As players of Remedy Entertainment’s Control Resonant weigh in on whether expanding its action beyond the brutalist interior halls of 2019’s original Control was the right call, a closer look at each Faden sibling’s relationship with the Federal Bureau of Control reveals why taking hero Dylan outside was not just a creative choice but a narrative necessity.
The sentiment circulating among some players suggests that leaving the windowless monolith known as the Oldest House diminishes what made the first game so compelling. But understanding how Jesse and Dylan Faden each relate to the mysterious government agency—and to the building itself—explains why their stories demanded different settings, offering a clearer articulation of who each protagonist truly is.
A Family Divided by the Bureau
Both third-person action games center on one of two siblings, Jesse and Dylan Faden, and each one’s relationship with the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), an agency tasked with handling supernatural events. As children, after one such catastrophic event, the siblings encountered the bureau, which valued them as research subjects rather than innocent civilians, capturing Dylan while Jesse fled.
Dylan would be imprisoned, experimented on, and tortured for almost two decades. It is in Control that Jesse, now in her twenties, finally locates both the FBC and her brother. The bureau operates within a mysterious, windowless monolith in Manhattan called the Oldest House—an otherworldly entity housing infinite halls and adhering to its own internal laws of nature.
Jesse, unlike her brother, does not become a prisoner but rises to become the agency’s head, its Director. Throughout Control, her supernatural powers grow as she proves herself against evil entities, earning the respect of FBC staff. She lived up to the title rather than merely stumbling into it.
The Face of the Enemy
Dylan’s story took a darker turn. Imprisoned within the Oldest House for 17 years, he encountered a hostile parasitical entity called the Hiss and willingly let it take over his body as a means to escape confinement. The Hiss instead used him and his powers to spread, driving the events of Control, including the deaths of hundreds of FBC employees.
“Everything here feels crazy, weird, but it feels right. Like how the world should be. I’m in an infinite building leading to different dimensions and I never want to leave. Even with all the horror, I’m happy. It feels sane. Or just the right kind of insane.”
Jesse Faden on the Oldest House
Dylan serves as the face of the enemy in Control, yet Jesse remains unflinching in her mission to free him—from both the bureau and the Hiss. When he wakes up in 2026, Dylan follows a trail of destruction that leads him outside for the first time in 24 years.
A World That Passed Him By
The contrast between the siblings is stark. While Jesse spent her entire life beyond the FBC’s confines—agents knew exactly where she was but chose to let her operate as a control study relative to Dylan—Dylan was imprisoned for most of his existence. When finally free, some bureau leadership want to drag him back to a cell, blaming him for the deaths of over 500 comrades.
Dylan acknowledges he was possessed by the Hiss but also blames himself for yielding to temptation. Throughout Resonant, he remains apologetic and soft-spoken, seeking to propitiate the bureau in any way he can. This aligns with his reality: he is the FBC’s prisoner, not its leader.
The game also recontextualizes Dr. Casper Darling, the head of research who oversaw Dylan’s training. In Control, tapes Jesse discovers portray him as a likeable, bubbly, brilliant figure—indeed, he dedicates a rock song to her from his unknown dimension. But in Resonant, players see his true face through Dylan’s eyes: a bully and manipulator who dismissed a child’s pleas for freedom and subjected him to physical abuse.
Beyond the Infinite Walls
Letting Dylan escape aligns directly with his relationship with the bureau. He tells an agent at the beginning of Resonant that he never wants to return, a sentiment rooted in what the FBC did to him and how it shaped his identity. As Darling himself learned, becoming a full person was never possible within the Oldest House’s prison.
The two games each witness a Faden sibling becoming their own person through distinct environments. Just as players experienced the interior of the Oldest House anew alongside Jesse, they now encounter the outside world fresh through Dylan—a world that passed him by through no fault of his own. Whether this choice satisfies those who longed to revisit the bureaucratic halls remains to be seen, but for many it represents an essential step in Dylan’s journey toward becoming his own man.
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