Control's co-op shooter spin-off FBC: Firebreak finally hooked me thanks to a fire-spewing teapot upgrade and an evil gnome

Normal isn't what I come to Remedy games for, so I was a little unsure what to make of FBC: Firebreak at first. After all, what I love about the likes of Alan Wake 2, Control, and Quantum Break is their unabashed devotion to offering tightly designed, inventive, and downright weird single-player experiences. On the surface FBC: Firebreak, a co-op multiplayer shooter, certainly isn't that – it feels like a much more normal move to try to spin up something in this genre. Yet, at the same time, packing plenty of references to the Remedy Connected Universe, there's still plenty to appeal to a fan like me.

Going hands-on with the game across three customizable classes and three of the five 'jobs' (think mission types) available at launch, I got to play several escalating versions of each. Every job chucks your team of up to three hapless Federal Bureau of Control workers into a sector of the ever-shifting Oldest House, tasking them with aggressive cleanup duty against paranormal items gone amok and the ever-encroaching Hiss.

Hiss and tell

Job locations, and the Hiss enemy types – your former co-workers twisted and corrupted, running the gamut between fiery zombie-like runners to those riding flying, spinning office chairs – return from Control. The Hotfix job, for instance, has us pushing through concrete tunnels and clackity metal walkways through the Maintenance Sector, desperately trying to fix up a malfunctioning furnace. Paper Chase, meanwhile, tasks us with clearing the Executive Sector from endlessly replicating sticky notes that can even take on its own deadly form. Ground Control revolves around bursting leeches hanging out on the walls and ceilings and banking irradiated minerals that fall from them within a pushable minecart.

I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. The busywork breezily has my squad moving from point to point, punctuated by waves of Hiss that spawn in. No matter the job, that's the structure – always ending in a frantic rush back to a wonderfully agonizingly slow-to-arrive elevator as the Hiss floodgates truly open and they begin to swarm.

But, with less focus on wildly inventive powers, dispatching enemies is less fundamentally fun than in other Remedy games. Gun feel has never been the studio's strongest suit (though I do think Alan Wake 2 made huge leaps forward) – and that's the same here. The studio's best games have always been about using strange powers to enhance the shooting experience rather than just being about blasting itself, like Max Payne's iconic bullet time.

In FBC: Firebreak, each class only has one gun, but whether it's a submachine gun, shotgun, or rifle, the gear I get my gloved mitts on do pitifully little damage and don't pack much impact. Not to mention ammo runs out fast, leaving you to jog back to gradually unlocked safe rooms or ammo stations to stuff more in your pockets – less exciting resource management than it is a forced break in spewing bullets ineffectively at hordes of foes.

But these early matches weren't FBC: Firebreak putting its best foot forward. It's not until our last few games – pushing the Clearance level up, which forces us to move multiple zones deep objective-by-objective into each sector before extracting – that things start to click and we finally feel like we're playing FBC: Firebreak as intended. It's something Remedy seems to be aware of, as when we're onboarded we're told the perk unlock system and menus are getting a bit of an overhaul before launch.

Each class does have a secondary bit of kit to supplement your gun of choice, essentially denoting the role they'll play in a team. Unlocking upgrades to perks, skills, and anomalies quickly turns these from nice to have additional abilities into linchpins of the whole game loop. In the build I play, these all have to be unlocked after a bit of a grind from a Requisitions menu to even use these quite fundamental systems – something I hope is either changed or drastically sped up for launch.

There's a fixer pack that allows you to swing a wrench around and hit junk parts to restore things like turrets, a jump pack that allows far off areas to be more quickly reached, and the splash kit that comes with the ejector water gun – my beloved – that pumps up big water globules to wet enemies (considering how many of them are on fire and will set your team ablaze – this is very handy).

Taking my water gun as an example, when first equipped it just does what it says on the tin. It's not until I unlock more functions for it that I really clock what this tool does for my class. One ability has me able to place a water cooler on the ground, which then spurts water everywhere as I fire more h2O into it that heals allies. Suddenly, the strategy around tackling waves of enemies shifts, and begins to make a lot more sense. Likewise, my ally with the jump pack is able to place down a boombox to attract big groups to certain points.

On top of that, chargeable anomalies can be deployed – essentially, ultimate attacks. For me, that means plonking an old fashioned tea kettle on top of the water ejector and turning on a stove attachment to bring it to the boil, my water becoming molten for huge fire attacks until it cools off. Pleasingly, each charge attack causes the teapot to actually whistle as it powers up. Another class is able to place a gnome that summons a devastating paranormal storm. FBC: Firebreak shines in these small, loving details. When under attack by the sticky notes, post-its begin to obscure your vision much as red blood might in more violent shooters. It's hard not to crack a grin at Remedy's flavor of chaos.

Note to health

The sticky note spewing Paper Chase is where we really saw the difference as a team. Our first attempt at doing a high clearance level has us pushing forward against brutal odds to face down a hulking boss monster in Sticky Ricky – a hulking mass of yellow post-its. We deal plenty of damage, but we just come up way short, having used too many revives earlier because we just didn't have the abilities to use.

Then, able to unlock and equip powers, we set out for revenge in a second attempt. With these tools at our disposal, we're able to much better handle waves, actually taking our time with each stage of the challenge and unlocking plenty more safe rooms as we nab collectibles, restock supplies, and set a trail of checkpoints. By the time we reach Sticky Ricky himself, we've got resources to spare, able to set up healing points to soak damage as we activate the boss room's machinery to stun the big lad, and set up distractions for incoming Hiss so we can focus on hitting Ricky when weakened.

These abilities are also where FBC: Firebreak leans into some quite clever elemental interactions that often feel intuitive. Wetting post-its, for example, makes them easier to clear out – while of course setting fire to oil will make whole floors sizzle. While I still wish the guns themselves packed more punch, seeing powers bounce off each other like this does at least make the systems feel alive.

FBC: Firebreak definitely benefits from some role coordination. It took a while, but after some unlocks it does become clear that weird Remedy inventiveness is present in FBC: Firebreak after all, just in a slightly different form. It does mean that the game might be a bit less 'pick up and play' than I thought it might be, rewarding groups who can work together and taking a while to fully get to grips with a loadout (even if that's just because it takes time to unlock it, equip it, then realize how it works). The missions we play through are fun, and I'm keen to see more – though I am curious how it'll all come together in the end, and if the FBC is somewhere that'll keep us signing up for a visitor pass for repeat soaks in its company culture.

FBC: Firebreak will be available on PC (Steam and Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 for $39.99, and will also be part of PC Game Pass, Game Pass Ultimate, and the Extra and Premium PlayStation Plus Game Catalog tiers.

While you wait for FBC: Firebreak and more new games for 2025, why not play something else with a buddy to fill the time? We've got a list of the best co-op games for you to enjoy!