Control Resonant: The Central Resonant walkthrough
Overview & Key Takeaways
Now we've wrapped up our tour of Downtown's sewers in Control Resonant's Welcome To Manhattan walkthrough, The Central Resonant will be the next stop on our journey. The ensuing encounter will see us tangle with our second boss fight of the game, as we get a new ability and explore a fiery locale.
This walkthrough will guide you through how to find and defeat the Central Resonant, as well as gather all the collectibles along the way.
Now we've wrapped up our tour of Downtown's sewers in Control Resonant's Welcome To Manhattan walkthrough, The Central Resonant will be the next stop on our journey. The ensuing encounter will see us tangle with our second boss fight of the game, as we get a new ability and explore a fiery locale.
This walkthrough will guide you through how to find and defeat the Central Resonant, as well as gather all the collectibles along the way.
On this page:
To see this content please enable targeting cookies.
Manage cookie settings
Control Resonant: The Central Resonant walkthrough
Although the game will immediately point us over to the Evacuation Procedure mission, this is the first point in the game where we'll be given an objective that is a little above our current capabilities.
Before we can face off against the tougher enemies the Evacuation Zone has to offer, we need to strengthen our build, and the easiest way to do just that is to complete another essential mission: defeating the Central Resonant. We'll have to drop all the Resonants at some point to progress the story, and ending the Central Resonant will give us some more abilities and resources to level up en route to facing the beefier threats to come.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
So, head to the Gap and level up, then make your way over to the Patterned Factory in northeast Central. The location is marked on the map above.
Step 1: Investigate the Factory
Upon reaching the factory, you'll find some Hiss to clear up in the loading bay, so beat them all to a pulp and then turn your attention to the right-hand wall of the factory. You'll see some platforms you can hop between to reach the roof, so dodge the steam between them, climb up to the roof and cross over to the other side.
Climb up to the roof, then cross over and look for these breakable wooden boards. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
On the outcrop you'll find on the opposite side of the roof, you'll see a doorway covered in wooden boards leading into the factory. Break through them and then descend the stairs down to the floor below.
You'll find a resource crate in here, so crack it open, then continue through to the main factory floor, where you'll run into a pack of Hiss to crash through. Make sure to keep an eye on enemies that run through the steam that's shooting around the arena, as it'll build their Falter and allow you to chain some executions to increase your melee strength.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
When the room is clear, step into the elevator you find against the wall on the lower floor of the room and descend into the inner workings of the factory.
Step 2: Turn off the steam
When you arrive on the lower floor, activate the fast travel point down the corridor ahead, and then proceed up the stairs and into the centre chamber of the factory. From the top of the stairs, you'll see a passage ahead that leads to a tunnel blocked by a raging fire.
The Central Resonant is through here, but we have to clear the fire first... | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
Our goal is to turn off the fire by finding three lava globs attached to certain steel pipes throughout the facility. If you're wondering what a lava glob looks like, luckily, there's one pretty close by to take a nice long gander at...
First lava glob location
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
When you reach the top of the stairs leading into the factory, turn 180 degrees and look at the wall on the opposite side of the room. You should be able to spot the first lava glob attached to a pipe. Take either walkway on your right or left around to it, then destroy it to take out your first glob.
Second lava glob location
From the top of the stairs in the central hub, take a left and follow the path through the open archway in the centre of the walkway.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
Follow the corridor on the other side, avoiding the steam erupting from the pipes until you reach a fork in the road. Take the left path from here until you arrive in a room with a lit furnace behind a metal gate.
Collectible: Factory Log #1
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
While in this furnace room, you'll spot a tape player on the table beside the metal grate. If you interact with the tape player, you'll get the first of three Factory Log collectibles.
Collectible found
Climb up from here to the walkways above and continue following the passage until you arrive in another combat room. Take out the Hiss stationed here, being wary of the pipes that keep erupting in flame.
Collectible: Factory Log #2
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
If you drop down to the ground floor of this area and look to your right, you'll see a set of pipes with a tunnel just beyond it. Halfway down this tunnel, you'll spot a desk against a wall with another tape player perched on it. Interact with the tape player to get the second Factory Log.
Collectible found
When the combat encounter is over, look for the upper walkway on the opposite side of the room from where you entered, and make your way through the door on the left-hand side. You'll enter a large cooling pool room with more Hiss to battle.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
End them, then report the empty pool at the back of the room to Zoe before heading through the tunnel on the right-hand side of the bottom floor. You'll spot the lava glob as soon as you enter the tunnel, so take it out to inch one step closer to your goal.
Take a right from here, and you'll return back to the initial passage you entered the tunnels from.
Collectible: City Maintenance Observations
When exiting the corridor down to lava glob 2, head into this now-open doorway and look for a note next to a worker's corpse. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
While returning to the central hub of the factory, you'll pass by the doorway that was once blocked by steam on the left-hand side of the exit tunnel. If you head inside, you'll find the City Maintenance Observations recording next to a dead worker.
Collectible found
From here, you can head back to the central hub and get ready to track down the final lava glob.
Third lava glob location
Now you've taken out two lava globs, there's only one more to track. From the top of the stairs, take the right path, and you'll find another door at the midway point of the walkway. Head through this door and continue following the path behind it until you enter a large chamber.
Defeat the Hiss that spawn in here, making sure to capitalise on the central fire jets that will stun enemies and allow you to get some free executions. When they're all finished, climb up to the raised area at the back of the arena, then through it to a fork in the road.
After clearing the first room, you'll reach a fork in the road. Make a left to bag some collectibles! | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
There are two paths here. Right is the route to the main objective, but left takes us to a makeshift living area, where we'll stumble upon a bunch of useful optional goodies. Here are all the trinkets that you'll want to grab down the left path:
Health Upgrade Point: Patterned Factory
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
Inside the makeshift living area, you'll spot a red box on the right with a clown icon above it. Loot the box to get a Health Upgrade Point.
Health Upgrade Point found
Collectible: Factory Log #3
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
When exploring the makeshift living area, you'll find Factory Log #3 on a table against the wall beside the Health Upgrade Point.
Collectible found
An Old Journal
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
After reaching the makeshift living area, you'll find the old Journal on a table in the back left-hand corner of the area.
Collectible found
When you've raided everything in the makeshift living area, return to the fork in the road and take the path on the right.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
At the end of the path, you'll find another fiery combat arena full of Hiss. If you look directly opposite where you enter, on the upper walkway, you'll see the lava glob on a steel pipe. Head over there and destroy the lava to fully open your way through to the centre of the factory, then clear the room of Hiss before returning to the central hub.
Step 3: Deserter boss fight
Now you're back in the central hub of the factory, head into the room opposite you when you're standing at the top of the stairs, then enter the tunnel we spotted earlier. Now the lava globs are gone, the fire that originally blocked it has been put out, and we can proceed deeper into the factory.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
At the end, you'll find a mirror that you can interact with, cueing a suitably dramatic cutscene that ends with us facing off against the Central Resonant: The Deserter. This fiery abomination isn't a particularly quick foe, but it does wield some nasty fire projectiles that can make finding an opening trickier than you'd expect.
From the off, try to keep to the outskirts of the arena, strafing around him and waiting for openings to sweep in and launch aerial attacks. Most of his offence revolves around either spewing lava around the arena, which you can use Rush to avoid, or launching it in a circle around him, making getting up close more volatile. It's much safer to stay in the air to avoid standing in the throw-up he gracefully left for us and accruing flame build-up.
Avoid the Deserter's spewing attacks and wait for him to fall onto his side, then attack the purple orb in his mouth. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
To really start hurting this guy early in the fight, wait for the moment when he rises to his feet and then falls on his side. As soon as he's on the ground, run to his head and attack the purple orb in his mouth. Destroying it deals a nice bit of damage.
From here, it's mostly rinse and repeat for the rest of the face-off. After you carve off a decent amount of his health, he will change up the strategy slightly, running around the arena and dropping to his knees. Make sure to keep a good distance when he stands up so you can stay out of his path, then dash in and clear off a little more of his health.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
Keep up the pace, and eventually, the Deserter will leave himself open for a finishing blow. Execute him, and you'll be teleported to the Gap and asked to pick a new power.
The Deserter combat abilities
Defeating the Deserter will give you the option of picking one of two Combat Abilities: Ignite or Inferno. Ignite adds a flame buff to your weapons, almost like Dark Souls' resin items.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
Meanwhile, Inferno allows you to launch flame-based projectiles from afar. You'll know which better suits your playstyle, although if you didn't opt for Barrage after defeating The Artist in the prologue, Inferno is your chance to add a projectile to your loadout.
Whatever you choose, leave the Gap, and you'll arrive back in the boss arena with the now slain Deserter lying in the rubble. Dylan will call Zoe to report the good news, and the mission will be complete. Before you head off though, there is one more collectible to grab in the arena:
FBC ID Badge
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun / Remedy Entertainment
After defeating the Deserter, search the area, and you'll find the FBC ID Badge collectible on the ground near the path leading to the boss arena exit.
Collectible found
And that's it for the Central Resonant boss fight! Now he's out for the count, we should be powerful enough to brave the Evacuation Zone and complete the Evacuation Procedure mission. Need more Control Resonant help in the meantime? Be sure to check out our guides on the which Aberrant Forms you should choose, and how to unlock SHUM arcade cabinets. If none of those appeal though, you can find our full list of Control Resonant guides here.
