Manhattan in Control Resonant folds in on itself, and the game does its best to guide you—pings, quest markers, glowing doors. But some of the best rewards live in the spaces the map barely acknowledges. You could finish the main story and never step into these five locations. That would be a shame, because each one offers something the story won’t hand you.
Where are the most missable secret areas in Control Resonant? Behind storefront puzzles, under arcade high scores, inside the prologue arena you left behind, along a dog’s seven-zone journey, and within a speaker-shaking auction house quest. None are required, but all deliver permanent upgrades—health, power, artifacts, or a surprise ending.
None are required, but all deliver permanent upgrades—health, power, artifacts, or a surprise ending.
The Prologue Arena (Return for a Second Power Upgrade)
You fought the Artist, fell through the floor, and never looked back. Most players don’t. But the boss arena isn’t empty after you leave. After the credits roll and the open world opens, walk—or fast-travel—back to the Oldest House area and descend into the pit where the first resonant died. The arena itself now holds a power upgrade point.
That’s one of three needed to increase Dylan’s energy pool, which lets you cast more combat abilities before recharging. The upgrade is just sitting there, no fight attached. No quest tells you to go back. The entrance is still there, under the rubble—look for the collapsed stairs near the first safe room. Jump down, grab the glowing orb, and warp out. Three minutes, one permanent bar increase.
Arcade Machines (Not Just for High Scores)
Every zone has at least one arcade cabinet tucked into a corner. They look like decoration. They are not. Beat the target score (usually second or third place is enough), and the machine spits out a reset item—the resource used to respec weapons, abilities, and talents. But there’s a better prize: if you score high enough, you get a power upgrade point instead.
The cabinets are marked on the map only after you level the zone enough to reveal resource crates, so you’ll likely find them by ear—the familiar retro sound effects. The games themselves are short, twitch-based challenges. Play each once. Don’t leave a zone without checking the machine. The power upgrades alone are worth it, and reset items save you 5,000 souls at a vendor.
The Complete Set Quest (Auction House Artifact)
Downtown Manhattan has an auction house you can enter. Inside, a speaker bounces erratically across the floor. Grab it—hold the interact button while it’s still—and you trigger a side quest that most players never start because it looks like a random environmental interaction.
The quest sends you across multiple zones to collect the rest of a speaker system. The final step: place them correctly in the auction house, then race to turn them off before the sound overwhelms you. Succeed, and you choose between shutting it down or turning the volume up.
Both paths reward a unique artifact. Turn it up, and you get a more interesting outcome—and a new passive that boosts power restoration by 50% at the cost of taking 20% more damage. That tradeoff is exactly what experienced builds want once you’ve learned to dodge every incoming hit. The artifact alone justifies the trip.
The Seven-Zone Dog Quest (Rooftop Companion)
On a rooftop in Central, a dog waits. Approach it, and it prompts you to find its toy. The toy is on a nearby roof. This happens again. And again. Seven times, across seven zones. Each time the dog moves to a new location, always on a rooftop, always in a zone you’ve already visited.
The toy is never far—check ledges, behind air conditioning units, on top of nearby awnings. Return it each time, and the reward grows. After the seventh zone, you get something that many players miss entirely: a unique cosmetic and a substantial source bonus.
But the real payoff is the feeling of completion. No quest marker, no journal entry—just the game trusting you to remember. Track the zones yourself or use a guide, but don’t skip this. It’s one of Remedy’s quietest world interactions, and it rewards patience over power.
The Secret Storefront Basements (Six Puzzles, Six Upgrades)
Lights on in a diner, a laundromat, a convenience store, an art gallery, a pizza place, and a café. Walk in. Most have a locked door or a console that needs a sequence. Inside each, a note gives a cryptic clue—operate the appliances from smallest to largest, match the colors in order, solve a simple math puzzle. Solve it, and a hidden door opens to a basement.
Each basement contains a health upgrade point. There are six of these storefronts across Manhattan, one per early zone (Central, Downtown, West Incursion, Evacuation Zone, Park, Underpass). That’s six health upgrades—enough to nearly double your health bar.
The trick: the stores look identical to dozens of unenterable facades. The only tell is the interior light. If you see a lit room with objects inside, go in. Press every button, read every note. The game doesn’t mark these as quests. Finding them is pure exploration, and the reward is the best survivability boost in the early game.
- Where are the most missable secret areas in Control Resonant?They are behind storefront puzzles, under arcade high scores, inside the prologue arena, along a dog's seven-zone journey, and within a speaker-shaking auction house quest.
- What rewards do arcade machines in Control Resonant offer?Arcade machines give reset items for respeccing weapons and potentially a power upgrade point if you score high enough.
