room.

From that room, take the path heading left. It ends at an abandoned tent, a sign that someone was living down here. Zoe radios in and tells you to keep digging.

Go back to the long staircase and cross to the door opposite it. Continue straight, turn left at the junction at the far end, and enter the room containing an audio log recorded by the person hiding beneath the factory.

From that room, go up the stairs into a second red combat room. After clearing it, pass through the door above on the rafters.

Take the first right into a large arena full of pipes venting steam. Kill everything in the room, then break the growth clamped to the pipe. With that done, the objective changes to Go Deeper into the Furnace Room.

Reaching the furnace room

Backtrack through the now-cleared pipes to the long staircase one last time and head up the stairs.

Continue along the path to the giant furnace. Enter it and interact with the far wall to begin a cutscene. Once the scene ends, the quest changes to Kill the Resonant in the Factory, and the boss fight starts immediately.

Crossing the threshold into the blazing furnace arena starts the Resonant fight. Shown at 94:15 in GamersPrey’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

How to beat The Deserter

The Deserter is a huge, slow target, and almost the entire fight is decided by where you stand. Staying close to its legs keeps you out of most of what it throws at you.

Lava spit — opens the fight; sprint toward the boss to get under it.
Spin — it turns to catch you when you circle its legs for too long.
Body slam — it throws its whole body at the ground; dodge and punish.
Arena fire — the floor lights up, and the grates become unsafe.

As soon as the fight starts, run straight at the boss to get past the lava. Circle its legs and keep attacking. When it spins to catch you, back off a little and it will follow up by slamming its body into the floor. Dodge that, and you get a few free seconds to unload everything you have while it is down.

When the arena catches fire, get off the grates and hug the edge of the room until it clears. Then return to the legs and keep chipping away. There is no trick beyond that loop, and the fight ends with a cutscene and the quest completing in your log.

Reward and the Resonant Cycle

Killing The Deserter closes The Central Resonant and hands you a choice between two fire abilities, Ignite or Inferno. Either one is worth having before you take on the Mold in The Park.

Defeating any Resonant also triggers a Resonant Cycle. A cutscene plays and every enemy you have killed across Manhattan comes back, slightly stronger than before. That happens after each of the game’s Resonant fights, so it is worth spending Talent Points and grabbing Health and Power Upgrade Points before you move on to the next major mission.

With the Resonant dealt with, Central opens back up for the rest of the crisis. Shown at 493:28 in GamersPrey’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment