Dylan Faden Did Nothing Wrong, Except For Everything He Did Wrong

This week on Aftermath Hours, Gita, Chris and Luke sat down to talk about Control Resonant, a game they are all currently enjoying (with a few reservations).

Control Resonant is the sequel to Remedy’s 2019 game Control, wherein you play as Jesse Faden, a woman searching for her long lost brother, Dylan by breaking into the Federal Bureau of Control. Resonant reverses that formula. In it, you play as Dylan Faden, looking for his newly missing sister, after breaking out of the Federal Bureau of Control and into a Manhattan that is infested with various competing paranatural entities.

For my part, I love Dylan Faden. I was for a long time the fuck up younger sibling to a highly competent older sibling, and I relate to his low self confidence and self loathing. Pretty much everyone at the FBC hates his guts, and he walks around apologizing to them all the time. Now, does he deserve that? Well, uh, er, maybe.

You can find this week’s episode below and on Spotify, Apple, or wherever else you prefer to listen to podcasts. If you like what you hear, leave a review.

Here’s an excerpt from our conversation (edited for length and clarity):

Luke: Well, so speaking of a bitch, I really like that you’re playing as Dylan because Dylan, yes, sucks.

Gita:Dylan sucks, and he’s having a rough time. I love him. He’s never done anything wrong, except the thing that he did wrong. But he was he was stressed out, okay, it’s fine. He was neurodivergent and a minor.

Chris: He was neurodivergent and a minor! I love Dylan so much. 

Gita: I like really, really like the way his hyper competent sibling is soaking up all the accolades and praise. 

Chris: “Well, your sister has a job.”

Gita: “And I’m here too.” Yeah, and I’ve felt that way for 90% of my life.

Luke: This is what I love because it’s one of those games where the contrast between the cinematics and the story and the in-game actions are just so funny because everyone just treats him throughout the majority of this game as this complete fuck up. Like everyone hates you. 

Chris: He did  kill a bunch of guys. 

Luke: He killed like 500.They tell you he killed like 500 guys. Technically, it was you know the hiss, but whatever. It was also you. But he’s just a little bitch. Like he’s always like, “wah, my sister.” He’s like, “oh why does nobody like me?” And he’s he he spends the first half of the game, just every character in the game, even your NPC allies, just like actively talking shit to you. You’ve just killed 57 monsters and saved their lives, they’ll be like, “ugh, Dylan.”

Gita: “Well if it was your sister, she would have gotten here earlier.”

Luke: It’s so good. It’s so funny just playing through this complete fuck. 

Gita:I make him apologize for everything at every given opportunity. He should. 

Chris: We’re calling him in. 

Gita:  We need to practice contrition. I also love when the the FBC trusts you after you get over the beginning portion of the game. You’re given a handler, an agent named Zoe, and she is like the only person who’s nice to you, but also in the way where she’s like yelling at you, and he’s like, “Thank you for yelling at me.”

Luke: I read Zoe as—Zoe is used to be the most annoying person in that workplace, and she is introduced to you because you are now the most annoying person in that workplace, and so she is your handler. The way she talks about music and talks about everything else, she is so deeply annoying. It’s so funny that she’s like reveling in the chance to be in a place of authority over you because she’s like, finally, I get to give someone shit. You can tell everybody else in that building who, with their straight laced R and D, you know, “we are the most important people on the planet” attitude—.

Gita: She looks like a person that wakes and bakes before she goes in.

Chris: She’s the most irresponsible person in an organization where they give you a five minute lunch break. How she even got in this fucking position is so sick. Also, yeah, her taste in music fucking sucks. It’s so cool. I love it so much.