CONTROL Resonant is not a single straight mission chain. Keep Contain the Crisis, Search for Jesse, and Defeating Resonants moving together; when one route stops, another usually supplies the ability or boss clear that opens it.
Use three quest tracks, not one checklist
Contain the Crisis carries the central story, Search for Jesse unlocks traversal powers, and Defeating Resonants grants Combat Abilities. The important progression rule is that these tracks cross. A main objective can pause until a Jesse Fault is complete or a regional Resonant is defeated.
Treat the Quest Log as a set of parallel routes. Before assuming a marker is broken, inspect the other two main headings and look for an unfinished prerequisite in the same part of Manhattan.
Opening route: Downtown and Central
Finish Orientation and the early Downtown objectives before using Central as the first major expansion point. Central introduces a regional Resonant whose fire reward later removes Mold-covered barriers, so it has both story and exploration value.
Open Fast Travel Doors as you pass them and visit vendors naturally. Fast travel starts at doors rather than from anywhere on the map, so a door skipped during the story creates avoidable walking later.
Middle route: Evacuation and West Incursion
Evacuation Zone advances the primary crisis route, while the Incursion Fault unlocks Shift and prepares the West Incursion Zone Resonant route. Shift handles gravity surfaces; the Dancer reward can supply Ground Slam for reinforced roof panels.
If a boss marker is visible but the approach ends at an impossible wall, that is usually a progression signal. Complete the matching Jesse Fault before spending time searching for a hidden street entrance.
Late route: Underpass and Unknown
The Subway Fault unlocks Reach for grapple points and supports the Underpass route. Recursions and Iterations can force that detour if it is still unfinished. The later Underpass Fault is another explicit main-story dependency.
Unknown adds a final exploration gate: Pope's Research is required for full travel through the region before the Hedron Link sequence can close. Clear that Side Story before treating an unreachable Unknown objective as a bug.
Save broad cleanup for full traversal access
Nothing in the trophy-related collectible set is reported as permanently missable. A region-by-region cleanup after the story is usually more efficient because Shift, Reach, impact options, and fire abilities remove the most common blockers.
Optional Side Stories can still be completed as you encounter them. The Last Taxi route is designed for gradual progress, but its Underpass and Unknown entries are easier after the corresponding campaign paths open.
How this guide was checked
CONTROL Resonant Walkthrough was independently summarized from current launch-week quest, boss, and progression references. The page separates confirmed dependencies from route advice and avoids treating one build choice as universally correct.