Seven years of coma. A city warped by a new paranormal force. And the brother of the last game’s hero now wields a shapeshifting weapon instead of a service pistol. Control Resonant puts Dylan Faden at the center of Remedy’s strangest story yet — and that choice is not just defensible, it’s the only one that makes narrative sense.
The strongest argument against it is obvious: fans loved Jesse Faden. Her arc from lost sister to Director of the FBC was tight, personal, and earned. Why swap her out for the guy who spent most of the first game as a Hiss puppet?
And that's the hardest thing a sequel can do: let the past go.
Because Dylan’s story is the one we haven’t heard. And it’s the one that matters for what Remedy is building.
What Happened to Dylan Before the Game
Dylan wasn’t always a villain. He and Jesse were ordinary kids in Ordinary, a small town that became the site of a catastrophic Altered World Event. They found a slide projector — an Object of Power that opened doors to other dimensions. One of those dimensions held Polaris, the resonance that would later guide Jesse. Another held the Hiss.
The FBC arrived, took the projector, and took Dylan. Jesse escaped. Dylan was designated a Prime Candidate — a potential future Director — and spent the next 17 years in custody.
The Bureau didn’t treat him well. Experiments, isolation, the pressure of being a potential successor. By the time Jesse reached the Oldest House in the first game, Dylan had already made contact with the Hiss, viewing them as a way out. He became their host, fought his sister, and lost. The Hiss was purged from him, but the damage was done. He fell into a coma.
Why Dylan Wakes Up Different
Control Resonant opens with Jesse waking Dylan. She doesn’t ask him to help — she tells him to run. But Manhattan is already collapsing under the Patterning, a paranormal force that turns people into Resonants — amalgamations of flesh and environment. The Hiss has spread beyond the Oldest House. The Mold is everywhere. Jesse goes missing almost immediately.
Dylan is left to face this alone. His Aberrant weapon mirrors his internal state — it’s a melee weapon, aggressive and direct, a stark contrast to Jesse’s ranged Service Weapon. He fights close, he builds up Falter, he executes. He’s not the Director. He’s a survivor who has to earn trust from the organization that imprisoned him.
The Traversal Abilities Tell His Story
Dylan’s mobility powers reflect his newfound freedom. The Gravity Shift in the West Incursion Zone lets him walk on walls. The Reach ability in the Evacuation Zone lets him grapple across gaps. These aren’t just movement options — they’re the game telling you that Dylan is finally unbound. After 17 years in a cell, he can go anywhere.
The Real Role: A Bridge Between Past and Future
Dylan’s role isn’t to replace Jesse. It’s to show a different kind of hero — one who has to live with the consequences of being the antagonist. The first game’s collectibles painted him as a tragic figure. Now he has to act.
The side quest “The Complete Set” is a perfect microcosm of this. Dylan collects speakers across Manhattan to set up a sound system in an auction house, then must race to turn them off before the feedback loop destroys everything. It’s a goofy, self-contained puzzle. But it’s also the first time Dylan is doing something that isn’t about survival or vengeance. He’s helping a random citizen. He’s making a choice.
The Counterargument: Jesse Was the Better Protagonist
Here’s the objection: Jesse was compelling because she had agency from the start. She walked into the Oldest House on purpose. She took the Director’s role. Dylan, by contrast, has everything happen to him. He’s reactive, not proactive.
This misses the point. Dylan’s entire arc is about gaining agency. He starts the game confused, weakened, and distrusted. Every Resonant he defeats, every zone he explores, every upgrade he buys from a vendor truck — these are small acts of reclaiming control. By the end, he’s not the same person who woke up in that cell. He’s made choices about which abilities to unlock, which side quests to pursue, which FBC members to trust.
Jesse’s story was about accepting power. Dylan’s is about earning it. Both are valid, and Remedy knew that sticking with the same formula would have felt like diminishing returns.
What the Lore Actually Means for the Story
The lore dump in the game’s opening menu recap covers the basics: the Ordinary AWE, the slide projector, Polaris. But the real depth comes from documents scattered across Manhattan. They detail Dylan’s time in FBC custody, the experiments Dr. Darling ran on him, and the gradual breakdown of his trust in the Bureau.
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One note mentions that Dylan was considered “too dangerous” for basic containment — his parautilitarian abilities manifested early and unpredictably. Another report from Simon Arish, the Security Chief, flatly states that he doesn’t trust Dylan and never will. This tension runs through the entire game. Zoe De Vera, Dylan’s handler, is the only FBC member who seems to genuinely believe in him. Even Emily Pope, the acting co-director, keeps him at arm’s length.
This isn’t just world-building. It creates real mechanical stakes. Every time you open a vendor’s inventory, you’re spending Source that Dylan earned by fighting. Every time you level a zone, you’re proving to the FBC that he’s worth the risk.
The One Thing Most Guides Miss
The “Complete Set” quest isn’t just a fun puzzle. The reward is an artifact called the Bass Guard, which increases power recovery by 50% but makes Dylan take 20% more damage. It’s a risk-reward item that perfectly mirrors his character: he can be more powerful, but only if he’s willing to get hurt. This artifact is sold by the Downtown vendor after you complete the quest. Most players skip it because they don’t check vendor inventories after finishing side content. But it’s the single best item for Dylan’s aggressive playstyle.
Why Dylan Faden Matters
Control Resonant doesn’t need Jesse to carry the story. It needs someone who questions every order, who has a reason to distrust authority, who fights like he has nothing left to lose. Dylan is that person.
The next time someone says Jesse should have been the protagonist, ask them which version of her would have worked better — the Director who already has all the answers, or the one who left before the crisis started? Jesse’s absence creates space for Dylan to grow. And that’s the hardest thing a sequel can do: let the past go.
- What was Dylan Faden's role before Control Resonant?He was a Prime Candidate for the FBC, subjected to experiments and isolation after being captured as a child.
- Why does Dylan wake up different in Control Resonant?He wakes from a coma with a new Aberrant weapon and must face the Patterning in Manhattan without Jesse.
- How do Dylan's traversal abilities reflect his character?His Gravity Shift and Reach abilities symbolize his newfound freedom and aggressive, close-quarters playstyle.
