“ | < The Hotline/Seashell is a Transmitter/Bridge > < Directors can call the Board/Long Distance > |
” |
— The Board during Unknown Caller |
Unknown Caller is the second story mission of Control. It is preceded by Welcome to the Oldest House and followed by Directorial Override.
Synopsis[]
Jesse Faden traverses the Executive Sector of the Oldest House in order to find and claim the Hotline Object of Power and receive clearer guidance from the recently deceased Zachariah Trench, gaining a new paranatural ability along the way.
Overview[]
- Mission start
- Emily Pope instructs Jesse to find the Hotline, an Object of Power in the form of an old bakelite telephone, to understand the messages of the dead Director trying to communicate with her. They hope he can provide insight into the Hiss invasion.
- Finish the Floppy Disk Astral Challenge
- On her way to the Hotline, Jesse gains the Launch ability by binding the Floppy Disk, another Object of Power.
- Defeat Tommasi
- She is forced to fight the Hiss-corrupted Head of Communications, Alberto Tommasi.
- Mission end
- Jesse uses the Hotline to call Trench. He talks about finding his management team: Dr. Casper Darling, Head of Research, and Helen Marshall, Head of Operations, potential allies against the Hiss.
Objectives[]
- Enter the Communications Dept. to find the Hotline (Executive / Dead Letters)
- Navigate through the Communications Dept. (Executive / Mail Room)
- Reach the Object of Power to Cleanse it (Executive / Pneumatics)
- Use Launch to complete the Astral Plane challenge
- Proceed through the Communications Dept (Executive / Mail Room)
- Defeat Hiss-Corrupted Tommasi (Executive / Mail Room)
- Find the Hotline Object of Power (Executive / Hotline Chamber)
- Traverse the Oceanview Motel
- Pick up the Hotline (Executive / Hotline Chamber)
- Complete the Astral Plane challenge
- Speak with Emily (Executive / Board Room)
Walkthrough[]
Dead Letters[]
After speaking to Emily, a new door is unlocked on the ground floor of Central Executive, leading to the Cafeteria. In the stairwell between the two areas, the loudspeakers will suddenly start to play, broadcasting the Hiss incantation (subtitles reveal the speaker to be Alberto Tommasi.) The Cafeteria is patrolled by two Hiss Guards on the second floor. On the ground level, several waves of Hiss Guards must be killed to unblock the way forwards. The Hiss Barrier Collectible will be obtained after this is done.
Entering Dead Letters, three Hiss Guards are suspended in mid-air and can be killed from this distance without any other enemies appearing. Approaching the Control Point will cause a shielded Hiss Guard to appear; the shield is durable against the Service Weapon but can be easily broken using melee attacks. After defeating all additional enemies, cleanse the Control Point to continue onwards to the Communications Department.
The Floppy Disk[]
On entering the Comms Department, an unlucky agent can be seen being killed by a mail canister thrown into his face. Enter Pneumatics to find the cause of his death, a Hiss-corrupted Object of Power known as the Floppy Disk. The Disk regularly launches mail canisters at Jesse, but there are various locations to take cover behind. To reach the Floppy Disk, head for the staircase on the right side of the room and cross the catwalk. The Floppy Disk will stop throwing canisters when Jesse reaches it. After reaching out to grab it, Jesse will find herself in the Astral Plane yet again, now with a new ability: Launch.
Use Launch or melee attacks to break open the rock wall. There will be a golden hollow and three gold cubes nearby. Use Launch to fire a cube into the hole. If any of the cubes falls out of bounds, they will reappear at their original position. In the final section, a number of Astral Copies must be killed; the Board suggests using Launch, but any method to kill them will work.
After exiting the Astral Plane, a number of Hiss enemies will be present in Pneumatics: shielded Hiss Guards, Hiss Rangers, and Hiss Demolition Experts. On exiting Pneumatics, a single level 2 Hiss Demolition Expert will spawn in front of the barrier. On killing this enemy, the Hiss Demolition Expert and Hiss Ranger Collectibles will be obtained and the Hiss Barrier will be dispelled.
Continuing to the Mail Room, Jesse will find that the door is locked and requires Clearance Level 1 to access. Two key cards can be found nearby to unlock the door. One is in front of a dead agent between the door and the Mail Room Control Point. The other one is on the upper level, near the body of a dead agent. Enemies do not spawn on the lower level, but may spawn on the upper level. Entering a room with many computer cubicles on the third level will trigger an optional fight against a named Hiss Ranger miniboss, Ranger First Class Coleman.
Tommasi[]
Upon entering the Mail Room, a short scene will play as a flying Hiss enemy emerges— Mr. Tommasi, the first Hiss Elevated to be encountered in the game. While floating, Tommasi will regularly conjure projectiles and launch them at Jesse. The side areas of the Mail Room can be used for cover, especially behind the large pillars. As a Hiss Elevated, Tommasi can dodge objects launched by Jesse, but generally not when he is preparing to launch projectiles himself. Hiss Guards will regularly spawn throughout the Mail Room while fighting Tommasi.
After Tommasi is defeated, another short scene will play, showing Tommasi making his escape. The Hiss Elevated Collectible is obtained after defeating Tommasi. Head for Tommasi's office, the room which he is shown escaping through, to continue towards the Hotline.
Finding the Hotline[]
In the Hotline Chamber, traverse through the security checkpoint to reach the Hotline's enclosure, which is currently missing a walkway but does have a sign and a Light Switch Cord present. As the apparition of Trench hints, use the light switch cord three times, and Jesse will find herself inside the Oceanview Motel.
The goal in the Oceanview Motel is to find a key and use it on the door marked with the Black Pyramid. There are three rooms in the motel's far hallway Pressing the bell on the counter will open the closest room, and pressing it again will switch which room is currently open. On this visit, just press the bell three times to open up the farthest room. The key will be on the desk. After using it to open the Black Pyramid door, find the Light Switch Cord inside and pull it three times. Jesse will be transported back to the Hotline Chamber, this time with a walkway in front of her. Simply reach the Hotline and pick it up.
Jesse will find herself in the Astral Plane for yet another Astral Plane Challenge, where the goal is to reach the Hotline. The only challenge here is two short segments requiring avoiding "extradimensional entities" which cannot be killed. However, they can easily be navigated around in their square path. After touching the Hotline, another cinematic will play as Casper Darling introduces the Hotline and Trench guides Jesse to seek his "management team." Afterwards, Jesse will be back in the Hotline Chamber. A number of Collectibles will be obtained, including all the previous Trench apparitions: The Coming Storm, Control Points, Hotline, The Directorship, Oceanview Motel, and Management Team. The Hotline Multimedia and Hotline Case Files Collectibles will also be obtained.
In the foyer of the Hotline Chamber, a new doorway will be present connecting directly to the Director's Office. Central Executive will have changed quite a bit, now populated by more Bureau survivors. Some new Collectibles can also be found scattered around. Trench: Bureau Funding can be found on the desk in the Director's Office, Collective Unconscious can be found on Casper Darling's desk in his office on the second floor of Central Executive, and Initial Impressions can be found in the Board Room. Return to Emily Pope in the Board Room to complete the mission and start the next, taking Jesse to the Maintenance Sector. The Board Countermeasure missions will now also be available.
Achievements and trophies[]
The following achievements and trophies will be gained during this mission, one of them being secret.
Icon | Achievement/trophy | Score | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Paranatural Powerhouse Obtain the Launch Ability
|
15 | Bronze | |
C L A S S I F I E D
Unknown Caller Complete Mission 2 |
15 | Bronze |