Control Resonant: Into the Valley of Death Walkthrough (Alfred and Maria)

Into the Valley of Death sends Dylan back into the Sinkhole to rescue Langston’s cat, Alfred. It looks like a simple fetch task, but the quest layers in navigation puzzles and a two-stage fight with the miniboss Maria. The reward for finishing is the Untapped Catnip Toy artifact.

Quick answer: Get the apartment key from Langston, carry Alfred’s carrier through the Sinkhole, defeat Maria by luring her out of the windows three times, then place the carrier by Dombrow’s body to complete the quest.

Image credit: Remedy Entertainment via YouTube/@Gamerpillar

Requirements and how the quest starts

The quest becomes available once you finish Act 1 and begin the Recursions and Iterations main mission. When you return to the Oldest House lobby, Dylan speaks with Emily Pope. After the main conversation, she adds a “One more thing” prompt, so interact with her again to add Into the Valley of Death to the quest log.

Starting location: Oldest House, then the FBC Field Office in Central.
Requirement: Progress the Recursions and Iterations main quest.
Reward: Untapped Catnip Toy artifact and 250 XP for the Evacuation Zone.

Go to the Field Office in Central and speak with Langston. He gives you his apartment key and asks you to track down Alfred. If you spoke with Dombrow earlier during Recursions and Iterations, getting the key also completes the objective to locate the apartment keys.

Reach Langston’s apartment in the Sinkhole

Fast travel to Evacuation Zone, then enter the Sinkhole through the laundromat. This is the route Dylan took at the end of Into the Sinkhole. Cross the FBC checkpoint and descend toward the residential platforms.

Touch down on the platform labeled Personnel Access, then proceed into the first large area filled with stacked apartment rooms. Leap to the northern platform, where Dombrow is watching TV.

Follow the yellow tape and painted arrows through the rooms, passing the area marked with a 3. Keep tracking the tape until you reach the door labeled 5. Interact with it, using Langston’s key, to enter his apartment.

Search the apartment and prepare the carrier

Inside, interact with the cat feeder to speak with Langston. Then inspect the scratch marks on the wall, followed by the blood on the floor carpet.

Once Langston confirms Alfred isn’t home, pick up the cat feeder and carry it into the bedroom, placing it beside the cat carrier.

Put the feeder inside the carrier, then lift the carrier and take it out of the apartment.

Follow the toppled plant pots to the right, away from the route back to the main Sinkhole. If you lose sight of the trail, check beside each plant for dirty cat prints pointing to the next one.

Set up the bedroom and lure Alfred inside

When you return to the main room where Dombrow sits, Langston asks you to find a bed near a TV. From Dombrow’s side, face south toward an apartment on the same level; a light is on in one of its rooms. Go there and set the carrier on the bed at the back.

Interact with the piano against the wall to start the music.

Remove all four potted plants from the bedroom, dropping them out in the hallway or over the edge.

Leave the bedroom and walk back toward the main Sinkhole area. Wait until Langston calls you back to confirm Alfred is in the carrier, let the dialogue finish, then pick up the carrier.

Follow the trail to Maria

Carry the carrier back to Dombrow’s platform and examine his body. The Important Person icon for him remains on your minimap.

Carry Alfred to uncover what killed Dombrow. Langston translates the cat’s directions while you travel. Track the blood splatters on the ground, descending into the center of the area and farther into the Sinkhole.

After descending near the checkpoint totem, head south toward the red crack in the wall. Entering the room triggers the fight with the miniboss Maria.

How to defeat Maria

Maria behaves like the invisible, shadow-cloaked Hiss you fought earlier in this area. Use Shift to close the gap and strike her with the Aberrant to break the shroud, then deal damage normally. When her health drops in the first phase, she escapes into one of the windows and the fight changes.

Pick up the carrier again and place it on the floor next to the glowing red crack in the wall.

Watch which window the red light travels to. The light moves along a fixed loop but starts avoiding whichever wall Alfred is currently on. You can Shift onto any wall in the room to stand beside a window and wait.

Interact with a window that sits directly in the red light’s path, one window ahead of it, just before the light arrives. Call Alfred to that spot to land a hit on Maria.

Trigger the Call Cat prompt when the light is one window away so the attack connects at the right moment.

Do this successfully three times to force Maria back into the open, then defeat her for good. Once she’s down, return to the carrier at the red crack and pick it up.

Finish the quest and claim the reward

Leap back up through the hole and climb the platforms to Dombrow, using the Important Person marker to locate him quickly. Set the carrier in front of the TV to finish Into the Valley of Death. Completing the quest grants the Untapped Catnip Toy artifact and 250 XP for the Evacuation Zone.

To leave the Sinkhole without hunting for the correct climb-out door, drop down the central hole to the original bottom where the diving bell is and use the Fast Travel door there.