Remedy Entertainment, the developers of incredible story-based single player games like Alan Wake II and Control, swung for the fences with their first foray into online multiplayer shooter territory. And while they didn’t quite hit a home run, what they achieved with FBC: Firebreak is a solid and serviceable experience. Set six years after Control, FBC: Firebreak is a three player cooperative FPS that takes place within the Oldest House. Longtime fans know this as the Federal Bureau of Control’s headquarters. Players will work together to solve puzzles, take out hordes of Hiss, and make it out alive using a wide variety of weapons, perks, and kits along the way. If they can find an easy way to party up and voice chat, that is.
Playing Solo is a Headache
If you’re playing with friends, then you won’t have to worry much about matchmaking. Just hop in a Discord chat and share your party code and boom, you’re in a game. Playing solo, however, is a massive chore in FBC: Firebreak. There’s public matchmaking, but no in-game chat (at least not on PS5). This makes it hard to communicate and coordinate with your new Firebreaker buddies. Not being able to strategize with the other party members, like deciding which kit you should all use, is a significant detriment to the solo experience.
If you have friends that are playing, dropping in and out of parties is a breeze from the PS5 friends list. Oddly, there’s still no in-game way to quickly join a friend who is also playing the game. This is an online multiplayer shooter in the year of our lord Sam Lake 2025. Even a studio getting their feet wet in the genre should have the wherewithal to streamline these systems. Remedy does have a long-term road map of support for the game, so here’s hoping some quality-of-life improvements are part of that.
The bread and butter of FBC: Firebreak is, naturally, the gameplay. The FPS controls feel a little similar to something akin to Starfield. Starting out, the aiming and movement felt stiff and heavy. I adjusted the sensitivity and cranked it up, and it felt way better. Not quite snappy like Call of Duty or Destiny, but after some tinkering it was smooth. Speaking of settings, there are plenty of great accessibility options for those with disabilities or specific needs. I had to turn the camera shake down significantly because I’d get nauseous while playing.
It’s Time to Clean House
A single match of FBC: Firebreak consists of your party of three taking on various Jobs. These range from killing tens of thousands of sticky notes (yes, really), to planting heaters inside freezing anomalies to disperse them. Each Job has three zones available to play through depending on which clearance level you pick. The higher clearance level, the harder the Job is and more objectives you’ll have. For example, in Paper Chase clearance level one, you just need to kill X amount of sticky notes. Once you do that, you head back to the elevator and hold out against a horde of Hiss. For Paper Chase clearance level three, you’ll do this again, but there are two more zones after that you have to complete to call the elevator.
Notably, clearance level three of Paper Chase is home to the only real boss battle in the game (so far). It plays out like sort of like a Destiny raid boss, where players will have to use environmental mechanics and coordination to beat it. Essentially, one player will have to use a hose to get the boss wet, then another will have to use a charged battery to shock it. Once these steps are done, the boss is weakened and vulnerable to regular gunfire. I appreciate the level of depth this boss offers, but was disappointed to find that in later Jobs there are no other encounters like this.
The guns available to you range from a double-barrel shotgun and submachine gun, to a bolt-action sniper rifle and even a Magnum revolver. I used this for most of my time with the game. It one-shots most regular enemies and the reload time isn’t too terrible after an upgrade. What’s unique here are the three different Kits that players can pick from. There’s the Fix Kit that allows you to repair ammo stations and showers (healing stations) quicker. Then you have the Jump Kit which will help you charge electricity faster. Finally, there’s the Splash Kit, basically FBC: Firebreak’s healing class.
There’s no one loadout better than the other. The developers even encourage you to have a full party each with a different Kit equipped. I used the Splash Kit most of the time, and it worked wonders to put out spot fires, wash harmful sticky notes away, and, once upgraded, heal my team with a literal water fountain. Loadouts don’t have much dynamic depth. Just quickly coordinate with your team about who gets uses which Kit, pick a weapon, and you you’re good to go.
Rinse (With the Splash Kit) and Repeat
The progression system is a bit repetitive, but not because of the way it’s laid out. At launch, there are only five Jobs with three clearance levels, and playing through them can get boring after awhile. With a solid squad, you can knock all of these out in a matter of hours. The environments in each level are surprisingly sprawling and massive, but there’s little to do or find. Occasionally you’ll find Lost Assets, FBC: Firebreak’s currency, that you can use to purchase weapons upgrades, perks, and the like, and loose ammo.
And boy do I have a bone to pick with the ammo. All weapons share a single ammo type, so you won’t be struggling waiting to find shotgun or pistol ammo. However, you have to manually stop, hold the pick up button, rinse and repeat to restock. I find this takes a massive toll on the intended fast-paced nature of the gameplay. It can be extremely frustrating when you’re low on ammo, in the middle of a horde, and have to stop, look down, and grab it. I really don’t see why it couldn’t have just been a “walk over it to restock” situation.
Check Your Fire
It’s very commonplace to die in FBC: Firebreak. With the amount of elemental status effects like burn, cold, and radiation, on top of the endless waves of Hiss, it’s just inevitable. Oh, and there’s friendly fire, so check your aim. You drop your Lost Assets on death, but can recover them if you’ve been revived by another player or used one of your finite continues. It’s highly recommended to do so. The whole squad will share these, and they’re your main source of getting stronger.
Back at the main hub, you’ll use Lost Assets to purchase perks, which give contextual buffs, weapons and Kit upgrades, sprays, and cosmetic items. Aside from the different clearance levels, Jobs will offer Corruption as an added challenge. These unlock for each Job after you complete its clearance level three variant, and offer more rewards and different materials you’ll have to collect to upgrade your already-purchased perks. If you’re into min-maxing and finding the “meta” build, this endgame-style challenge is for you.
I’m Optimistic About the Long-Term Road Map
All personal gripes aside, the power chase in FBC: Firebreak is fun and, despite my small issues with pacing and lack of content, is easy to get into. If you take an extended break from the game, don’t feel like you’ll be missing out. Remedy has described this as a “AA” experience and prefers not to refer to it as a live service game. After my time with it, I can see what they mean and fully endorse this description. The small catalogue of available Jobs and repetitive progression don’t quite jive with what I’m personally looking for. But this may be a green flag for folks with kids, busy jobs, and so on that are wanting to just turn their brains off for a quick round of shooty guns.
The thing I appreciate most about FBC: Firebreak is its real-world decisions. The game is relatively feature-complete at launch, only costs $39.99, and launches onto Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus day one for subscribers. The best part? There’s no battle pass, and any and all future updates and expansions will be 100% free. That alone has ensured I’ll keep my eye on this game moving forward.
Verdict
FBC: Firebreak is Remedy Entertainment’s first stab at an online multiplayer shooter. With such a respectable pedigree of single-player narrative-driven masterpieces, expectations may have been unfairly high. But what they delivered is a genuinely fun, pick-up-and-play cooperative first-person shooter that, despite a need for a handful of quality-of-life improvements, is something I foresee garnering a wide enough audience to keep it going long-term.
Score: 7/10
Reviewed on PS5. Review code provided by Remedy Entertainment.
FBC: Firebreak launches June 17, 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X/ S, and Windows.
