How do you follow up a plot as critically dear asControl ? If you ’re Remedy , by doing something completely different .
While a properControlsequelis currently in development , Remedy will return to that universe this summer inFBC : fireguard . The upcoming co - op hitman is a total unexpended bit for the studio , deal in its creepy story games for something much wackier . Squads of three will team up to take down the Hiss , kill horde of possessed sticky notes , and hopefully return to their middle direction desk Job animated . It ’s an absurd assumption that feels tonally far aside from Control ’s humankind at first coup d’oeil , but somehow makes full sense in its own eldritch way .
in front of its novel laggard reveal at Future Games Show , Digital Trends learned much : Firebreak ’s finer detail , from its multiplayer structure to its grapheme customization . Though it ’s very different from anything the studio has made , Remedy explain that the bombastic shooter just sits on the far ending of a spectrum that the studio apartment has always manoeuver on .
Workplace comedy
InFBC : Firebreak , the Federal Bureau of Control has wholly lost control of The Oldest House . It ’s now oversupply with the Hiss , as all of the FBC ’s protocols have entirely die . To combat the problem , the agency tasks its employee — from secretaries to midway managers — with venture into the Oldest House and brighten out the Hiss . It ’s definitelynota suicide missionary station . No room .
If that premise sound unusually zany for a Remedy game , that ’s because it is . Rather than following the moody surrealism ofControl , FBC : Firebreakpractically looks like a workplace drollery that has more in common withLethal Companyat a glimpse . During the preview school term , Remedy showed off an protracted looking at at one of the crap-shooter ’s missions , dubbed Paper Chase . In it , a squad of cleaners is tasked with scoot gazillion of evil sticky greenback breeding in the Oldest House like coney . The image of workers torching bulwark full of white-livered notes with flamethrowers is hysterical ; it ’s the kind of nut humour you ’d expect ifThe Officewent sci - fi .
While previous Remedy game took cleared inspiration from picture show and boob tube , the studio assure me that they were n’t using soda water culture touchpoints in the same way of life here . They are n’t pulling fromOffice distance ; their only north star is Control . Remedy want to progress within that well - specify population without muddying it with out-of-door influence . That would naturally be a knavish task considering thatFBC : Firebreakhas a much light-headed , comedic tone ( and even look ) compared toControl .
To thread the needle , Remedy had to make sureFBC : Firebreakstill had a tonal link toControleven in its wackiness . During the preview event , Game Director Mike Kayatta secern Digital Trends thatControlis a tightwire act between horror tension and absurdness . The team simply turned the dial to the left this meter to act up the inherently peculiar moments of that universe .
“ The scheme with this game was not to betrayControland we did n’t desire to take it out of that quad , ” Kayatta tells Digital Trends . “ But we also knew that observe who knows what form of agonist — because , after all , the role player who play this become the champion — how do we deliver on that in good order for them ? So the strategy was to take the same ingredients and invert them . Yes , we lean more into the idiotic side of Control , but we ’re not trying to formulate a unexampled kind of humor that you would have never see in the existence . And of class , we do have that repulsion and tense bound as well , although it does kind of step back a trivial chip to make elbow room for some of the more cleare play and jubilant aspects that are also present inControl . ”
Co-op chaos
The temper isFBC : Firebreak‘s most center - catching feature , but there ’s an interesting PVE shooter pitch underneath the funniness . The loop here is that squads of up to three players take on dissimilar job , which are design to be completed in 30 minutes or less . Each job include a location , an objective , and a different crisis spread across up to three zone within a spirit level . redress wants this to be the kind of co - op biz that players can at once hop into together with no wait , so there are n’t cutscenes , tutorial , or other roadblock to entry in the way of simply loading in .
All that players need to do after pick a job is customise their loading out . They can equip cosmetic items like helmet and sprays , but the most important part of readiness is the Crisis Kit . That basically determines a squad appendage ’s loadout and playstyle , as each one is built around a key tool . In a gameplay snipping I saw , the participant could equip a weewee - free-base spattering kit that could soak steamy notes and put out fires , while another could go for a sustenance kit that lets them sterilize things in the environment . Each player will also equip a gun and grenade to go with it .
That ’s round down out by a perk organization , as each player can fit a solidification of perks that fine-tune the gameplay . One will allow musician to put out a fire on their eubstance by jumping up and down . outfit two perk of the same kind will further that perk ’s power while equipping three will share it with the rest of the squad . Perks can be bought with the in - game currency clear from commission ( there will also be some customization items venal with literal money ) .
Players can also change the difficultness of a mission by set a threat level and a clearance story , the latter of which determines how many zones player fight through . The higher the danger , the more rewards and up-to-dateness role player can earn . The stress of a job comes from determine how much time thespian expend in the level maximize their reinforcement , as stay too long will increase the threat .
The actual gameplay seems pretty conversant based on what I ’ve see . The sequence register to press throw a squad into the Paper Chase delegacy , where they shoot at the Hiss and destroyed as many gluey notes as possible along the way . Crisis kits came into looseness across the video , as one thespian used their electricity - focused build to shock the Hiss , while another used their maintenance build to ferment valves and initiate the flow of water from a machine . There ’s some goofiness baked into the kits too , as one player had a melee weapon that they could confiscate a piggy bank to and smash it over monsters ’ head , post coin take flight across the screen . It all culminated in a struggle against an enormous entity made up of embarrassing notes , like some form of Ghostbusters villain .
FBC : Firebreakfeels like the kind of plot I ’ll need to actually wreak to fully understand . At a aloofness , it look like a fairly standardco - op shooterwith a good sense of humour . It seems fun , just not as creatively discrete as the studio apartment ’s common projects yet . Remedy does at least seem like it ’s being careful to head off the traps that have killed other games like it . It ’s not trying to produce a constantly updated lively service plot ( though it will get free post - launch updates ) . Rather , it ’s look to make a hardy , mid - price shooter that players will desire to return to without coerce FOMO .
I ’m willing to give Remedy the benefit of the doubt here . It has earned that after the one - two clout ofControlandAlan Wake 2 — though it ’s prosperous to forget that the studio assist craft the single - thespian for the critically pannedCrossfireXbetween those two projects . Even if it just ends up being a boron - game in the grand schema of its storied career , it at least looks like a legitimately fun one that ’s got a personality all its own . I can recollect of far bad mode to fill the void untilControl 2comes out .
FBC : Firebreaklaunches this summer for PS5 , Xbox Series X / S , and PC . It will be available onXbox Game PassandPS Plusat launching , and Remedy is aim for it to beSteam Deckverified as well .
