Control Resonant: How to Track the Time Fluctuations in the Underpass

Track the time fluctuations is the objective that opens the long Underpass stretch of Recursions and Iterations, and it is one of the few points in Control Resonant where a single quest line quietly splits into five separate tasks. Dylan starts by chasing distortion readings through the research sites, then has to restore power, find Dr. Grist, hold a transmission tower, and finally board a cable car to cross the chasm.

Quick answer: Follow the fluctuation markers to the first research site and talk to Ayad, restore power at the generator rooms along the yellow cables, locate Grist, defend the transmission tower, then ride the cable car to cross the chasm.

What you need before this objective appears

This part of the Underpass sits late in the main chain, and it is gated by traversal rather than by combat power. Dylan needs both movement abilities from Jesse’s Faults before the route works as intended.

Shift, from The Incursion Fault, for gravity-altered walls and rotated surfaces.
Reach, obtained through The Subway Fault, draws Dylan toward traversal points.
The Underpass Fault completed, which clears the soft-block on the island of orange pipes.
Recursions and Iterations active, with the research team objectives already resolved.

The Underpass can hold three unrelated objectives at the same time — the main story route, a Jesse Fault, and The Underpass Resonant. Read the quest name in the upper-left corner before committing to a marker, because the nearest icon is often the wrong chain.

The five objectives in order

Tracking the fluctuations is not one task. It chains into a fixed sequence, and each stage replaces the previous marker automatically once it completes.

Objective	Where	What ends it
Track the time fluctuations	Underpass 3 search zone	Talking to Ayad
Restore the power	Generator rooms off the first site	All power cells active
Locate Grist	Third research site, cliff edge	Dialogue with Dr. Grist
Locate the transmission tower	Past the second research site	Reaching the tower
Defend the transmission tower	Tower platform	Zoe confirms transmission

Reach the first research site and talk to Ayad

Open the map and look at the highlighted yellow search zone around Underpass 3. The fluctuation markers sit inside it, and the game does not give you a single pinpoint destination until you are close.

Sprint and jump across the concrete pillars and platforms through the red-carpeted section of the facility. The route is vertical rather than flat, so use the pillar tops as your path instead of hunting for floor-level corridors.

In the research area, go to Ayad at the control panel and speak with him. He reports that the site is without power, and Restore the Power becomes the objective immediately.

Meeting Ayad — Ayad waits at the control panel in the research area and starts the power restoration task. Shown at 00:53 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Restore the power at the generator units

The power units are spread across two areas, and the map marks broad highlighted regions rather than exact doors. The reliable way to navigate is to ignore the map once you are moving and follow the physical cabling instead.

Quest Update: Restore the Power — The map marks highlighted regions for the power units, not exact locations. Shown at 01:02 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Leave Ayad and follow the yellow floor cables running out of the research area. They lead through the industrial hallways to the first cluster, signed as Unit 1.

Enter the rooms holding the orange generator stations and activate the power cells. Each one connects along the circuit pathway, so line up the connections before moving on rather than triggering cells at random.

The remaining switches sit above ground level. Use the floating blocks and the walls carrying marked symbols to platform up to the upper walkways, then drop into the second generator room.

Trigger the last power cells along the yellow circuit lines in that room. When every unit is live, the objective flips to Return to Ayad.

Activating Remaining Generators — The second generator room holds the last power cells, wired along the yellow circuit lines. Shown at 02:46 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

The yellow cables are a two-way guide. Retracing them is the fastest way back to the research hub without opening the map again.

Find Ayad collapsed and move to the third research site

Returning to the control panel does not play out as a simple hand-in. Ayad is on the floor, groaning, and a radio transmission from Zoe cuts in over the scene. There is nothing to interact with here beyond the cutscene, so do not spend time searching the chamber.

Quest Update: Return to Ayad — Following the yellow cables back to the hub triggers the Return to Ayad leg. Shown at 03:37 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Once the transmission ends, exit the chamber and head out across the exterior stone structures. The gaps between them are wide, and this stretch expects you to jump rather than look for a bridge. The third research site is the destination, and the map switches to a Time Anomaly marker deeper in the Underpass with the objective Locate Grist.

Quest Update: Locate Grist — The objective changes to Locate Grist once Dylan reaches the third research site. Shown at 04:50 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Talk to Dr. Grist on the cliff edge

Push through the narrow lit passageway until it opens onto a cliff edge. Dr. Grist is standing out in the open there. Her dialogue covers her despair over the expedition, and it is interrupted partway through by a time distortion event that fires without warning.

Her instruction afterwards is to go to the second research site, which means backtracking across the high platforms and ledges you crossed earlier. When you arrive, check the map — a new Time Anomaly location will be highlighted.

Returning to 2nd Research Site — The return trip to the second research site runs across the same high platforms and ledges. Shown at 06:15 in Trophy Tom’s video. Image: Remedy Entertainment

Grab Grist Research Log #3 while you are here

A collectible tape recorder labelled Grist Research Log #3 sits on the floor of the second research site, beside the bodies. Picking it up starts audio playback that continues while you move, so collect it before you leave rather than doubling back for it later.

Defend the transmission tower

The tower is the glowing structure visible across the gap, and the approach is another run and leap sequence over distant concrete pillars. Grist’s log keeps playing during the traversal, so there is no need to stop and listen.

Hostile entities spawn on the tower platform itself once you arrive. They can be cleared with melee attacks, and the fight is short — the goal is protecting the broadcast station rather than clearing a large arena. Stay on the platform until the spawns stop.

Verification: Zoe confirms the data transmission over comms while Dylan is standing beside the radio tower. That callout is the signal that the defence stage is over.

Ride the cable car to cross the chasm

Open the map and check the route back to the Cable Car station, which sits at the first research site. This is the same area where you met Ayad.

Traverse back across the pillars, vertical ledges and rooftop walkways. There is no combat on this leg, only platforming.

Approach the yellow wooden cable car. Dr. Grist is waiting there, and speaking to her starts a conversation before she moves to the cable car console.

Press the activation button once the quest updates to Cross the Chasm. That ends the time fluctuation sequence and moves the mission on.

After the chasm, Recursions and Iterations continues with following the relays to Grist and placing the final probe relay. Combat steps up noticeably not long after, so if you have been putting off Talent Points, weapon form upgrades, or Health and Power Upgrade Points, the stretch after the cable car is a sensible place to spend them.