For the most part, Control is about figuring out where you need to be and that is often enough to complete whatever task is required. One of the few quests change this is A Matter of Time. For this one you need to return to the motel and find some missing troops. What makes it hard is that it’s the first real puzzle you’ll encounter.
Getting the Quest
After finishing the third chapter you’ll find a gentleman injured by a shelter. He will explain you need to find his squad, which means you need to transverse the motel.
Getting Past the Motel
When you flick the light to the left of the quest giver, you’ll be transported to the motel. Here only four things can be interacted with. A bell, the light switch, a clock and the black pyramid door you entered the first time. Given this is about time, the puzzle obviously required the clock, but it’s so much more.
Keen observers might notice the sign before you’re transported to the motel says it follows the rule of three. It requires three clicks to go there and three to exit and it also involves three clock based puzzles. You also might notice the clock changes time whenever you click the bell, though you might not notice one of three doors opens after each press.
To solve this puzzle, simply ring the bell, look at the time displayed on the clock and then make the clock in the room stop on that time. This can be done by pushing the interact button and it’s pretty forgiving. I was off by 20 minutes on one and it just jumped back for me. Do this for the two remaining rooms and you’ll get the key needed to enter the black pyramid door.
The remainder of the mission is just moving forward and shooting enemies, so you should be good to go from here.
