A great co-op shooter is a siren song of an endless waterfall of perfectly buttered popcorn, each kernel bursting with satisfying gameplay. It is also the “one more round” syndrome, caused by buttery-smooth mechanics of a rewarding, addictive loop. FBC: Firebreak sparks that initial craving-the co-op foray of Remedy into the Control universe. It’s tantalizingly close to popcorn perfection-just lacking one crucial pinch of salt.
Just more than six years after Control slammed its doors shut, step into the Hiss-infested nightmare of The Oldest House. Remedy, the purveyors of Lynchian unease in single-player epics like Alan Wake and Control, are now setting the fuse on their first collaborative FPS: Firebreak. Discount the haunted writers or mind-bending offices it’s just you and your two friends, the expendable agents diving into a Hiss-choked hell from day one. With nothing but duct-taped weapons, no training, and a supervisor’s blessing for a trial in the Federal Bureau of Control, your charges may very well be to clean that in the impossible. Witness a never-before-seen ballet of bullets and bizarre horrors as you dive ever-deeper into from those corridors bristling with Hisses of otherworldly horror; every trigger pull blurs the lines between reality and nightmare. Will your team emerge from Firebreak as true survivors or an addition to the whispered tones within the walls of The Oldest House?
Remedy Entertainment
Remember Firebreak? Back in March, we looked over its gameplay and upgrade paths, following that developer deep-dive. But before we can get too far into the details, let’s catch the basics:
Before the arena puts into motion, the fighters choose their fate: a single Kit of Crisis stands as a little arsenal whispering of distinct battle strategies. With each kit goes a tool and a complementary item, a powerful combination that could turn the course of a fight.
The Jump Kit crackles with raw, unleashed potential. The Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor is that special handheld jackhammer throwing forceful arcs of electricity. Bonk foes, or send yourself skybound on a gush of power. Then bring out the BOOMbox- a sonic siren calling down enemies to their blast with deadly beats.”
To those who choose to fortify, the Fix Kit offers comfort. Swung with the colossal Wrench, mending vital machines and obliterating the grotesque Hiss. And the Turret lay in pieces ready to be reassembled; few hits with your trusty wrench will get it up and running to the staunch protector.
The ultimate piece of designer equipment is The Splash Kit, that pays homage to the element of water. Command your Crank-Operated Fluidic Injector, a rigged-up high-pressure water cannon that will put out fires at one end and drench enemies on the other, thereby weakening them and making them receptive to stronger attacks. Or set up a Humidifier: soft sprays of mist that send restorative waters floating across the battlefield, healing all friends under its gentle kiss.
Step into the Oldest House, bending reality to your will, one Job at a time. Forget mundane missions; these are handcrafted experiences tied to certain sectors. Each Job drops you into three separate zones, but beyond that, anything can unfold: one single goal, some kind of crisis emerging, and a whole lot of environment twists in between.
Before you jump over the edge, seize dominance of the threat. Turning the Threat Level up will let loose hordes of enemies and the best rewards. You could also customize your challenge with the Clearance Level describing the number of zones you’ll go down and the type of spoils you’ll claim. It’s your run; your rules.
Two-and-a-half hours. That alone was enough to make concrete-bonding forces between two strangers and me, tossed into the Hiss-infested nightmare of Firebreak. Like mad chemists, we cycled through Jobs, every combination of Threat and Clearance levels a new flavor of madness.
I used to want to be a god with a wrench. My Fix Kit, my most precious lifeline, now went with me everywhere, fully armed and dangerous. Turrets would erupt from my back, grenades would hang from my belt, and the final act of nastiness? An exploding piggy bank that would very soon wreak all kinds of havoc.
Forget understanding the physics. Forget logic. So just picture it slamming that ceramic swine into a Hiss monster, and then unleashing a whirlwind of sheer devastation-a piggy bank tornado. Firebreak fosters that kind of friendship. That good, monster-smashing, piggy-bank-tornado kind of friendship.
Three jobs, three rings of hell. First, “Hot Fix,” an industrial nightmare deafening with giant fans giving us fits as we played fuel-barrel Jenga above a bottomless pit. Picture this: pressurized fuel, sparking wires, and one wrong move, and you plunge into the abyss. Then comes “Ground Control,” where the objective was to pop grotesque, pulsating pustules teeming with radioactive leech pearls. Like some cosmic boil ready to burst, we blasted those wretched things, scooping up their tainted treasure and hurling it into a mining cart, all while praying nothing oozedonus. Last was “Paper Chase.” An office supply apocalypse where sentient sticky notes swarmed like locusts, thirsting to paper-cut you into oblivion. Dispense them from walls before they’re transformed into tall yellow behemoths from another nightmare. Now, amid the whole deal, Hiss began to claw for attention in its symphony of roaring gunfire. Ammo refills and healing showers provide fleeting sanctuary, their locations constantly changing in step with the rising crescendo of chaos. On occasions, though, these sanctuaries seemed rather bent on tormenting you. It was until then when I would step in with Fix Kit in hand to turn agony into bliss. Things first: hot water and real ammo. Survival 101.
From there, the world exploded. Every operative had their assigned task, yet a brutal rhythm ran through every operation: trailing moments of planning and discovering that were broken subsequently by waves of Hiss. Pistols and shotguns? I threw those out the window. I felt a magnum fury chattering through ranks with the pop of an SMG. Hell, my squadmates buttressed that frenzy with their roaring gunfire, interspersed with the beautiful arc of a grenade. It was a survival dance of resource management, eyes always flicking towards their depleting ammo count and some creeping definition of wounds. But thank goodness, I had memorized the locations of the refill stations and the cleansing showers, and a quick shout could buy me a dive into healing water, splashed from my kit-to-hell-with-any-other-task-wielding comrade.
Firebreak offers an excellent incentive for players to work together: staying close to one another grants an overshield with a nice visual effect and serves to constantly encourage players to stick together. Yet, friendly fire makes the whole thing insane and hilarious. My squad learned it the hard way with stray grenades and bullets. We would die and come back amidst the laughter, but that was all fine and good until it came to the issue that is, the difficulty in pinpointing from where one is getting attacked, hard to retreat with any sort of measure and hard to avoid with any damage inflicted.
Remedy Entertainment
Engaging in firefights had the feeling of flailing in the dark, just waiting for some sharper feedback. The SMG was a good barnstormer, but somehow there was just no feel: this feeling permeated the whole experience. Scavenging for ammo, defining objectives, or any action felt weirdly detached. It needed something with a much sharper feel. Getting money should feel like a small-time bank job; healing should feel like putting energy back into your car; repairing should feel like breathing life back into something. While Remedy’s gunplay is not exactly legendary, some tactile fixes could guarantee Firebreak’s transition from just some quick jerking to a painfully satisfying ballet of bullets.
“Those days spent wrangling Paper Chase? Never to be returned. Ground Control, however, is that one game that has found a special place in my heart. A far cry indeed from the narrow corridors; here truly is a spectacular arena for confronting the Hiss. And the objective? Curely simple: obliterate those gross pustules! After all that confusion brought on now and then by the game, Ground Control’s unmistakable, straightforward command felt like an air refreshened with corruption.”
The moment our abilities clicked into place, Firebreak became a symphony of controlled chaos. Lost in the labyrinthine corridors, unsure of our objective, we became an unyielding wall against the Hiss. Healing beams crossed over, enemies went stumbling over crowd control fields, and I, with my trusty little lucky bank, gave them the sweet taste of karma. Laughter erupted amid frantic strategizing, punctuated by friendly fire incidents and desperate cries of “Safe room, where are you hiding?!” The Firebreak was just not a mission; it was the most unforgettable, hilarious, and little terrifying adventure.
Remedy Entertainment
The time that passed was three long hours spent among strangers, the only goal being to play a game of Firebreak. And that pretty much felt… light. So light that I could not stop myself from wanting more from it when that session wrapped up. No awkward silence; no forced collaboration. Instead, Firebreak creates immediate camaraderie and an instinctual drive for survival. There remain a few bumps to smooth out, though; some mechanics need more explanation, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more feedback. Still, deep down, Firebreak has something truly special. Firebreak is not just another zombie shooter; it is a modern resurrection of the Left 4 Dead experience we’ve all been crying for. That might be a little outdated of a comparison, but I think I am not alone in still pursuing that adrenaline rush. My Firebreak gang felt it too.
In the meantime, summarizing thoughts about “Firebreak” would mean 표현ed: It’s been captivating me, but I’ve had a few niggles. Just enough time remains for the Remedy to roll out their magic before the summer launch, and I am sure they will. This game is destined to be something more than a cookie-cutter co-op shooter; it is plainly a very tightly structured experience with the co-developer’s signature touch of eerie darkness and off-kilter humor. Firebreak is on its way to being something extraordinary.
Note: Narration style is descriptive and elaborate.
Buckle up to march into the inferno! Firebreak explodes onto the Epic Games Store, Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on June 17th, at $50 pricetag. But The thing is PlayStation Plus Game Catalog subscribers and Xbox Game Pass subscribers get it outright from day one! Prepare the scorched earth experience.
FBC: Firebreak
$50 at Steam
Thanks for reading FBC: Firebreak preview: Controlled chaos
