With FBC: Firebreak, Remedy Entertainment has entered the world of the first-person co-op shooter. Set in its Control universe — specifically the site of the first game, the brutalist nightmare office called the Oldest House — players control a member of the titular three-person team of the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC), tasked with addressing various containment breaches. Unfortunately, all the aspects that make Remedy’s worlds so intriguing are completely absent in this bare-bones co-op shooter, which offers nothing for either longtime fans or those invested in existing shooters.
Players in Firebreak are like firefighters or disaster responders, with each member occupying a different role: mechanic, water carrier, electrician. Across five recurring levels, teams must work to stop the spread of corruption, called the Hiss (a mysterious red entity that turns people into raging zombies and other types of creatures). Objectives vary from destroying Post-it notes to fixing fans, all while being assailed by swarms of various nightmare monsters.
Control, the central foundation of Remedy’s wider connected universe that also includes Alan Wake, is at its core weird. It’s how Remedy developers have described it — to me and others — allowing for fluctuations between the terrifying, the quirky, the odd, and the hilarious. The Bureau itself is a government agency tasked with containing bizarre items and reacting to huge and strange world events: for example, a traffic light that, when it flashes red, sends people to different locations, or a fridge that eats people if you stop looking at it.
In Remedy’s universe, FBC workers document, monitor, and research these sorts of items with the gray-faced enthusiasm of every bored researcher. The number of times the toy duck teleports needs to be logged as much as how many coffee filters need to be replaced in the break room.
That stone-faced reaction to the weird is only mildly present in Firebreak, with brief interactions with mission provider Hank Wilder, the security chief, detailing bizarre tasks in a slight monotone. Even player character barks demonstrate this. One of the player voice options is called “Pencil Pusher,” who, when receiving friendly fire, screams that such actions “violate office policy.” Health restoration involves characters huddling in a shower together; you can fix equipment by hitting it with a wrench.
As someone obsessed with Control, I was eagerly anticipating a return — particularly in the shoes of ordinary personnel, rather than the almost godlike head of the agency, Jesse Faden (who you play in Control). But that sense of unease that plays off the quirkiness is not here. The Oldest House and its enemies feel like little more than an aesthetic, or even a kind of mod, for a generic co-op shooter. There is no sense of progression, no overarching goal to which you are working. Levels and tasks repeat. There aren’t even creepy big-level bosses, like the terrors in Control, except in one area.
You will have seen all the game has to offer within a few hours, since each level has only three or four stages (with each successive stage in the same level taking you further in), and some stages can be completed within three to four minutes. As an example, one stage involves destroying replicating Post-it notes. Once you have destroyed a sufficient number, you rush back to the elevator as a horde descends. The second stage requires the same objective, only this time you gain access to a second area to destroy more notes. The third stage repeats this, only you go further in and face a boss. All end with rushing back.
While the game offers modifiers — such as harder enemies and corrupting anomalies that can slightly keep you on your toes — the core aspect wears out quickly. I do not feel I am making any headway in clearing out an entire level, since once cleared, there’s no indicator our team made any difference. The only incentive is to obtain better gear. At least the game doesn’t push microtransactions and is quite generous in its rewards, especially on harder difficulties.
Image: Remedy Entertainment
You also level up various roles independently: playing mainly as the mechanic, you will have to start from scratch if you switch to, for example, the electrician role. These roles do feel distinct, as you are given different gear and abilities. The mechanic can almost instantly repair broken equipment, a very useful skill given how many broken machines there are. But the game is filled with various hazards, such as fire and gunk, which the water soaker character — with their water cannon — can negate.
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