As we suffered an premature demise on the enterprise finish of roughly two billion sticky notes, me and my two FBC: Firebreak squad members felt greater than slightly humbled. In our hubris, we’d determined to start our time in a latest preview occasion on the toughest doable issue – a really enjoyable, however very ridiculous alternative. Happily for us, FBC: Firebreak’s mix of approachable fight, fast-paced rounds, and slapstick mechanics makes for a improbable time, regardless of how lengthy (or little) you wish to spend in its weird, fascinating world. We can have our revenge, sticky notes.
FBC: Firebreak is Treatment’s upcoming entry into the first-person shooter style – an approachable multiplayer expertise delivered with all of the fashion and deadpan humour we’ve come to understand from the Remedyverse. Serving as a spin-off to the occasions of Management, FBC: Firebreak sees gamers tasked with the clean-up of weird, supernatural occasions going down inside the sport’s ever-shifting setting, The Oldest Home, which you’ll additionally recognise from Management.
Throughout the hands-on occasion, we got entry to a few completely different Jobs accessible within the sport, all with various ranges of issue on supply. In ‘Sizzling Repair’, our ragtag group of Firebreak volunteers took on repairing followers in a sweltering setting, earlier than coping with a paranatural furnace. In ‘Floor Management’ our crew got down to accumulate leech pearls from the stays of horrendous, human sized leeches. My private favorite, ‘Paper Chase’ noticed the group disposing of an enormous variety of sticky notes, alongside violent, sentient sticky word enemies, earlier than taking up ‘Sticky Ricky’, a colossal, tanked-up boss made up of actually hundreds of thousands of sticky notes that requires a real group effort to take down successfully.
All three of those jobs additionally function Management’s enemy faction, The Hiss as a constant, looming risk – a horde of them can seem at any second and so they’ll want coping with as you progress with the first aims. Coping with The Hiss is normally a simple affair – your weapon will make brief work of most enemy sorts. Once in a while, a named miniboss might seem; some require extra finesse to defeat – and the most suitable choice for taking them down will come from a rigorously curated loadout.
The hands-on confirmed us three distinctive Disaster Kits that each volunteer can take out on a mission. Geared up alongside your extra standard weapons, these are all clumsily lashed collectively to suit the scrappy vibe of FBC: Firebreak’s setting – you aren’t taking part in as seasoned troopers, only a volunteers positioned into these absurd, harmful conditions. With three individuals within the social gathering, every of us naturally gravitated to 1 loadout every. I carried a shotgun for large, close-range injury, and the Splash Package, successfully an enormous water gun which got here in clutch for hosing down the sticky monsters, and my overheated colleagues. The entire kits accessible might be upgraded in a number of methods too, to essentially customise your construct for these extra punishing issue ranges.
However customization extends past your loadout. Every mission asks you to choose a Clearance Degree, which dictates what number of zones that you must clear to be able to win. Which means that some runs can take 5 or ten minutes, and so they’re a breezy affair that require minimal group coordination. Others can take upwards of 45 minutes, dramatically extra vicious affairs the place every bit of substances you are taking is of paramount significance. FBC: Firebreak offers all of the instruments to tailor your expertise right here – it’s not making an attempt to make you grind unnecessarily – you’ll be able to go as exhausting or as informal as you need at any given time.
Nevertheless it was the in-mission mechanics that actually made FBC: Firebreak really feel like one thing distinctive. Elemental results could make or smash your day in the event you don’t have the suitable instruments at hand. If a room is simply too sizzling, you’ll must discover a swift method to settle down. If it’s unnaturally chilly, you’ll transfer slower till you regain some warmth. Your chosen Disaster Package could also be a shortcut right here, however there are different methods to cope with these points positioned within the ranges themselves.
Happily, this is applicable to The Hiss too – if an enemy is slowed by an icy debuff, they’ll comically ‘dash’ in direction of you in sluggish movement, providing you with loads of time to react. At decrease tiers, these results are a light hindrance – nothing deadly in the event you simply wish to bounce into a fast sport with out navigating the complexities of how every part works. In these increased issue runs, it’s hellish – good for people who to dig deep into the sport’s techniques and tackle its most brutal challenges.
All of this enjoyable is wrapped up in a blanket of narrative excellence; Treatment’s signature model of weird, occult nightmares with lashings of hilarity as your characters banter and bicker amongst themselves. Followers of the studio’s earlier entries will discover a number of recognisable names and places, however that feels extra like an enhancement for these already concerned – you don’t must know what’s happening within the wider story, nevertheless it definitely provides to the expertise in the event you do.
There’s heaps to find and loads of steerage for these which are much less versed in Treatment’s universe. That, paired with the power to essentially finetune the way you wish to play, means FBC: Firebreak is an unexpectedlywelcoming introduction into The Oldest Home, and we are able to’t wait to increase our keep (and, you already know, burn a number of sticky notes).
FBC: Firebreak launches June 17, 2025 – play on Xbox Sequence X|S, Home windows PC, and by way of Sport Cross.
FBC: Firebreak
Treatment Leisure
FBC: Firebreak is a cooperative first-person shooter set inside a mysterious federal company below assault by otherworldly forces. As a years-long siege on the company’s headquarters reaches its boiling level, solely Firebreak—the Bureau’s most versatile unit—has the gear and the heart to plunge into the constructing’s strangest crises, restore order, and blast their manner again from the brink.
