With Remedy Entertainment's "Control Resonant" on the horizon, a refresher on the intricate and often bizarre story of the original Control is in order. The game, released in 2019, introduced players to Jesse Faden and her arrival at the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), an agency tasked with investigating and containing paranormal phenomena.
Ordinary Beginnings
Jesse's story begins in the fictional town of Ordinary, Maine, which in 2002 experienced an Altered World Event (AWE). This supernatural incident was triggered by a mysterious slide projector discovered by Jesse, her brother Dylan, and their friends. The FBC identified this projector as an Object of Power – an item infused with otherworldly energy capable of granting abilities to those who interact with it. When slides were inserted, the projector acted as a gateway to other dimensions. One such slide contained an entity Jesse would come to know as Polaris, a benevolent, star-like being that formed a telepathic bond with her.
The AWE resulted in the disappearance of Ordinary's adult population and caused physical alterations in some of the children involved. The FBC intervened to secure the slide projector, but during the chaos, only Dylan was apprehended, while Jesse escaped. With Polaris's guidance, Jesse managed to end the AWE by disabling the projector and destroying most of the slides, preserving only the one that connected her to Polaris.
Welcome to the Federal Bureau of Control
Jesse spent years searching for Dylan, a quest that led her to the FBC's Manhattan headquarters, the Oldest House, alerted by Polaris. The Oldest House itself is a Place of Power, a constantly shifting structure imbued with paranormal energy. Upon Jesse's arrival, the building was in lockdown, besieged by a psychic resonance known as the Hiss, which corrupted most FBC personnel. Survivors who possessed a Hedron Resonance Amplifier (HRA) were protected from this influence. Jesse, however, was shielded by her connection to Polaris.
Inside, Jesse discovered the former Director, Zachariah Trench, deceased by suicide. Picking up his Service Weapon, an Object of Power, transported Jesse to the Astral Plane, where she encountered the Board, a supernatural entity overseeing the FBC. Recognized as a parautilitarian – a human with supernatural abilities and a requirement for the Director role – Jesse was deemed fit to succeed Trench. She formed an alliance with remaining FBC staff, including researcher Emily Pope and head of security Simon Arish, in exchange for information about Dylan.
Jesse learned that Dylan, during his FBC training, lost control of his powers, leading to the deaths of several agents and his subsequent imprisonment in the Panopticon, a high-security area within the Oldest House for dangerous Objects of Power.
Reunited with Dylan
Jesse eventually found Dylan, who, though infected by the Hiss, retained a degree of lucidity. This unusual state was attributed to his parautilitarian abilities and perhaps a degree of complicity, as Dylan harbored resentment towards the FBC for his abduction. Dylan revealed that the Hiss infiltrated the Oldest House via the very slide projector Jesse and he had found as children.
Further investigation uncovered that Trench, alongside head of research Casper Darling, had experimented with the single surviving slide from Ordinary – the one connecting to Polaris, whom they referred to as Hedron. While exploring Hedron's dimension, Trench was exposed to and eventually consumed by the Hiss. The Hiss, originating from one of the burned slides, sought to use Trench to access its home reality and potentially spread across the multiverse, with aspirations of infecting the Board itself.
Darling, meanwhile, began communicating with Hedron, learning of Trench's infection and developing the HRAs. After Trench fully succumbed to the Hiss, he used the projector to unleash the entity upon the Oldest House. Darling vanished, possibly into Hedron's slide, leaving behind as many HRAs as he could.
In the game's climax, Jesse located Hedron within the Oldest House, but it was destroyed by Hiss-corrupted FBC agents. With Hedron gone, the Hiss began to infect the remaining personnel. Fortunately, Polaris, the aspect of Hedron within Jesse, remained potent. Jesse became a new power source for the HRAs, protecting the survivors. She confronted Dylan at the slide projector, the Hiss attempting to use him to breach the Astral Plane. Jesse managed to sever Dylan's connection to the Hiss, rendering him comatose. Though the projector was shut down, the Hiss remained embedded within the Oldest House. Jesse accepted her new role as Director, tasked with purging the FBC of the parasitic entity, facing the prospect of the Oldest House remaining in lockdown indefinitely.