Control Resonant: How to Get to the Testing Facility Reade in Downtown (Soda Dispenser Puzzle)

Testing Facility Reade is one of six concealed labs to deactivate during the Unsupervised Science side mission in Control Resonant. Located beneath eastern Downtown, it can only be shut down by transforming objects until a Thirsty Station soda dispenser occupies every marked floor square; then the lever will work.

Quick answer: Drop into the drainage pipe inside the Restricted Facility southeast of Lookout Point, cycle each shifting object into a Thirsty Station dispenser, place one in every yellow square, then pull the console lever.

What you need before heading to Testing Facility Reade

This is not an early-game stop. Getting onto the rooftops and across the gap to the entrance takes high-mobility traversal, so most players reach it well into a playthrough, around the 30-hour mark.

Gliding and air-dash abilities unlocked
Access to Downtown 3, near Lookout Point
Enough combat capability to clear the Hiss inside the building

Route to the underground entrance

Open the Downtown 3 map and find the Testing Facility marker southeast of Lookout Point. The tooltip calls the site an FBC Research Facility, confirming you’ve found the correct building.

Location Map — The Downtown map with the waypoint pinned near Testing Facility Reade, southeast of Lookout Point. Image: Remedy Entertainment / via @WoWQuest

Leap from one suspended industrial platform to another at rooftop level, then glide over the alley below. Levitation bodies drift past overhead, while pink residue stains the ground beneath them.

Reach street level and enter the open industrial structure beneath the glowing red “RESTRICTED FACILITY” sign. Deal with any Hiss enemies inside before continuing.

Enter the open drainage pit, then sprint ahead through the lengthy concrete pipe. Its mist-filled corridors lead into the main testing chamber.

Entering Testing Facility Reade — The concrete drainage pipe you run through to drop into the facility's lower chambers. Image: Remedy Entertainment / via @WoWQuest

How the impermanence puzzle works

Yellow square outlines cover part of the chamber floor, alongside a collection of “impermanent” Altered objects. Handling them changes their forms: they become sinks, stoves, photocopiers, washing machines, or soda dispensers. The dispenser is the only form that counts for shutdown.

The default state the system wants is the blue-and-black Thirsty Station soda dispenser. To change an object’s form, carry it through the yellow lines running across the room. Passing an item through a line advances it to the next shape in the cycle.

Reading Shutdown Instructions — The Shutdown Instructions confirm the required default state for every marked zone is Soda Dispenser. Image: Remedy Entertainment / via @GamePLAY54

Check the whiteboard beside the terminal for the complete transformation order; it reveals the next form as you cycle an object. After crossing a line, jump sideways to accelerate the cycle until the object becomes a dispenser.

Solving the Soda Dispenser puzzle

Go to the upper platform’s control console and examine the “Shutdown Instructions” note. It says shutdown via the lever is possible once all designated impermanence areas have been returned to their original state: Soda Dispenser.

First remove objects that don’t match, including sinks and photocopiers, from the yellow zones. With those out of the way, it’s easier to spot which squares still lack dispensers.

Carry a shifting object across the yellow lines, dropping or throwing it when necessary to change its form. Repeat the process until it turns into a Thirsty Station dispenser.

Take each completed dispenser to a yellow square and place it within the outline, with the entire machine inside. Put one dispenser in each square.

Placing First Soda Dispenser — Lining up a Thirsty Station dispenser over one of the yellow target squares on the floor. Image: Remedy Entertainment / via @GGChannelX

Look for more shifting objects along the upper walkways, ladders, and pipes; some begin away from the main floor. Once converted, carry the dispensers down to the remaining squares.

Set the final dispenser into the last empty square so all five outlines hold a Thirsty Station machine. Double-check that each one is centered inside its square.

Pull the lever and confirm the shutdown

After placing a dispenser on each square, return to the upper control console and activate the lever. The shutdown has taken effect when the sealed door on the far side of the upper catwalk opens and the reward notifications show up.

Pulling the lever awards +120 points and +1 Undefined Reading, updates your Quest Log for Unsupervised Science, and opens the secure room at the far end of the catwalk. If the door stays shut, one of the squares is holding the wrong form or a dispenser is not fully inside its outline.

Rewards inside the unlocked room

Go over the catwalk and enter the research office that has just opened to claim the facility’s contents.

Interact with the Altered object on the center table for a Power Upgrade Point — collect three of these across the facilities to improve your Power.
On the room’s right-hand side, take “A Note From Dr. Milbeck’s Cardiologist” from the desk. Cardiologist Irina Hedlund wrote the letter.

Once both items are in your inventory, Testing Facility Reade is fully cleared, and you can move on to the remaining labs in Central, the Evacuation Zone, the West Incursion Zone, The Park, and the Unknown region to finish Unsupervised Science.