Dylan Faden

Who is Dylan Faden?

Dylan Faden is the primary protagonist of CONTROL Resonant, and from in-game lore and collectibles, one of the most powerful parautilitarians the Federal Bureau of Control has ever contained. Born in 1992 — making Dylan 34 in 2026 — he is the younger brother of Jesse Faden, the lead of Control (2019). The Bureau catalogued Dylan as Prime Candidate 6 (P6), and former Head of Research Casper Darling rated Dylan's paranatural potential alongside that of former Director Broderick Northmoor. Where Jesse spent seventeen years on the outside searching for him, Dylan spent those years inside the Oldest House — and that inverted childhood is the engine of the sequel's story.

Dylan Faden backstory before Resonant

Dylan's history across the franchise is documented through Bureau collectibles and canon archives:

• Ordinary AWE (2002). In the town of Ordinary, Maine, the Faden siblings found a Slide Projector Object of Power and made contact with the entity Polaris. The adults of Ordinary vanished and the FBC arrived. Jesse escaped; Dylan was taken to the Oldest House.
• The Prime Candidate program. Dylan was raised inside the Bureau under Casper Darling and groomed as the next Director under Zachariah Trench. The Threshold Kids videos are implied to have been made to teach young Dylan paranatural concepts.
• The Roberts incident. Dylan accidentally killed Agent Roberts with his powers. The Dylan Evaluation collectible corroborates his account — "It wasn't my fault. I couldn't restrain it yet." Helen Marshall treated Dylan as extremely dangerous; Darling took responsibility and later called Dylan a lost cause. Dylan was relocated to a containment cell in the Panopticon.
• Isolation. Cut off from the outside, Dylan came to believe Jesse and Polaris had abandoned him — the Dylan Faden Transcript collectible records Dylan shouting, "You both left me here to rot!" Dr. Carla Vaughn conducted psychological evaluations tracking his growing isolation.
• Control (2019). Jesse finds Dylan imprisoned and Hiss-influenced, saying: "I welcomed the Hiss. I let it in… The Hiss set me free. Polaris is using you." Dylan is central to the Hiss incursion. One precision: the 2019 breach traces to Trench opening the door under Hiss influence — Bureau staff blaming Dylan is an in-universe attitude, not objective fact.

What happened after Control’s ending?

At the end of Control, Jesse reaches Dylan in the Astral Plane and purges the Hiss from him. He survives but falls into a coma, remaining under Bureau care while the Oldest House stays in lockdown.

Dylan Faden in Alan Wake 2: The Lake House

Where does Estevez meet Dylan?

In Alan Wake 2: The Lake House, Agent Kiran Estevez encounters Dylan after a light-switch cord takes her through the Oceanview Motel to the Panopticon. He speaks to her from his containment cell and asks her to tell Jesse that he tried, before she is returned to the Lake House. This encounter is the next part of his story shown before Resonant’s opening.

Role in CONTROL Resonant

Launch reviews (GameSpot, The New York Times) place Resonant about seven years after Control. The Oldest House is still under lockdown, the Hiss — and the Mold — spill into Manhattan in a second AWE-scale crisis, and Jesse, now the FBC's Director, is missing. The Bureau's answer is Plan B: after years of confinement, former captors deploy Dylan at the peak of a supernatural crisis to fight a reality-bending cosmic entity across Manhattan — and to find Jesse.

Per narrative files, Jesse awakens Dylan with a spear-like artifact — the Aberrant, an energy Object of Power — while a control safeguard device sits at the back of his head (Case 45-HQ-121). In the field, Dylan answers to handler Agent Zoe De Vera. Reviews describe Dylan's tone as weary, guilty, and socially awkward: an antihero, not a power fantasy. Remedy's Thomas Puha has confirmed that Jesse is not playable — Dylan is the sole player character, with Jesse holding a significant role off the controls. For how the sequel repositions the original cast, see our prequel comparison guide.

Why is Dylan the protagonist instead of Jesse?

The sequel reverses the siblings’ journeys. Jesse entered the Oldest House looking for Dylan and found a place for herself as the Bureau’s Director. Dylan leaves confinement to search for Jesse and build connections in a world he has barely experienced. His need for belonging and atonement gives the sequel a different emotional starting point.

Jesse remains central to that story: following her trail reveals more about her choices. Zoe provides Dylan with a new relationship outside his family and helps introduce the Bureau’s world to players arriving with the sequel.

Voice actor

Sean Durrie voices and performs Dylan Faden across the entire arc: Control (2019), The Foundation, AWE, Alan Wake 2: The Lake House, and CONTROL Resonant (2026). He also played Nick Masters in Quantum Break.

Durrie is also Dylan’s face model: the character uses his likeness as well as his voice. For the original Control, his performance involved separate facial-capture and motion-capture sessions. In the facial booth, he had to convey exertion and emotion while keeping his head almost still.

Dylan Faden's powers and combat abilities

What can Dylan do in CONTROL Resonant?

Dylan combines the shapeshifting Aberrant with traversal moves and boss-granted combat abilities:

• The Aberrant. Dylan's shapeshifting melee weapon. Forms described across announcement coverage and reviews include a two-handed hammer, dual fast blades with a crit-chance lean, a large scythe with wide sweeps, and a mid form with a backstab bonus.
• Traversal. Dash, double jump, and hover/levitation carry Dylan through Manhattan's gravity-folded spaces.
• Boss-granted abilities. Combat abilities are earned from bosses, and GameSpot notes up to roughly six active abilities equipped at once. New Game Plus lets Dylan equip multiple abilities from the same boss, while bosses gain new behaviors (PlayStation Blog).
• Artifacts. Dylan crafts artifacts in the Gap, with three artifact slots in a first playthrough and a fourth unlocking in New Game Plus (PlayStation Blog).
• Assist Mode. Sliders run both easier and harder — adjusting enemy aggression, perfect-dodge window, projectile speed, and damage taken — giving players flexible control over Dylan's combat balance without locking achievements (PlayStation Blog).

Connection to Jesse

The Faden siblings have been separated since Ordinary: Jesse escaped the Bureau in 2002 and spent Control fighting her way back to Dylan; Dylan spent those years inside, convinced she and Polaris had left him to rot. Resonant inverts the search — Jesse, now Director, is the one who is missing, and finding her is Dylan's story. That shared history gives Dylan’s search its personal stakes. For the wider sequence of announcements and updates, see the news timeline.

Appearances timeline

Is Dylan Faden in Fortnite?

Yes. Dylan Faden appears as a Fortnite Outfit in the Gaming Legends Series, part of the CONTROL Resonant set. It is a cosmetic for Fortnite, separate from the clothes in Control Resonant's wardrobe.

How do you get the Dylan Faden Outfit?

Buying any edition of CONTROL Resonant on the Epic Games Store grants the Outfit to your Fortnite account. Purchase date does not affect eligibility, so it is not restricted to preorders. Use the same Epic account for the purchase and Fortnite; link your console account to that Epic account to use the Outfit on console. Compare the game editions in our buying guide.

The Outfit also has a 1,500 V-Bucks Fortnite Item Shop listing. Check the in-game shop for current availability.

What if you already bought the Outfit or refund the game?

If you already purchased the Outfit and then buy an eligible Epic Games Store copy of CONTROL Resonant, you receive a one-time grant of 1,500 V-Bucks instead. The V-Bucks reimbursement applies to Outfits purchased within the previous 12 months.

If you gift the game through the Epic Games Store, the recipient receives the Outfit, or 1,500 V-Bucks if they already own it. Refunding the game removes the Outfit or V-Bucks granted through that purchase.