Wccftech was recently invited to a preview session of FBC: Firebreak, the first multiplayer game to be released by Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment. As most Wccftech readers certainly know, the studio is famous for the remarkable single player games it has released in the action/adventure genre, from the first two Max Payne titles to Alan Wake, the underrated Quantum Break, Control, and more recently Alan Wake 2 (which became a full-fledged survival horror title).
As someone who greatly appreciates the studio's trademark style, I was very curious about this new project, which takes place in Control's Oldest House. Make no mistake: it is an entirely different beast when compared to any previous game made by Remedy, being a cooperative multiplayer first-person shooter title. However, there is enough Remedy magic to possibly make it interesting even in the sea of competitors, although its long-term longevity will have to be tested with the full release to say for sure.
During the preview session, we played through three of the five 'Jobs' (the name the developer gave to mission types in FBC: Firebreak) that will be available when the game launches next month. The Jobs were widely different from each other, providing some gameplay variety in the sessions. In Hot Fix, the premise is that the Furnace in the Maintenance Sector of the Oldest House has broken its blast seal and is flooding the sector with paranatural heat. Players are called in to repair heat transfer fans across the sector and feed the Furnace with Black Rock powder to neutralize it and then repair the blast seals.
They are meant to be essentially fireworkers, after all, and there is indeed a lot of repairing to be done across the missions. If you have the right kit (more on those later), you can use your unique tool to perform the repair very quickly; otherwise, you'll have to succeed at a Quick Time Event kind of minigame where you're asked to press the right sequence of buttons (for example, L1 or R1).
After that was done, there was an inevitable fight with the Hiss. Moreover, our escape was prevented by the appearance of a 'dangerous Hiss', a named boss-like enemy which we had to defeat in order to clear our way out. This part was highly reminiscent of other coop shooters, to be sure. However, the Hiss enemies previously seen in Control, such as the creepy flying employees strapped to chairs, still stand out for their unique visual style and movement patterns.
The second Job we tried was even weirder thematically, befitting Remedy's Connected Universe. The so-called 'sticky note population' had replicated to a critical volume, consuming members of the Federal Bureau of Control and turning them into crazed 'shufflers' covered from head to toe in sticky notes. We had to destroy a great number of notes across the level while being harassed by the Hiss before confronting another boss ('Sticky Ricky'), but the really nice touch was that the notes often stuck to the camera, adding to the difficulty of having to aim with the view partially or even mostly obstructed.
The third and final FBC: Firebreak Job we played in the preview was Ground Control. Here, a swarm of Astral Leeches had irradiated the Quarry (a location seen in Control), threatening the FBC's
essential Black Rock mining operations. We had to kill leeches across the Quarry to uncover radioactive pearls, load them into a containment shuttle, and finally move it to a launch site. Once the shuttle is loaded into the launcher, the objective required us to fuel the system and launch the payload into orbit.
This Job offered yet another diverse experience compared to the previous two. Carrying the radioactive pearls was the most dangerous part since they constantly damaged the carriers. We then had to 'push' the containment shuttle forward in a manner not unlike Overwatch's Payload mode while fending off the Hiss hordes.
It's worth noting that players have control over how long they want their session to be. Besides the difficulty level, the Clearance Level establishes how many areas you'll have to go through to complete the Job. Needless to say, they get progressively harder, and we weren't able to succeed at the top Clearance Level even when Game Director joined our team.
Before an FBC: Firebreak match, you'll also have to select your Crisis Kit, which is essentially your class. The Splash Kit is dedicated to support users who would like to heal teammates and debuff the Hiss (who deal less damage when wet); the Jump Kit is for those who love crowd control and electrifying enemies (which, of course, deals more damage to wet targets), and the Fix Kit gives you access to a turret and a large wrench that can be used to repair objects (some healing stations or ammo stations, for example) but also to hit foes in melee.
Admittedly, melee combat didn't exactly feel that great, but it is a minor portion of combat. Gunplay, on the other hand, feels solid enough to be fun, and I could already see how the various Kits could be combined to optimize your team's setup. Crisis Kits are also tied to progression, as a fully upgraded Crisis Kit can house up to nine Perks. Moreover, it will be up to the player how to install them in the various slots.
A weak perk will only take up one slot, while a strong, shared perk will take up three slots. Once you have fully upgraded a perk, you can equip it at a lower level, using fewer slots for a weaker effect. This was devised by Remedy as a way to allow a wide variety of builds, from just three strong shared effects to nine weak (but completely different) effects. By the way, Kits can be switched upon respawning during a match. You have a set amount of 'Volunteers', which are basically respawn tickets, after which the Job fails.
Finally, a few words on performance. There's certainly still space for optimization, as I did encounter instances of stuttering even on my high-end PC (9800X3D, RTX 5090), but it was already acceptable. The visuals, powered by the Northlight engine, were already great despite having to accommodate a co-op multiplayer game. This preview build only featured ray tracing support, but Remedy has promised path tracing for the final version, just like in Alan Wake 2.
Overall, based on this preview, I believe FBC: Firebreak has a shot at becoming one of the favorite pastimes of co-op shooter fans. It won't be the game you lose your life on, but it isn't meant to be. Also, it is familiar yet different enough to stand out. However, every game of this type lives or dies based on how quickly a developer can respond to the community's feedback. In this regard, the tech test planned for later this week will be critical for Remedy's final adjustments ahead of the June 17 launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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