FBC Firebreak Preview – Fight For Control
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Remedy Entertainment is looking to grow the world of Control and Alan Wake, though in perhaps the most unexpected of ways, with a new cooperative shooter set in the Control universe titled “FBC: Firebreak.”
Aiming to release this summer, FBC Firebreak is Remedy’s first major multiplayer endeavor, and it’s looking to be one of their most ambitious, strangest, and most “Remedy” ideas yet.
Thanks to Remedy, MP1st got an early look at the game (and then some), where we see the developers’ concept come to fruition, and how it aims to stand from the crowd of shooters flooding the market.
What Happens When the People in Control Lose Control? Enter the Firebreak Initiative
Before diving in this preview, fair warning to all who haven’t played Control, as we’re about to dive into spoiler territory. With that out of the way, let’s talk about the setup of FBC Firebreak. While it wasn’t specified whether or not the game would see the story of Control get expanded on in any meaningful way, the setup that leads into FBC Firebreak is a continuation of where Control left off. The Oldest House, otherwise known as the headquarters of the FBC (Federal Bureau of Control), has been overrun by a force known as the Hiss, which are monsters from another universe that want to kill everyone. To prevent the Hiss from escaping and wreaking havoc on the world, the FBC decided to put The Oldest House under full lockdown. Unfortunately, this also meant locking down their own employees inside along with the Hiss.
That’s where Control originally ended and where FBC Firebreak began, as the headquarters has remained under lockdown for a full six years. With supplies running low and the battle against the Hiss being impossible to win, FBC’s director, Jesse Faden (Control protagonist), decides to appoint FBC member Hank Flowers to start and lead an initiative known as “Firebreak,” which consists of volunteer members within the locked down FBC. Members of Firebreak come from all kinds of different backgrounds, from higher-up execs to security guards to even the mailroom employees, basically, anyone willing to go up against the Hiss and traverse the most dangerous parts of The Oldest House. Unsurprisingly, not all of them survive, and the few remaining Firebreak members eventually become the characters we play in FBC Firebreak.
That’s about as much as we were told about the story of FBC Firebreak during our closed hands-off demo, though clearly, it seems to imply that it’ll somehow affect, or at least offer, more of what was told in Control. How that will eventually tie into Control 2 is only something Remedy knows, but based on the hands-off demo that was shown to us, as well as the trailer that is accompanied by this preview, something tells us that FBC Firebreak will play a pivotal role in the Control, and by extension, the Alan Wake universe.
Taking the Cooperative Experience Back to Basics
So, before we dive into the gameplay, I wanted to touch upon the points Remedy made during our press preview. For one, the general philosophy of FBC Firebreak and how Remedy isn’t building a GaaS (Games as a Service) experience simply because they want a piece of the growing trend. While the game is expected to receive post-launch updates that will add more content, as well as some plans to monetize some cosmetic items only, the way Remedy put things is that they want to remove the engagement stress of a live-service game entirely from FBC Firebreak.
That means the studio has ditched ideas such as Battle Passes, daily check-ins, monthly grinds, and anything that would make this game feel like a “second job” or have players experience the fear of missing out (FOMO). This falls into one of their four pillars for the game, “Pick Up and Play.” The goal of Pick Up and Play is to let players be able to, well, pick up and play the game, though not just in terms of accessibility and control, but putting as few barriers as possible between the player and others when it comes to playing FBC Firebreak. It doesn’t matter if someone buys something, or if someone has unlocked an item and you haven’t, or if they’ve spent hundreds of hours playing while you only have a few minutes. The point of Pick Up and Play is to enjoy the game regardless of experience and be able to jump right in without any issues.
The other three pillars, Only in Control, Better Together, and Fun On Repeat, are also designed to work with the core experience. Only in Control pertains to the type of content you’ll see, where the studio asks themselves, is this something that you could only see from Control or a Remedy experience? It does infer that there won’t be any outside crossovers of sorts if it doesn’t fit inside that pillar, but as the old saying goes, never say never, and given how Control deals with multi-universes, who knows what that future may entail?
Better Together revolves around finding the perfect balance of playing together. Cooperative games can be challenging, but more times than not, especially when playing with randoms, things can get pretty messy. The idea behind Better Together is to have things flow organically. So even when you or someone else isn’t actively contributing or being in a “zoned out” space of mind, there will be things that will help the team so that the fault of a bad run doesn’t lie solely on a specific player because they weren’t paying attention or were new to the game.
The final pillar, Fun On Repeat, addresses the game’s replayability. While Remedy plans on adding more content to the game post-launch, they realized they couldn’t keep up with it if they built the game around an endless stream of content delivered via updates. So their answer to this was to create a foundation with impactful and engaging minute-to-minute gameplay that would have players talking and willing to return. It’s meant to offer fun times where you can laugh with friends and yell at one another, creating memorable memories that stick with you.
Combining all the pillars, you can see that Remedy is setting out to craft a cooperative experience that respects your time while also aiming to deliver a fun and engaging experience for players through countless systems that aren’t driven by GaaS mechanics.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the gameplay.
What If Left 4 Dead Was Developed by Remedy? You’d Probably Get Something Close to FBC Firebreak
So, the core loop of FBC Firebreak is to take on jobs issued by the FBC. These jobs vary in objectives and will take you through several different environments. Despite being inside a building, players can find themselves in exterior environments set within The Oldest House. Objectives also have a unique set of crises that players have to deal with, and this being a Remedy game set in the Control universe, you can probably guess what kind of crisis you’ll encounter. Expect the unexpected
Why yes, that is a giant monster made up entirely of posted notes.
But before you go off on what seems to be a multi-staged level that progresses in somewhat a narrative fashion (you’ll encounter a humanoid posted monster early on this specific job), you’ll get to select a threat (essentially difficulty and intensity with scaling rewards) and clearance level. Clearance level is the number of zones you must go through, with rewards tied to them. Remedy confirmed that players will initially go through three sets of clearance levels, though hints that a lot more levels will become available. The “End Game” content, known as “Corrupted Items,” is tied to these clearance levels. The studio says they’ll discuss that at a later date.
Additionally, players will be able to edit their loadouts before taking on Jobs, and these loadouts also contain something known as Crisis Kits. They are as follows:
Jump Kit
An electricity-focused Crisis Kit for Firebreakers who want to excel at field control and positioning
- Tool: Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor
- A portable compression impactor capable of delivering an impressive amount of electricity through the conductive plate attached to its end.
- Item: BOOMbox
- An improvised device that attracts nearby enemies with music before exploding. After deploying the BOOMbox, it can be charged with the Impactor. The device will taunt all enemies in proximity for a short time before automatically detonating.
Fix Kit
An impact-focused Crisis Kit for Firebreakers who want to solve most problems by hitting them with a massive wrench.
- Tool: Wrench
- A large wrench capable of repairing machinery and staggering enemies with powerful swings.
- Item: Swivel turret
- An improvised device that autonomously acquires enemy targets and fires damaging projectiles at them. After deploying the Swivel Cannon, it needs to be assembled by striking the parts with the Wrench. The completed device will autonomously fire upon enemies until it falls apart.
Splash Kit
A water-focused Crisis Kit for Firebreakers who want to put out fires and manipulate the conditions affecting their crewmates and enemies.
- Tool: Crank-Operated Fluidic Ejector
- An industrial hydro cannon capable of pooling and ejecting heavy globules of water. Excels at extinguishing fires and priming enemies for devastating effects.
- Item: Humidifier
- An improvised device capable of spraying healing water over a wide area. After deploying the Humidifier, it can be primed with the Ejector. The device will automatically heal all crewmates in proximity for a short time before falling apart.
Players can save up to three loadouts, and can change and edit them during a job if they’re not finding it suits their playstyle or the situation. There’s also a list of perks that players can equip, three main categories with three slots. Depending on the perk you select, you could stack three of a kind, essentially leveling up that perk to apply a different effect, with the third level being shared with the entire party. Remedy didn’t dive too much into this, but from what we can see, there are a bunch of perks that have all kinds of different benefits, such as being given more grenades, doing more damage, having a better healing factor, all kinds of different ones that likely will play a pivotal role when creating specific builds.
Of course, there’s a selection of different types of guns and grenades, along with character customization that all thankfully aren’t locked to specific classes. Based on what we saw, there are no classes, so don’t go in expecting this to be some hero shooter.
Although this was a hands-off experience, based on what we saw, FBC Firebreak has a very “Left 4 Dead” vibe, only set in the Remedy universe. It may not pull the headcount that L4D manages to pull with its zombies, but the beauty and mayhem of that are more than made up for by just how chaotic things can get in FBC Firebreak.
Many of the enemies you’ll recognize from Control, those being humans that have been taken over and corrupted by the Hiss. But there are more unique types of enemies. One you can see above is the giant posted notes monster, which spawns mini, human-like versions of itself. Hilariously, they can cover you up in posted notes to block your view.
It’s not all about shooting either, as the demo showcased a few puzzles and interactives. The giant posted notes monster also covers the field up with notes, which is where the splash kit comes in handy, as you can destroy these notes by covering them in water. We can only assume this will also affect the boss and other enemies and likely could be followed up the jump kit to electrocute foes.
Again, because it was a hands-off experience, it’s really hard to tell you how the gunplay feels. It did look very promising, and I love how, despite being a completely different genre, Remedy has captured the essence of Control in what appears to be a fun cooperative game. There’s an atmosphere of a much bigger world present in the footage that we saw, and I cannot wait to see how Remedy ties it all into the bigger picture. It’s not often I find myself sold on an idea of a multiplayer game based on a universe that has been known for its narrative singleplayer, but FBC Firebreak shows a ton of promise of being a spinoff that respects the source material but also avoids the pitfalls of becoming just another live-service game. Instead, it aims to deliver something that remains true to the heart of what made Control so special—rich storytelling, atmospheric design, and gameplay, only in a new cooperative format. If Remedy is able to stick with the vision they have, FBC Firebreak could easily become a standout title in the multiplayer space, offering a fresh yet familiar experience for fans of Control. It’s definitely a game worth keeping on your radar, and I cannot wait to give it a go when it launches this Summer.
At the moment, FBC Firebreak has no release date other than a target Summer 2025 window. It will launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It’ll also be available on day one on PC Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate, and PlayStation Plus Extra and PlayStation Plus Premium subscriptions.
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