Altered Items are a real hassle. Collecting, subduing, and combating the creepy little objects makes up a large number of the side quests in Control. And few of the side quests feature more Altered Items than “Langston’s Runaways.” This mission has you traipsing all throughout the Oldest House and completing minor puzzles to collect the aforementioned objects. The items’ locations aren’t always obvious, either. That’s why we’ve put together this handy guide to Langston’s Runaways in Control. Let’s take a gander!
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Traffic Light – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
This ought to be familiar to anyone who’s played “red light, green light” before. The game’s text log about the Traffic Light even addresses it. First, though, we need to reach floor four of the Panopticon — the same place where you bound the Benicoff TV to yourself at the start of the level.
At the head of the twisted hallway is a ring of light. It flashes between red, yellow, and green, just like a real traffic light. In order to proceed, you need to walk forward towards the Traffic Light when the light is yellow or green. Then stop when it’s red. For safety’s sake, stop moving shortly after the light turns yellow. Push forward like this until you reach the Traffic Light. It will reset once, forcing you to chase it again, but you should quickly catch it. You will need to restart from the beginning if you move during a red light, though.
Japanese Paper Lantern – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
This one is exceptionally easy. You’ll find the Japanese Paper Lantern inside the Sealed Threshold Hall: the room overflowing with clocks. The lantern itself isn’t technically visible, at first, but its surrounding shield is. The lantern has wrapped itself in a barrier made of the clocks themselves. You just need to use a powerful weapon to break the barrier and access the object! I used the Charge mode of the Service Weapon without issue. Once that’s done, interact with the lantern to collect it.
Moving Letters – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
This is the lengthiest of Langston’s Runaways, but it’s not too tough if you know the trick. The Moving Letters are actually three different Altered Items strewn about three floors of the Dead Letters zone. As such, you need the flight power gained from the Panopticon to reach them all. That’s not a problem since you need to earn flight in order to unlock the Langston’s Runaways side quest in the first place. Here are the letter locations and how to snag them!
Moving Letter #1: You’ll see this one just as soon as you enter Dead Letters. It constantly flits between four filing cabinets visible just as you enter the room. The idea is to predict the letter’s pattern and stand where it is about to be, then hold the interaction button to lock it in place. The pattern always goes from right to left — resetting on the far right cabinet when it passes the left-most end.
Here’s the trick; the letter always jumps seven times, then two, then seven, then two, and so on. The quickest way to catch it is by waiting for it to jump seven times. Then move two cabinets to the left of where it just landed. Otherwise, because of the constantly shifting nature of this letter, you can just stand at any cabinet and wait. It will always return to the same spot on each cabinet. Eventually. You just have to be patient and in position. And remember to interact with the letter twice! The first time locks it in place, but the second actually picks it up.
Moving Letter #2: This one is much easier. Just float up to the second floor of Dead Letters, and enter the indoor office section. The Moving Letter jumps in a pattern of four and six. But because of the arrangement of the desks, this means it can only appear in two spots. It will jump to the same spot two times in a row, before moving to the next, and then repeat. Just stand in either spot and grab it.
Moving Letter #3: This Moving Letter is just as easy as the last. It jumps between the furniture on the top floor of Dead Letters — in the open air office section directly above the control point. Just like the last one, it only appears in the same two spots, again and again. Except this time it leaps back and forth without repeating the same spot twice each time. Pick a location and grab the Moving Letter. That’s it for this one!
Hand Chair – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
The Hand Chair, as its objective implies, is found in the Medical Wing. You can reach it by starting at the Logistics control point and heading northwest. This is one of the easiest Altered Items to find in the game. Just proceed through the Medical Wing to the moldy area. Kill any enemies that might get in your way, then look up. The Hand Chair is exactly what it sounds like: a huge plastic hand. It’s stuck to the ceiling, however, so shoot it down and pick it up. Done!
Mannequin – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
This is an easy one. Just fast travel to the Transit Corridor control point. From there, take the elevator up to the Prime Candidate Program floor (you must also do this as part of the main story). Follow it to the long, warped hallway. The Mannequin is at the very far end, in a nook in the wall. Touching it will take you to an alternate version of the hallway — this time filled with mannequins. The real one is hidden in with the fakes. Just look for the one that gives you an interaction prompt and cleanse it.
Flamingo – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
Head to the Sealed Threshold Corridor in Containment. You’ll see a bright, pink light coming from a doorway. Enter it to find the Flamingo inside a small room. It will create a disorienting hallway for you to traverse, but you can fly through it without much trouble. The real battle for the Flamingo occurs inside the Astral Plane. You’ll face the Former: the giant, spooky boss from the Refrigerator quest.
The battle is more-or-less identical to last time, but slightly more intense. Shoot the Former in its big eye; block its energy balls by throwing debris at them; avoid the melee attacks. It appears you can float over the melee attacks to avoid them altogether. Otherwise the shield works if you line up the angle just right. Whatever you do, make sure you don’t fall into the holes the creature pokes into the ground (marked by pillars of white light pouring up from below you).
Rubber Duck – Langston’s Runaways Control Guide
Fast travel to Ritual Division, turn around, and enter the yellow lit archway to reach Protective Studies. Hang an immediate left down a dark hallway with papers strewn about the floor (you should seen more mannequins in side rooms through metal grates). At the end of the hallway is a staircase leading up, to your left, and a stack of crates to your right. You should just barely see a doorway behind the crates — on the easternmost wall of the Protective Studies zone on your map. Enter it.
Inside is a room filled with pipes. Look up to spy an opening high up in the wall. Fly into this opening — and proceed through the mold-infested tunnel it connects to — until you reach a research lab. The Rubber Duck is on a white slab in this area, but it will disappear once you touch it. It will reappear in the hallway littered with paper that you just came through — which you can now access via a shortcut door that opens from the Rubber Duck room.
Track the creepy quacker by the distinctive sound it makes and its ominous red glow. It will disappear whenever you get close, and reappear elsewhere in the room (sometimes even behind you). You need to close in fast with a dodge and snag the sucker before it can react. Then you’re golden! It’s time to turn in the Langston’s Runaway quest in Control once and for all.
