Ever since it was announced, the sequel to Control has been an enigma. All signs suggest that Remedy is only in very early stages of making the game, meaning that fans of Control probably won't see a Control 2 reveal anytime soon, but there's still lots of possibilities worth considering about the game. Control set up all kinds of important characters, items, and cosmic forces that could come into play in the sequel. For instance, it seems likely that the Hiss will return as an antagonistic force, trying once more to destroy the Board and attacking the Federal Bureau of Control in the process, leaving Jesse to defend her new community a second time.
How the Hiss could return to the forefront remains a question, however. At the end of Control, Jesse seems to seal the Hiss away from the Bureau, leaving her and her allies to simply deal with the remaining Hiss cells that wander the endlessly shifting halls of the Oldest House. However, Control already has plenty of pieces in place that could result in a second Hiss invasion that potentially has even more disastrous results. Between the Object of Power that helped bring the Hiss into the Bureau and the character that helped accomplish it, the Hiss has little to stop it from staging another attack.
The Hiss' Second Arrival
The Hiss first came into the Bureau thanks to the Slide Projecter, an Object of Power from Jesse's childhood that can open portals to other dimensions when the right slides are inserted. Jesse destroyed all but one slide as a child, and the Bureau ventured into that slide's dimension, resulting in former Director Zachariah Trench's first exposure to the Hiss' resonance. By the end of Control, the Slide Projector hasn't been destroyed, which means that another person could use it to let the Hiss back in just like Trench did.
Unfortunately, there's already a Control character who has a motive to open the door to the Hiss again. Jesse's long-lost brother Dylan Faden has a vendetta against the Bureau for imprisoning him since childhood. Jesse cleansed the Hiss from Dylan's mind at the end of Control after he let the Hiss into the Astral Plane to attack the board, but he may still want to destroy the Bureau after what it did to him. Once Dylan wakes up from his coma, he might decide he wants to let the Hiss guide him again. All he would have to do it obtain the Slide Projector and access the right dimension to let the Hiss back in.
The Slide Projector's Impact on Control
Seeing how Control doesn't completely resolve Jesse and Dylan's relationship or the Hiss' hostility to the Board and the Bureau, odds are good that Dylan and the Hiss will both pose a threat to the Bureau once again. The result could be as compelling mechanically as it is narratively. There's clearly a lot of supernatural events going on just behind the borders of Control, and greater use of the Slide Projector could see Jesse chasing Dylan through various dimensions that he's connecting to the Oldest House to help the Hiss, resulting in some unique new environments for Control fans to explore.
It'll certainly be interesting to see how the Hiss behaves in Control 2, should it make a second appearance. Control doesn't clarify what it wants or thinks to a great extent, instead focusing on the human response to Control's supernatural threats. Control 2 is bound to do the same while still introducing new forces and creatures that the Bureau has to respond to. Jesse Faden's journey is far from over, as DLCs exploring new frontiers and crossing over with Alan Wake suggest. It seems just as likely that the Hiss still has a journey to go on too.
Control is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.