Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment are sailing uncharted waters with FBC: Firebreak, their first attempt at a co-op shooter. It’s coming at a time when co-operative shooting seems in vogue, with numerous other multiplayer shooters on the horizon vying for your attention as much as this one. Remedy’s trademark strangeness shouldn’t put non-Control players off, for there’s plenty here that differs from the studio’s usual linear story delivery. Here’s 15 things to know before buying FBC: Firebreak.
The Remedy Connected Universe
FBC: Firebreak is set within the brutalist bowels of Control’s The Oldest House, the Federal Bureau of Control’s headquarters. As such, canonically, Firebreak will join Remedy Entertainment’s Connected Universe which, as any Remedy fan will know, includes Alan Wake as well as Control. The Finnish studio’s signature weirdness and unpredictability is on display but, aside from agreeing to suspend all disbelief before diving in, players needn’t have experienced any of Remedy’s prior titles to get the most out of Firebreak. Narrative delivery – for one – won’t follow Remedy’s traditional route. This is a multiplayer game after all. There needs to be room for gamers to strategise in-game on mic.
Who is Firebreak?
In essence, Firebreak are a ragtag team of volunteer first responders tasked with eliminating the trans-dimensional Hiss who’re running amok within The Oldest House’s shapeshifting concrete and office blocks. Comprising combat-trained emergency responders together with personnel from across the Bureau including office staff, secretaries, and middle management. The FBC is handing anyone and everyone with a boatload of weapons, specialised equipment, and a spot of on-the-job training, all under the proviso that whatever mission Firebreak undertakes there’s chance they won’t return.
What is FBC: Firebreak?
This is Remedy’s first foray into online multi-player co-op shooting, a game whereby teams of three squad mates take on a raft of phantasmagorical threat, harvest XP, upgrade gear, acquire cosmetics, rinse, and repeat in endless replayability. The game can be played solo, but as per Remedy Game Director Mike Kayatta designing the game for teams of three revealed the most organic experience. In other words: the game is optimised for trios.
This is not live service
A core tenet underpinning Remedy’s philosophy for FBC: Firebreak is for there to be as few a number of obstructions as possible between loading up the game and commencing play. For this reason, they’ve decided players will pay a flat rate, and that’s it. FBC: Firebreak will not be live service. There’ll be no seasons, or battle passes, pay-to-win microtransactions, no grind; either daily, or monthly. Their hope is players can swiftly jump in and have fun with their mates without the game feeling like a chore.
An experience centered on jobs
Missions here the FBC dub jobs, but they’re ostensibly the pre-ordained set of objectives you’re used to. However, jobs will be defined by unique characteristics: a Hiss-related crisis the Firebreak team must eradicate, or a specific location in The Oldest House in which the squad must traverse, with a specific set of objectives tied to environments and threat. Remedy Entertainment do hope that each job will feel distinct, but there are a couple of modifiers players can tweak before diving in, both of which we’ll get into now…
Threat level
Essentially FBC: Firebreak’s difficulty setting, selecting the level of threat translate to the ferocity of enemies – and their sheer amount – you and your team will face during runs. Of course, the more intense the combat the more substantial the rewards for job success.
Clearance level
The second of FBC: Firebreak’s modifiers are its pre-selectable clearance level. See, each job undertaken is split into zones, with clearance level then determining how many of these zones you and your squad must fight through in order to succeed. Much like threat level, pre-determined clearance levels define the scale and type of rewards your team can acquire. High threat levels – as confirmed by Remedy – can yield access to Altered World Items too which, for you non-Control players, are everyday objects corrupted by interdimensional force.
Crisis kits
In other words: loadouts. Crisis kits in FBC: Firebreak are the game’s character class with each of the three on offer providing access to distinct playstyles and kit-specific tools. The Fix Kit, for instance, provides a wrench which is capable of both repairing machinery and smacking the Hiss silly. The Jump Kit is centred on electricity, with charge impactors and boomboxes integral for positioning and crowd control. The water-focused Splash Kit grants ability to manipulate surroundings via crank-operated fluidic ejectors and humidifiers.
Requisitions
Ostensibly governing the game’s cosmetic enhancements, requisitions in FBC: Firebreak are collectable sets containing cosmetics, equipment, and weapons, and they come in two different flavours: plain-old requisitions earned through gameplay, and classified requisitions which are cosmetic only microtransactions. The kicker here is no requisition is timed; they can be unlocked in any order as they’ll permanently be on offer, with players able to work towards unlocking multiple requisitions simultaneously.
Perks
Earned currency can also be spent on further customisations in the form of perks. These perks can switch up how you play, from loading electrified ammunition into your firepower to having missed bullets magically return to your magazine or the ability to shake off radiation or extinguish flames simply by jumping up and down. Perks are stackable too, doubling up their potency if two of the same are equipped simultaneously. Furthermore, equip three perks and their effects can be shared with your squad mates. Finally, as kit proficiency improves, so does the effectiveness of any acquired perks.
Release date, platforms, and price
FBC: Firebreak releases to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on June 17th 2025. Remedy Entertainment are targeting the AA realm, reflected in a price of $39.99 / £32.99 for the base game. The game will also be available on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus’ Extra tier day one.
Post-launch content included
When Remedy says they’re not pursuing a live service model with FBC: Firebreak they mean it. They’ve promised officially that all post-launch content, of which will include more jobs alongside more boss characters, weapons, customisations, and cosmetics, will be free, however the latter of which most probably harbours some element of paid for content simply to keep the game in a healthy financial state.
Deluxe Edition
FBC: Firebreak’s Deluxe Edition will retail for $49.99 / £39.99 and in addition to the base game features two premium voice packs and a collection of exclusive cosmetic items including weapons skins and armour sets. There’s also a classified requisition included containing numerous premium cosmetics for weapons and armour.
Cutting edge tech
Immediately apparent with FBC: Firebreak’s graphical aesthetic is realism is out favoured by art style which, if interpreting this correctly, speaks to Remedy’s attempt to home in on their trademark weirdness and the humour inherent within. Regardless of art style though, PC players will still have access to some cutting-edge tech provided their hardware is up to the task: full ray tracing, DLSS 4 with multi frame regeneration and reflex.
PC requirements
Initially, you might think the game’s aesthetic-first art style will impose less on your rig, but with FBC: Firebreak’s minimum specs reportedly requiring an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X processor or equivalent, at least an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, and 16GB RAM, the speculation is Firebreak will be rig-melting. Remedy haven’t shared just yet a complete PC requirement picture, so fingers crossed a less demanding rig will be revealed as more info is shared.
