Control Resonant: How to Follow the Scorch Marks and Deal with the Steam

The factory in Central looks like a dead end the first time you walk in. Dylan traces the scorch marks to a furnace room that is actively cooking anything that steps inside, and the objective refuses to tick over no matter how far you push. The heat is not a timing puzzle or a stealth section. It is being fed by three paranatural growths tucked into the tunnels behind you.

Quick answer: Back out of the furnace and destroy all three heat tumours in the surrounding tunnels. Each one is a glowing red orb you break with a melee hit, and the third updates the objective automatically.

Where the scorch marks objective starts

This is the opening stretch of The Central Resonant, the boss mission tied to the Patterned Factory in Central. It becomes available after you pull Arish out of the Evac Building during Evacuation Procedures and sit through Arish’s Briefing at the FBC Field Office.

The mission opens with a prompt to investigate the steam pouring out of the factory. Once inside, the objective changes to following the scorch marks, and the trail leads straight to the furnace. Walking into the flames applies heavy heat damage, which is the game telling you the route is not open yet rather than that you are underlevelled.

All three heat tumour locations in the factory tunnels

All three tumours sit in the industrial corridors that loop around the furnace. They are large red-purple orbs fixed to the environment, and they glow brightly enough to spot from a distance once you know to look up and along the pipework.

Tumour	Where it sits	How you reach it
1 of 3	Wall in the first tunnel	Jump along the pipes
2 of 3	Mounted on a gate	Fiery arched hallway
3 of 3	Top of a pipe	Stairs, then a pipe jump

How to destroy the three heat tumours

Turn away from the furnace and head back into the adjacent industrial corridors. This is the section you probably ran past while chasing the scorch marks, and it is where the whole objective actually plays out.

Normal Route: Backtracking — The corridor beside the furnace, where the tumour hunt begins. Shown at 00:46 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Find the first orb stuck to the tunnel wall and jump across the pipes to close the distance. A single melee attack shatters it and the objective counter updates to show how many remain.

Destroying First Orb — The first heat tumour breaks with one melee hit. Shown at 01:05 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Follow the pipelines deeper through the winding tunnels. The route curls past a bank of large cooling pipes and a staircase, which is the correct way toward the next section rather than a side path.

Navigating to Second Orb — Follow the cooling pipes and the staircase to reach the second tumour. Shown at 01:52 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Enter the arched hallway lined with fire and look at the gate at the far end. The second tumour is mounted against it, and it breaks the same way as the first.

Destroying Second Orb — The second tumour sits on the gate at the end of the burning hallway. Shown at 02:35 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Push on through the industrial passages and check the containers along the way. One of them holds a Health Upgrade Point, and you will want every one of these before the boss.

Climb the stairs into the crimson-lit chamber and leap across the pipes to reach the last orb, which sits on top of a pipe rather than on a wall. Destroying it clears the steam and flips the objective over.

Assist Mode shortcut: Walk through the furnace with Immortality

If you would rather skip the tunnel run entirely, the heat damage can be ignored outright. Turning on Immortality lets Dylan walk into the furnace and reach the inner chamber without the orbs being touched.

Open the pause menu and go to Options, then Gameplay, then Assist Mode. Switch Assist Mode on and tick the Immortality option.

Assist Mode Shortcut — Immortality lives under Options > Gameplay > Assist Mode. Shown at 00:18 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Close the menu, run straight into the furnace fire and keep going until you reach the chamber on the other side. The heat still ticks away at Dylan, but it cannot kill him.

Running Through the Furnace — With Immortality active, the furnace corridor can be crossed directly. Shown at 00:33 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

The tunnel route is still worth doing even if you use the shortcut, since it is where the Health Upgrade Point and the other loot containers are hidden.

How to confirm the objective is complete

You will know the steam is dealt with the moment the tracker swaps to Go deeper into the furnace room. That update fires as soon as the third tumour breaks, so if the counter still shows orbs remaining, one is left somewhere in the loop of corridors.

From there the mission runs into the furnace room proper and ends with The Deserter, the Resonant tied to Central. Beating it lets you pick between Ignite and Inferno, and it triggers another Resonant Cycle, so it is worth spending any Talent Points and upgrade materials you have picked up before you commit to the fight.