Remedy is known for its single-player masterpieces (Alan Wake 2), but it’s going in a different direction with FBC: Firebreak. Today at the Xbox Partner Preview, we got the first look at the spin-off from the Control. FBC: Firebreak is a first-person, multiplayer, PvE game, placing you in the ranks of the Federal Bureau of Control’s agents.
You’ll take on the roles of fearless first responders in the Federal Bureau of Control, sent to fend off paranatural threats in the dark heart of its shifting, eldritch headquarters, The Oldest House. This might have the shape of other PvE multiplayer shooters, but even from the first trailer you can tell there’s a distinct Remedy touch to the enemies, environments, and especially equipment.
Game Director Mike Kayatta sat down with the team at Xbox Wire to provide more detail into Remedy’s first multiplayer game and why it shouldn’t be considered an expansion for Control nor a sequel:
“We’re actively avoiding coming even close to feeling like either of those things. I guess you could say that it’s a spin-off, but in the most positive sense of the word. It’s not designed to be some kind of lesser, bite-sized Control. FBC: Firebreak is its own, fully formed thing.”
Communications Director, Thomas Puha, adds the following:
“We have always done single player games at Remedy, and rest assured, we have more single player games in development, and they will be awesome, but for a long time we have wanted to make a PvE multiplayer game. There are loads of us here who love multiplayer besides single player. We don’t want to be doing the same types of games all the time; it’s good to take on new challenges.”
“What I can say is that the Firebreak crew has been cleared to carry ‘paranatural augments,’ which are Altered Items engineered into tool attachments,” explains Puha. “Like the Garden Gnome you saw in the trailer. These are more or less our take on ‘ultimates’ and are not to be taken lightly. I like to think of them as a jaguar in a box [laughs]. You carry the box, you point it at something, you open the box, and you just kind of hope the jaguar doesn’t turn around and eat you or your friends instead.”
