FBC: Firebreak Preview: A Little Help From Your Friends

This year marks Remedy Entertainment’s 30th anniversary, a milestone not many video game developers or publishers get to reach. Since its inception in 1995, the Finnish studio has created some of the most wholly unique games in the market. From The Dark Presence haunting the streets of Bright Falls in Alan Wake to the mysterious Hiss lingering in the Oldest House in Control, these are some of the most beloved single-player games in gaming. For its next game, however, the studio deviates from the third-person narrative-driven shooters it’s known for in favor of something different: a first-person cooperative shooter called FBC: Firebreak.

Remedy Entertainment isn’t straying too far from its roots, though. Revealed during the Xbox Partner Preview showcase last year, FBC: Firebreak is set in the aforementioned Oldest House six years after the events of Control. The Federal Bureau of Control is still under lockdown, not allowing anyone or anything to enter or exit the headquarters. After years of trying to defeat the Hiss, Director Jesse Faden (the protagonist of Control) decides to form the Firebreak Initiative, a unit made up of untrained volunteer first responders tasked with managing the threat that looms over the employees of the FBC.

FBC: Firebreak Focuses on Gameplay, Not Lore

Narrative and world-building have been integral to Remedy Entertainment’s DNA for years, especially post-Control. Establishing the Remedy Connected Universe (known as the RCU, for short) in the 2019 release, the worlds of Alan Wake and Control, as well as references to Quantum Break and Max Payne, have collided to bring one of the most bizarre and intriguing universes in gaming. So, how does a cooperative first-person shooter fit into the RCU? While FBC: Firebreak is part of Remedy Entertainment’s ongoing narrative, the focus is on gameplay rather than adding to the ever-growing lore of the studio’s distinct universe. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t stories to tell. It just doesn’t seem to be the main focus of this project.

“One of the exciting things about FBC: Firebreak, in particular, is that in a sense, the less that you say, the more interesting it is, and the more people hone in on the things that you do say, and everything becomes more charged,” game director Mike Kayatta told ComicBook in a preview of the project. “So, we have a lot of smaller ways that probably don’t sound too exciting to talk about as individual features or pieces, but we have absolutely sat down numerous times saying, ‘How do we squeeze everything that we can out of this space, how do we deliver what players are looking for, and how do we do all of that without getting in their way?’”

It’s Not a Live-Service, It’s a Session Shooter

Games like Destiny, Fortnite, World of Warcraft, and so many more ask a lot of players daily if they want to experience and unlock everything the game has to offer. Honestly, it’s almost like having a second job, as it takes days to complete a battle pass. Some games, like NBA 2K25, for instance, ask so much that it drives some people to pay real-life money to finish a season’s content.

FBC: Firebreak is not Remedy Entertainment’s attempt at jumping on the live-service train. Instead, Kayatta describes it as a “session shooter,” more akin to games like Left 4 Dead in that it’s designed for players to simply pick up and play, without being bogged down by a daily grind. Additionally, any playable post-launch content will be available for all players for free, so everyone is on equal footing in terms of content, with microtransactions limited to cosmetics.

“I definitely wouldn’t say we have a casual relationship with supporting the game after launch. Where we’re like, ‘Oh, you know, we’ll see what we do, and we’ll throw things out every once in a while,’” explains Kayatta. “We do really want to support the game actively and aggressively, and that involves lots of different types of content. But I think for us, the difference with a lot of the live service things is the way that they put it out, how aggressively they put it out, and the way that they also expect you to interact with the things that they’re putting out.”

“I’ll just pick on battle passes for a second,” Kayatta continues. “I’m not saying all battle passes are evil or something, but there’s that constant idea where you’ve reached a point where you’ve played for a month and you’re like ‘Wow, because I didn’t put in three hours last week, I can’t even finish this thing that I have, and then next month, it’s going to turn over!’ People are racing to see who can make the most convenient version of this really inconvenient FOMO system. I guess that’s what we’re trying to step away from.”

“We are definitely not casual at all about post launch. We know what’s in the pipeline, but we want to talk about it a bit later,” added Remedy Entertainment’s Communications Director Thomas Puha. “A lot of thinking went into not talking about ‘live service’ or ‘games as a service.’ They’re such loaded terms in terms of what people expect.”

Getting the Job Done

In FBC: Firebreak, players take on the role of one of the aforementioned volunteers of the Firebreak Initiative. These first responders take on “Jobs,” which are the missions players will embark on throughout the Oldest House. Each of these Jobs includes a unique environment, objective, and a crisis to deal with (like the sticky notes from the trailer).

These Jobs can then be tuned by choosing a Threat and Clearance Level; this essentially acts as the difficulty options in the game. Threat Level determines the combat difficulty and the amount of rewards players can earn, and the Clearance Level determines how many zones the run will include and the type of earnable rewards. To put it more simply, these levels determine how difficult the game is and how long a session may go.

The tools players use to complete these Jobs are called Crisis Kits, more commonly known as loadouts. There are three saved Crisis Kits at the beginning, each centered around a specific tool and playstyle, which can be customized as players become more familiar with the loadouts. These can be changed during a run if it doesn’t seem suitable for the Job.

Gameplay is further customized with Research Perks, which give players special upgrades to give them an upper hand. This could include giving each missed bullet a chance to return to the clip or jumping up and down to extinguish one’s self from burning alive. Adding two of the same type of perk makes them stronger, while equipping three will share its effect with fellow Firebreakers.

All of this goes in line with Remedy Entertainment’s pick-up-and-play design philosophy. It allows players to customize the experience and enjoy it on their own terms. It all seems pretty standard fare for a cooperative shooter; it’s not like customizable difficulty options and loadouts weren’t in games before FBC: Firebreak. However, it is refreshing to see a game put all of this in a package that can be tackled at whatever pace the player chooses.

While FBC: Firebreak seems pretty conventional, it does have that Remedy Entertainment flair seen in the rest of its catalog that makes its games so unique. We saw an extended look at the “Paper Chase” Job in the new trailer, which gave a great look at how all these mechanics work together to create the Finnish studio’s version of a cooperative first-person shooter.

During this particular Job, the Firebreakers are tasked with destroying rogue sticky notes that are causing problems at the FBC. In terms of the general gameplay, like movement and shooting, it seems like a typical first-person shooter. Where it differs are the tools included in each Crisis Kit. The three saved kits at launch include the Splash, Jump, and Fix Kits. Splash utilizes water to heal the team, Jump uses electric-powered attacks to control the swarm of Hiss, and Fix gives players a wrench capable of repairing machinery and staggering enemies.

All of these Kits seem to work in concert with each other. One example shown involves the Splash Kit’s tool, which can apply a wet status effect that slows enemies, allowing the Jump or Fix Kit player to obliterate them with their respective tool. From what I can tell, this seemed like the only gameplay that showcased any synergy between the kits. Hopefully, more gameplay properties like this will be prevalent throughout each Job as this could become one of the more distinguishing factors of FBC: Firebreak.

There are other truly cooperative aspects to FBC: Firebreak beyond its somewhat synergistic gameplay between kits. During the demo, the Job’s final sections see the Firebreakers facing off against a giant sticky note monster. It does seem like players can simply just shoot at it until it’s defeated, but there are other opportunities available to weaken the monster. In this case, one player can go into a separate room where they can activate generators by inputting a code similar to Helldivers 2’s stratagems. When activated, a player can turn on one of the generators next to the boss, which does some decent damage to the boss and makes them vulnerable by stunning them for a brief period.

There are also little moments like this, like the Fix Kit player using their wrench to turn on the lights of a pitch-black room, or the Splash Kit player washing sticky notes off other friendly players. Again, it’s hard to tell how this will change depending on the crisis of a Job, but these cooperative moments are another way for Remedy Entertainment to stand out within the crowded genre. The studio certainly has the creativity to do it, so it’ll be interesting to see how and if these kits react differently to other crises.

The Job culminates with the Firebreakers exfiltrating the sticky note-infested corridors of the FBC. FBC: Firebreak isn’t afraid to dump tons of enemies on a team throughout a job, but this looks to be amplified at the end of each Job. However, no need to worry about failing a mission during this last phase. Once the objectives are complete, the FBC considers the mission a success. So, whether you make it out alive or not, you will complete the Job and will earn XP and become more proficient with your selected kit. If you do survive the Hiss swarm, you’ll earn any of the currency picked up during the Job, which is used to purchase cosmetics, gear, and upgrades.

This is where FBC: Firebreak can become a potentially enjoyable and replayable experience. Risk vs. reward design is tricky, but when done right, it can become the reason players return to a game. Some of the best times I’ve had in a multiplayer shooter are when my team and I have been at the most risk of being defeated, like being the last team standing in Fortnite, or trying to exfiltrate a planet in Helldivers 2. If Remedy Entertainment can make their version of that experience, I could see FBC: Firebreak being in someone’s regular rotation of multiplayer shooters.

It is hard to determine if FBC: Firebreak will be a standout cooperative shooter when it releases this summer. But from what I’ve seen, at the very least, I am intrigued by what Remedy Entertainment has to offer, especially as it’s designed for players to jump in with ease.