Control guide: All Hidden Locations

These secrets are no longer safe

By Jeff Ramos Updated Oct 4, 2019, 2:46pm EDT

Control is full of secrets, mysteries and awful Hiss monsters that show up while you’re trying to explore the farthest reaches of the Oldest House. Tucked away inside the shifting Brutalist architecture are several Hidden Locations. In this guide, we’ll show you how to find them.

Reaching each of these secret spots displays a “Hidden Location Discovered” notification and grants Jesse an Ability Point. They may also contain Easter eggs, even more special documents to uncover, and crafting items.

Since the Oldest House is a bizarre and large building to explore, we’ve uncovered its hidden locations for you. We’ll break them down by sector and give you detailed instructions on where to find them. Several of these require late-game abilities, plus we’ll be exploring late-game areas. These are best saved for the late game or for after you’ve beaten Control.

Executive Sector Hidden Locations

Maintenance Sector Hidden Locations

Research Sector Hidden Locations

Containment Sector Hidden Locations

Executive Sector Hidden Locations

Executive Affairs Hidden Location

Once you walk into this office space, look up at the giant pillar in the center of the room. There’s an item box on the top left of the pillar.

To get to it, levitate as high as you can, and then aim your Ground Slam Ability attack at the wall next to it. If aimed properly, you should fall back onto the pillar. Since it’s so bright, you may even want to turn down your brightness so you can see your aiming reticle.

Communications Department Hidden Location 1

Looking at the map above, head to this area of the Mail Room (it’s opposite the entrance of the Mail Room to right).

Up the stairs and along the wall is a door. In that room is several computer stations surrounded by concrete. Simply levitate on top of one to get the Hidden Location.

There is also an item box above that requires some tricky positioning of your Ground Slam to grab. Like the secret area in Executive Affairs, aim for an area next to the box so you can sandwich yourself up there.

Communications Department Hidden Location 2

Just down the hall from the Hidden Location above is another door. Head through, and you’ll see a room covered in mold in the distance.

After you’ve completed Underhill’s quest line, you’ll be able to enter this room and any other mold infested room without taking damage. You’ll find an item box in the back.

Maintenance Sector Hidden Locations

Access Corridor Hidden Location

A woman stares at a hole in the ceiling among pipes

From Central Executive, take the elevator to the Maintenance Access Corridor. Once exiting the elevator, look to the ceiling for an area you can levitate up to. (You may need to jump off one of the pipes to your right to gain enough height to enter.)

Keep climbing up through the pipes until you reach the ledge above the light, and you’ll be in the Hidden Location. Inside the tunnels you’ll travel through on the way out, you’ll also find an America Overnight tape and an item box.

Break Room near Janitor’s office Hidden Location

Head back to the break room near the Janitor’s office — it’s the room where you fell through the floor and first received the Evade ability. (The closest fast travel location is the Ventilation Control Point.)

In the break room is a hole in the ceiling. Levitate into it, and you’ll be brought to the Astral Plane. You’ll need to levitate and evade to move through a series of floating platforms — several of which have item boxes on them.

Keep going toward the light until you drop back into the break room.

Firebreak from Janitor’s office Hidden Location

A woman stares at two holes in a large black wall

Head to the Janitor’s Office. (The closest fast travel location is the Ventilation Control Point.)

Go through the door on the left (near the dart board) so you can enter the tunnels. Keep going through the tunnels until you reach a doorway to your left that opens up to a Firebreak.

Jump out and levitate. Turn around to face the doorway you just jumped out of, and look to its left for another doorway. The picture above will show you the distance between the two entrances.

Bonus tip: Reenter the fire break and levitate down to the lowest platform. When the giant door opens and you walk through, you’ll find the NCS Coolant Pumps Upper Level Control Point, a collectible document, and a door to unlock that leads to the upper level of the NSC Coolant Pumps room.

NSC Power Plant Hidden Location

Levitate all the way to the top of the power plant in the center of the room. When you reach the highest spot, you’ll get your reward.

While you’re up there, you’ll find a weird TV with a furnace on it. What does it do? Well, it’s part of Control’s furnace puzzle.

Black Rock Quarry Entrance Hidden Location 1

This is the location on the map right in front of the wall. Remedy Entertainment/505 Games via Polygon
You can destroy the wall with a bit of telekinesis and the forklift, or you can levitate through the upper right corner of the block wall. Remedy Entertainment/505 Games via Polygon
Head down the shaft from here. Remedy Entertainment/505 Games via Polygon

From the Quarry Entrance Control Point, head into the quarry, hugging the left wall.

Look for an entrance on the wall that leads to a hallway with a forklift resting against a wall of blocks. (See the first image in the gallery above for the map location.)

Levitate your way through the top right of the block wall (or just throw the forklift at the block wall to destroy it), and you'll find yourself in an a large, vertical shaft. You’ll know you’re in the right place if you see a giant 02 written on the wall (also pictured in the gallery above).

In the 02 shaft, climb or levitate your way down to the moss-filled bottom, and you’ll discover this Hidden Location.

[Editor’s note: Polygon reader Gregory S. Kennedy emailed us to say that we got this one wrong initially. We regret the error. The text above reflects our new research, and it’ll lead you to a confirmed Hidden Location.

The text and images below this paragraph are what we had here when we originally published this guide. Because of the way Control works, you’ll only see “Hidden Location Discovered” appear on your screen the first time you find one. That means we can’t say for sure if the weird area below is a bona fide Hidden Location. We’re dubious, though. At the very least, you will find something interesting if you head over there.]

Control Black Rock Quarry Entrance Hidden Location 1

From the Quarry Entrance Control Point, head toward the quarry until you can make your first right. Keep moving forward until you see a pathway beneath the floating rocks.

Head through that path until you see a wall on right made up of large blocks. Levitate above them and enter the mold-infested room.

Black Rock Quarry Entrance Hidden Location 2

In the room just past the Black Quarry Entrance Control Point — the one where all the monsters and Hiss attack you — is a doorway located above everything to the left.

Enter the room, turn left, look up, and levitate up through the hole in the wall. Go through the Level 5 security door.

In the vertical room beyond that, keep levitating up until you find a doorway that leads you through some tunnels. Once you reach the door at the end, that’s the Hidden Location. It will bring you back to the furnace.

Research Sector Hidden Locations

Central Research Hidden Location 1

A woman stares at a window in a large office building

Take the elevator from Central Executive to the Central Research area. Once out of the elevator, walk down the stairs to the first landing. On a wall to your left, you’ll see an office behind a window. Levitate and crash through the window to gain access. Watch out: There’s a mold enemy in there.

Central Research Hidden Location 2

A woman points a gun at an office building window

From the window you crashed through in the Hidden Location above, you’ll see the second hidden area across the way. And if you’re not in that room, you can see your destination from the level with the Central Research Shelter. Either way, you’re looking for a balcony covered in ivy.

Levitate over and smash through the glass to get into the yellow office on the left. Behind that door is a room labeled Lab 10. You can only enter this room if you’ve completed Underhill’s quest. Touching the radio here will call in a swarm of mold.

Central Research Hidden Location 3 (Lab 79)

Take the stairs all the way to the top of Central Research so you’re near Dr. Darling’s office. Above his office entrance, you’ll notice a balcony. To find the Hidden Location, you’re going to have to use Levitate and Ground Slam to travel between balconies.

Levitate as high as you can then aim your reticle at the top of the balcony’s ceiling so you can Ground Slam into that area. Turning around, you’ll notice two more balconies across from you. Levitate to the one on the right first. Once you’ve landed, levitate to the the other one and you’ll find a door leading to Lab 79. Head on in and find the Hidden Location.

Luck & Probability

There’s a room gated with a Level 5 security clearance here. Once you enter, it’ll be clear that this room involves a puzzle. Thankfully, we’ve written up the solution to the Luck & Probability puzzle.

Active Threshold Hidden Location 1

A woman in a room covered in mold looks at a sign for the bathroom

After completing the Luck & Probability puzzle (above), drop all the way down to the bottom of Central Research and into the mold infested area with Dr. Underhill.

Run past her office and into the main area of the infested zone. Looking to your right, and you’ll see a sign for the bathroom. Walk through that doorway, look up, and you’ll see a hole above you. Levitate up there to find the Hidden Location.

If you’re having trouble getting up, grab one of the nearby refrigerators and place it below the hole, and then fly up.

Active Threshold Hidden Location 2

Stand in the center of the Active Threshold Control Point, and turn to look through the strong beam of light (which is west on your map). Walk toward the wall, look up, and you’ll see several platforms you can levitate up. Keep going up and to the right until you find an entrance that reveals this Hidden Location.

Containment Sector Hidden Locations

Logistics Hidden Location

A woman stands in a large office with a huge map of the United States in the back

Travel to the Logistics Control Point, and turn to face the U.S. map on the wall. Look up at the ceiling to find a hole. Up there is a small office with two item boxes.

Firebreak Hidden Location

A woman stands in a large black room on a white bridge

From the Logistics Control Point, head running north until you reach the Firebreak leading the Panopticon.

Once in the Firebreak tunnel, turn around and find the small room hidden to the right of the door.

Upper Panopticon fourth floor Hidden Location (Unit 716)

Fast travel to the Upper Panopticon Control Point and head across the bridge to Fortified Unit 716 — the same place you got the Levitate Ability. Once inside the area where you had the boss fight, levitate all the way toward the light at the end of the tunnel to reach the hidden location.

Upper Panopticon fifth floor Hidden Location

From the fourth floor Panopticon Control Point, levitate up to the fifth floor. Head toward the open area that ends with a swan. Turn to your left, and you’ll see a small opening beside the much larger ones that are marked Floor 5.

It may be difficult to see or distinguish, but remember that you’re looking for the smaller opening.

Transit Corridor South Hidden Location

Fast travel to the Transit Corridor control point. Head south toward the NYC Subway sign. Along the wall, you’ll see an office behind glass. Levitate and smash through it to enter the Hidden Location.

Control guide: All Hidden Locations

Table of contents

Executive Sector Hidden Locations

Maintenance Sector Hidden Locations

Research Sector Hidden Locations

Containment Sector Hidden Locations