Orientation is the opening main mission of Control Resonant, and it doubles as the game’s long-form tutorial. Dylan Faden wakes up inside a locked-down Oldest House, breaks out into a wrecked Manhattan, meets FBC agent Zoe de Vera, completes his first Ritual, and finishes by killing the Artist — the first Resonant boss. It sits under the Wake Up story chapter and begins the moment you start a new save, with no prerequisites.
Quick answer: Lift the lockdown, exit via Thomas Street, meet Zoe at the hotel, follow the birds through the alley window, finish the Ritual for Double Jump, Elevate and Rush, then melee the Artist’s weak point.
Orientation objectives and rewards in Control Resonant
The quest log tracks eight objectives in a fixed order. Nothing here branches, and nothing is missable.
| Objective | Area | Key unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Leave the Oldest House | Oldest House | First Hiss combat tutorial |
| Meet Zoe at the hotel building | Downtown | Secondary Melee form choice |
| Investigate the alley | Downtown rooftops | — |
| Search for Jesse | Platforming realm | Talk to Jesse |
| Complete the ritual | Platforming realm | Double Jump, Elevate, Rush |
| Find a vantage point | City rooftops | — |
| Reach the source of the patterning | Gallery building | — |
| Defeat the Artist | Gallery arena | Barrage, Volatile Anomaly or Shield |
Completion pays out 1,000 Source, one Living Shard, one Reset Item and the Untapped Badge 11–60 Artifact. After the boss, Dylan is pulled into the Gap for a short tutorial on ability upgrades, and that is where the mission formally closes.
Escaping the Oldest House
Reaching Zoe at the hotel building
You do not have a full map yet. The hotel sits to the southwest and the game highlights it briefly, so treat the building itself as your landmark and keep it in view while you move.
Following the birds through the alley to find Jesse
Speak to Zoe, then double back into the dark side alley behind you. The route quickly turns vertical again, moving across rooftops and ledges rather than along the ground.
If you lose the path, look up. The flock of birds circling overhead marks the correct route and eventually streams through a specific window — that window is your entrance.
Inside, interact with the television. Dylan is pulled into a surreal realm of floating islands covered in golden grass, and the mission becomes pure platforming from here. There are no meaningful route choices, so keep pushing along the obvious path until you reach a structure that looks like a parking garage. Climb to the top level, walk to the far railing and talk to Jesse.
Completing the Ritual: Double Jump, Elevate and Rush
The Ritual is a chain of TV projectors, and each one you interact with hands over a movement ability. The platforming between them is built specifically to teach you how they chain together.
| Ability | Unlocked at | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Double Jump | First TV projector | Adds a second jump for height and distance |
| Elevate | Second TV projector | Holds Dylan airborne to glide across wider gaps |
| Rush | Third TV projector | Short burst of high-speed movement, usable mid-air |
The order to use them in barely changes across the rest of the game. Jump, double jump for height, hold Elevate to stay in the air over the gap, then fire Rush when you need the last stretch of horizontal distance to a safe platform.
Work through the remaining floating islands and interact with the final TV projector at the end of the route. That completes the Ritual and drops you back into the building interior.
Crossing the rooftops to the gallery
Leave the interior and take the stairs up to the rooftops. A route that was previously out of reach now opens directly ahead, which is what the “find a vantage point” objective is pointing at.
From there, fight through the enemies on the roofs and head toward the visibly patterned part of the city. Crossing the huge red chasm means chaining all three new abilities together in one go — double jump off the ledge, Elevate across the middle, Rush to land.
Either building bordering the area can be climbed. Both routes reach the elevated gallery inside the KÖNSTIG&VÖN building. Once inside, cross the exhibit halls to the rear and interact with the door there to start the boss encounter.
How to beat the Artist
As the game’s first Resonant, the Artist is a huge stone head that floats. The encounter can look chaotic at first; learn how it moves around the arena and it becomes manageable.
Phase one attacks
- Slides rapidly across the arena while attacking from range.
- Hurls cars at Dylan and sends waves of rocks along the ground.
- Up close, swings a pair of traffic lights — either slammed down from above or swept horizontally in front of it.
Both traffic light variants are dodgeable with clean timing, so there is no need to disengage entirely. Punish the gaps between attacks and reset your spacing when it starts sliding.
The transition and the weak point
Keep an eye on the blue point along the Artist’s health bar. Reaching it marks the battle’s key phase change and creates healing pickups; collect them if Dylan has lost health.
The boss then rises into the air above the centre of the arena and platforms appear around it. Climb them, get underneath the head and strike the glowing weak point. That knocks the Artist back down and restarts the normal fight.
Phase two change
Most attacks remain unchanged, but one new hazard appears. During the Artist’s arena-wide slide, rocks drop from overhead along approximately the same trajectory. Move sideways to clear that line instead of pursuing it head-on, then close in.
Assist mode options, including immortality and one-hit kills, do not disable achievement or trophy tracking, so lowering the pressure for this fight costs you nothing.
Once the Artist goes down, Dylan is transported to the Gap and a short tutorial on ability upgrades plays. You will also be asked to choose one of three combat options — Barrage, Volatile Anomaly or Shield. When that finishes, Orientation is marked complete in the quest log and Welcome to Manhattan becomes your next main mission.
