Early Verdict
FBC: Firebreak is a lot of fun, at least when you've got a friend of two to play with. It's the most different a Remedy game has dared to be, taking a first-person perspective and introducing co-op play. There's a large number of fun gameplay systems that interact in enjoyable or unexpected ways, and if you're okay with a little chaos, it's a fun ride that seems perfectly suited for hopping in and playing a bit without spending thousands of hours in-game.
Pros
- +
Fun co-op gameplay
- +
Systemic-driven design with balanced friction
- +
Good mission replayability
- +
Great visuals and performance
Cons
- -
Progression for top gear is a slog
- -
Extremely limited story and narrative
- -
Nonviable in solo play
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Wake up. Strap on ramshackle armor assembled whatever office materials you can find. Descend with your squad. Fight otherwordly invaders off. Shower with your squad. Watch as horrors try to rip you apart before you fight them off with a water cannon. Get back to the elevator. Just another brutal 8-to-5 in the Oldest House.
FBC: Firebreak is the latest game from Remedy Entertainment, and it's by far the most different thing the storied Finnish developer has done so far.
Eschewing narrative chops and cinematic action, FBC: Firebreak delivers a co-op experience that's meant to be replayed over and over with new modifiers. Along the way, there are a number of systems that introduce intentional friction, making it easy for everything to go wrong if you're not paying attention.
I'm putting this out as a review-in-progress because FBC: Firebreak is a multiplayer game, so I wanted to make sure the servers are staying steady and I could spend a bit more time with the progression system.
I'll revisit this review and put a star rating on it in the coming days, but here's what I've felt about it so far.
I love first-person shooters and I enjoy quality co-op experiences. In recent months, I've had a blast with Helldivers 2. I'm also a longtime fan of Remedy, and at a party I can usually be found going on about how many great ideas Quantum Break had.
This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by Remedy Entertainment. The company did not see the contents of this review before publishing.
What is FBC: Firebreak?
- It's a first-person co-op shooter from Remedy Entertainment.
- The game launched on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5.
- It sells for $40 in the U.S, and is also on Xbox Game Pass and PS+.
FBC: Firebreak is a first-person co-op shooter developed and published by Remedy Entertainment. It's part of the Remedy Connected Universe — Remedy's ongoing setting that encompasses all things Alan Wake and Control — and is set at some point after the events of 2019's Control.
PSA: This game uses a lot of lore and terminology from Control, so the phrasing and terms used might initially be hard to follow unless you are already familiar with that game.
Category | FBC: Firebreak |
|---|---|
Release date | June 17, 2025 |
Developer | Remedy Entertainment |
Publisher | Remedy Entertainment |
Genre | First-person shooter, co-op |
Players | 1-3 |
Install size | 18.75GB |
Playtime | N/A (replayable co-op missions) |
Platforms | Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PlayStation 5 |
Xbox Game Pass | Yes |
Reviewed on | Windows PC |
In FBC: Firebreak, players take on the role of the titular three-person squad, suiting up with weapons, Altered Items, and office supplies to beat back the hordes of otherwordly Hiss that are continuing to pour into the Oldest House.
Players then have to complete different objectives from the mundane like fixing fans to keep a room cool, as well as the eclectic, such as making sure an indoor ski lift has enough mannequins to keep it happy.
FBC: Firebreak review — Story and characters
- The story and narrative in FBC: Firebreak are extremely barebones.
- You fight Hiss in the Oldest House as part of the Federal Bureau of Control.
- There isn't much more to go on at this time.
FBC: Firebreak takes place in the Oldest House from Control, where the Bureau's employees are fighting back against unending waves of Hiss that continue to pour in.
Despite this setup, the narrative structure here really is barebones. There's sometimes a reference to what director Jesse Faden (the protagonist of Control) is up to or the creepy Threshold Kids TV program, but for the most part, you're limited to ambient dialogue as the Firebreakers try to keep the Oldest House running.
There's clearly a conscious choice here to keep things low-budget, which isn't bad per se, but I would've appreciated some kind of metanarrative or additional context.
FBC: Firebreak review — Gameplay and features
- Different tools and weapons will help a team in unique ways.
- There are numerous interacting gameplay systems with fire, water, electricity, radiation, and more.
- Levels open up and get larger on replay with higher Clearance levels.
On the gameplay front, things are slightly more polished than the preview build I played back in May, but overall, it's the same game. I first played the "final" review build of FBC: Firebreak at Summer Game Fest 2025, and my experience there has been consistent here.
While you can play by yourself, you really should have at least one other teammate, and a full squad of three players is highly recommended. That's because as a team, players can each have different Kits.
While you can play by yourself, you really should have at least one other teammate, and a full squad of three players is highly recommended.
A Fix Kit will allow one player to repair equipment much more quickly, bringing lights and turrets online. Meanwhile, a Splash Kit provides vital water, making it easier to destroy Sticky Notes (a grave threat) and wash various gunk off of your friends, including but not limited to fire, radiation, and explosive Pink (yes, that's what it's called).
The entire game revolves around different systems that generate a lot of friction between players and the environment, with a lot of potential for chaos not unlike Helldivers 2.
A humidifier can spray water around, keeping everyone cool, but if a player with a Splash Kit uses a particular ability, they can hit it with boiling water, turning a refreshing sauna into a deadly killbox for enemies and allies alike.
Finding lost assets and rare samples from destroying Altered Items nets special rewards, which can then be used for researching new perks. As you progress you unlock new perk slots, meaning additional strategies open up over time.
This encourages to play on higher difficulties and Clearance levels, with the latter actually expanding how large a mission is over time. Using the Job Paper Chase as an example, it grows from a simple five minute in-and-out at Clearance level 1 to a race against the clock to beat a towering boss at level 3.
The amount of work it takes to get the best guns and abilities feels at odds with the limited number of Jobs available at launch.
Remedy has signaled that more missions are coming over time, but right now, the progression does feel grindy for the best gear in the game. I don't mind replaying missions a few times, but the amount of work it takes to get the best guns and abilities feels at odds with the limited number of Jobs available at launch.
FBC: Firebreak review — Visuals and audio
- FBC: Firebreak runs on Remedy's proprietary Northlight engine.
- The game looks great, with detailed textures and ray tracing available.
- Performance is solid, but don't change graphics options mid-match.
FBC: Firebreak is the first-person debut of Remedy's Northlight engine, and fortunately, it works quite well. Playing on an RTX 3070 and SATA SSD, I ran the game with a mixture of mostly-high settings with ray tracing and ray reconstruction enabled, hitting a locked 60 FPS without any real issues.
Whenever I changed anything in the graphics menu while actually in-game, it resulted in a massive performance drop (to 15 FPS or lower) even when nothing was going on.
The clean textures and eerily sleek surfaces of Control return here, while there's plenty to physically interact with in the environment. Fire extinguishers explode and can briefly chill enemies, while water sprinklers can be shot and set off to cool the environment down.
Whenever I changed anything in the graphics menu while actually in-game, it resulted in a massive performance drop (to 15 FPS or lower) even when nothing was going on.
If you're going to test your rig with ray tracing enabled and disabled as you fiddle with the settings, make sure to only change something when you're in the main menu.
Longtime Remedy collaborator Petri Alanko returns to compose the score for Firebreak, and it's fine, with some decently heart-pounding tracks that amplify the action when a group of Hiss barrel down on you.
By default, the mix is a bit muffled, so I recommend slightly lowering the other game effects in order to make the music and character voices stand out more.
FBC: Firebreak review — Accessibility and approachability
- FBC: Firebreak only has a handful of accessibility options like subtitle size.
- More customization options are needed in future updates.
- Newcomers should be able to jump in without playing Control.
There are a handful of accessibility options to play around with in FBC: Firebreak, with settings to make subtitles larger or reduce camera shake from various sources.
As a whole though, it's pretty barebones, and certainly below the options I've seen in other shooters recently.
While FBC: Firebreak is set in the world of Control, the limited narrative means you don't have to have played Jesse Faden's first outing to understand what's going on here.
Veterans will certainly get a kick out of seeing different environments again or noticing easter eggs here or there, but newcomers should feel welcome to hop in.
FBC: Firebreak review — My final thoughts
✅You should buy this if ...
- You enjoy co-op games and first-person shooters.
FBC: Firebreak is a lot of fun to play with a couple of friends, and I'm constantly discovering new ways the gameplay systems interact with each other. If you've enjoyed co-op games in the past that revolve around beating hordes of enemies as you pursue objectives, you should have a good time here.
❌You should not buy this if ...
- You prefer playing shooters by yourself.
While it is technically possible to play FBC: Firebreak alone, you really aren't meant to. Higher difficulties and Clearance levels are completely nonviable solo, and so many of the gameplay systems revolve around the ways players can aid or hinder each other.
As I said before, this is a review-in-progress since I want more time to explore the progression system and ensure the servers are steady. I'll be updating it with final thoughts and a star rating in a few days.
In truth and transparency, I'm really not expecting my final thoughts about FBC: Firebreak to change much, but the very nature of multiplayer, always-online games warranted waiting a moment to see how the game's launch went before putting in a score and closing remarks.
So far, I've had a lot of fun with FBC: Firebreak. It's a great time if you have a friend or two to go through missions with, with tons of different gameplay systems that interact in unique ways.
The moment I figured out I could locate leech pearls because Hiss were being irradiated felt amazing, and there have been plenty of other similar moments since.
At the same time, there's simply no denying the progression is a long-haul grind, which feels particularly rough considering the game doesn't feel oriented around being a second job.
Remedy is currently planning to launch two new Jobs later in the year, which will bring additional variety. While I'm not expecting lavish cutscenes, I do hope the team can also provide a bit more story, at least in a metanarrative sense in the lead-up to Control 2.
FBC: Firebreak is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Cloud, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. It's also available via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass, PlayStation Plus Extra, and PlayStation Plus Premium.
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