The Central Checkpoint is the gate between Downtown Manhattan and the rest of the city, and it is dead on arrival because the maintenance worker assigned to it never finished the job. During the Welcome to Manhattan mission, Dylan has to run an electrical charge along a chain of Power Core Stations by hand, and the charge only survives a short trip before it snaps back to where it came from.
Quick answer: Melee the sparking orange Power Core next to Baker’s workbench, then hit each Power Core Station in order before the roughly 20-second carry timer expires, ending at the checkpoint gates.
How the charge carry works in Control Resonant
Striking a live Power Core transfers its electricity into the Aberrant, Dylan’s shapeshifting weapon. From that moment you are on a clock. Hit the next core in the chain and the charge is stored there safely, which resets the timer and lets you catch your breath before grabbing it again.
Let the timer run out and the charge does not simply vanish from the world. It jumps back to the last core you powered, so a failed run costs you time rather than progress. Rush is the tool that makes the longer legs possible, and you should be dodging down the street rather than sprinting in a straight line.
Clear the Hiss out of a stretch before you carry the charge through it. Stopping to fight mid-run is the most common way to lose the charge.
Find the maintenance worker and start the puzzle
The objective that leads here is “Find the Maintenance Worker,” tracked in the Downtown 2 zone. Drop off the rooftops, cut through the alley while Zoe talks you through the situation over the radio, and follow the marker to the closed gate outside the Central Checkpoint. There is a group of Hiss waiting in the plaza first.
Once the area is quiet, examine the workbench by the gate. A Note From Baker explains that the FBC worker walked off the job, and the Power Core Servicing Diagram next to it is a rough hand-drawn map of the block with the cores numbered in the order they need to be powered. That diagram is the puzzle solution, and the route below matches it.
Reading the streets is much easier if you already calibrated the sensors for the mapping pylon earlier in the mission, since that fills in the Downtown layout.
Power Core Station locations and route order
| Stop | Where the Power Core sits |
|---|---|
| 1 | Street outside the checkpoint, against the central pillar |
| 2 | Loading dock in the gated alley, down a ramp |
| 3 | Rooftop north of the alley, opposite the Oldest House |
| 4 | FBC outpost, on the yellow-taped platform by the guards |
| 5 | Checkpoint gates at the end of the main road |
Powering that last core triggers a long Hiss ambush immediately, so top up your health before you make the final run.
Items worth grabbing along the route
The charge sits safely inside a core while you explore, so use those pauses to sweep the surrounding area. Three pickups and one story beat are tucked along this stretch.
- Baker’s body in the open garage next to the loading dock core. Approaching it triggers a radio exchange with Zoe about Dylan’s guilt.
- A chest inside that same garage holding upgrade materials, plus an Aberrant item in a nearby locker.
- The Power Core Complaint file sitting on the air conditioner beside the rooftop core.
- A Note From Baker and the Power Core Servicing Diagram back at the workbench, if you skipped past them.
Surviving the three Hiss waves at the checkpoint
Three waves spawn outside the newly powered gates, and it is a genuinely rough fight this early. Kill the two Hiss Colliders first, because the ordinary grunts keep respawning until both of those heavy enemies are down. Their swings are slow but punishing, so dodge through them instead of trading hits.
Two Hiss Focused arrive next and fire a sustained energy beam. The large concrete slabs on either side of the road break line of sight and let you split the pair up rather than eating both beams at once. Keep moving the entire time, especially against the Focused and the Elevated flyers.
Your Secondary Aberrant is the fastest way to build the Falter meter on the bigger enemies. Filling it opens an Execution prompt, which restores a chunk of health and grants a temporary damage boost. Chaining Executions from grunt to grunt keeps that buff running, and it is the difference between a clean clear and a long attrition fight.
Confirming the Central Checkpoint is powered
You know the puzzle worked when the control panels flanking the checkpoint light up green. Once every Hiss is dead, walk to either the left or right panel and interact with it to lower the hydraulic platform, then ride it up into Zone Access. The Downtown map also redraws the Central Checkpoint as an active location.
Use the interior corridors and follow the signs for Federal Bureau of Control Central Checkpoint Watchtower. Activate the elevator with its call button, let the platform descend, drop through, and continue toward the staging area where the music is playing. You will reach the “Meet Zoe at the Watchtower” objective; from there, Welcome to Manhattan proceeds with the supply route and security keycard.
