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Metro
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Games Inbox: Are gamers too entitled about video games?
The Friday letters page tries to figure out Nintendo's future plans for Mario Kart World, as one reader wishes Battlefield 6 didn't have a story mode. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ Value for money I had a good laugh at the story about the fan trying to get a refund after playing a game for 35,000 hours but I think there's a serious point to be made here, in that it shows just how entitled most gamers are. We've seen on these pages the total lack of empathy from some people, towards the developers that make their game, but there's also this strange insistence that once you buy a game the publisher is honour bound to change it in any way you demand and make sure it works online for all eternity. There is absolutely no other product in the world that is treated this way, especially not at that price level. I'm not defending publishers for stopping support of a game early but there's got to be a sensible limit here. A video game is less than £100, often half that, and you're looking for lifetime support and instant changes? If this guy paid £40 for a video game four years ago, and he's put 35,000 hours into, I'd say he's had his money's worth. Coolsbane Split opinion I just finished Split Fiction with my girlfriend and we really enjoyed it. That developer is really good at these co-op games and I'm now automatically interested in anything else they do. But is it just me but is the story and characters kind of bad? Making writers your main characters is always a danger, just ask Alan Wake, but these two weirdos seem to have invented the least original fantasy and sci-fi worlds imaginable. The dialogue is also pretty bad. Not funny bad or anything, just really boring and obvious. Maybe it's meant to be that way on purpose, so as to not put off casual gamers, but it's so bland it really feels like a trick has been missed. Even the bad guy is terrible, and his plan is so obvious and also stupid. It Takes Two wasn't really much better either, it was just the game that was good. I hope they do better for next time. Firegon Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Unwanted story I get the negativity around Battlefield 6 but I am looking forward to the game and I think that it probably will be good, despite EA. I'm a bit worried about how they're going to handle classes, but other than that I like what I'm hearing and seeing (given the amount of footage that has leaked). The other reader was right that it's not a complicated game, but you wouldn't have thought that given how many times it's been messed up over the years. The only thing that really worries me about this game is that they're once again wasting time on a story campaign. Stop it! They've never been good, nobody cares whether they exist or not, and you're just wasting time and money on something that could be used for more important stuff. Other than that though, I'll give it a chance. Bosley Email your comments to: gamecentral@ Link to the photorealism Personally, I'm optimistic about the live action Zelda movie. Not for the film itself but a realistic portrayal of Link, if received well, could pave the way for a realistic looking game. Don't get me wrong I've loved the recent Zelda games, and The Wind Waker is one of my all-time favourite games ever, but Ocarina Of Time, at the time, just felt so groundbreaking. The game sure, but the graphics were for the time the best around. I understand why Nintendo have gone the path they chose but I long for that Link from the Space World demo. And yes, I know we subsequently got that with Twilight Princess but it's not aged well and wasn't really cutting edge at the time. Imagine a Zelda game that looks like the Demon's Souls remake, looking up and a dragon flying over the volcano in that style. With a more story driven game, where the Zelda and Link interact like Ellie and Joel. The swordplay could be exactly the same and I'll leave it to Nintendo to find that gameplay hook they do so well. Or at least an Ocarina Of Time remake will do, just give us one more realistic 4K Link, please. Phil No reason I am actually glad to hear that people are not buying Mario Kart World separately on digital. If you want a physical copy then fine but I can't see one single reason why you'd buy a Switch 2 and then, days or weeks later, buy Mario Kart digitally. You'd have to either hate Mario Kart and then suddenly come round to it (after playing it on someone else's Switch 2?) or… not know it was out and then act shocked when you find out? To be honest, I'm surprised it was even the third most popular game on the eShop, because every single person that bought it really needs to think about their money saving skills. Renton It's the children who are wrong People are right to question exactly how much the PlayStation 6 is going to cost, if it's both a portable and a home console. A PS5 Pro and a PlayStation Portal is already £900 and I don't see any chance that the PlayStation 6 combo is going to be any cheaper. I really don't see how there's that many people that're going to be interested in throwing down that sort of money for a console whose graphics are barely going to look any better and probably won't have many exclusives. At the very least a Switch style hybrid approach seems a better idea, but none of the rumours seem to say that at all. Either I'm completely out of the loop or Sony are getting high on their own fumes. I just cannot imagine any situation where they suddenly announce the PlayStation 6 and everyone goes crazy for it and starts pre-ordering. What games are they going to use to promote it? How are they going to do or look anything different to the PlayStation 5? Maybe I'm missing something. Maybe Sony has a secret plan that's definitely going to work but I don't see it at all. To be honest I'm kind of worried about the future of gaming right now. Mapes Gonna take you for a ride Bargain alert: Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection for PlayStation 4 is on sale for £23.80 (usual price £44.99) on Amazon for a limited time. The Switch version is on sale too but it is a digital code in a box. Andrew J. PS: The people who made the Rubber Keyed Wonder documentary about the Spectrum and the documentary about the PlayStation, called the PlayStation Revolution, are now making an expanded Blu-ray of the ZX Spectrum computer, covering various topics about the Spectrum including its games, the hardware design, and peripherals. It's on sale for £25 plus postage for the next seven days. Wider World Everything tells me that Mario Kart World is definitely going to be treated like a live service game, that's constantly updated with characters from upcoming games. I'd almost bet on it, except I can't think of any reason why Nintendo hasn't already told us about it. It seems so obvious that something is going on with Donkey Kong, but it's been out for a week now so why haven't they announced it? Maybe it'll be at the rumoured Nintendo Direct this month but why did it have to wait till then? I don't get it. But if it does happen, it could explain everything. It would explain all the missing characters that were in Mario Kart 8 (maybe we're getting a new game with the Koopalings!) and it would be a way to slowly introduce characters from other franchises. You could use Hyrule Warriors to add Zelda characters, Kirby Air Riders to add Kirby, and Metroid Prime 4 to add Samus, ideally with custom cars. I don't know if they'd do that many at once, maybe they'd want to wait until mainline entries, but they could just add extra costumes and cars for that. Whether they'd go as far as adding new areas of the map I don't know but if they don't I'm not sure how else bigger DLC is going to work. The ones on Mario Kart 8 did great, so they're going to want to copy that, but are they going to start plugging in new areas on the map, like a jigsaw? Or maybe this is all just too much of a good idea and they're going to do nothing. With Nintendo you just never know. Occo Inbox also-rans As usual with Nintendo I can't tell if they're being purposefully evil in cheaping out over the Switch 2 version of Mario Party or if they just didn't see how it would come across. Either way I'm definitely not getting it, if it's so half-assed. Lurch That Lego Game Boy is amazing. I imagine it'd be really easy to make it actually work too. The innards of a Game Boy must be something you could make a system on a chip for that's the size of a pinhead nowadays. All you'd have to do is get the buttons working, which I bet you can do with Lego. Qwark More Trending Email your comments to: gamecentral@ The small print New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers' letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content. You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader's Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot. You can also leave your comments below and don't forget to follow us on Twitter. MORE: Games Inbox: Why has the Nintendo Switch 2 been so successful? MORE: Games Inbox: Will there ever be a new Mass Effect game? MORE: Games Inbox: Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Commodore Amiga
The Verge
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Remedy is in control
In the quiet suburb of Espoo, a short drive west from Helsinki in Finland, is an unassuming building that's home to one of the most confounding studios in games. Remedy Entertainment is known for getting weird. It started with the meta horror of Alan Wake, and has since expanded with Control, a game that turns a bureaucratic government office into a sinister and unsettling battleground. Their worlds merge the surreal and the mundane — which is not a bad description of Remedy itself. On the day I visited, the studio's energy was relaxed and subdued — in true Finnish style, there are even multiple onsite saunas — and frankly a little boring, especially for a creative team known for the likes of the mind-bending Ashtray Maze or 'Old Gods of Asgard' musical. But that contrast is also one of the keys to Remedy's recent success. In the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, the video game industry has experienced studio closures, persistent layoffs, corporate meddling, and ill-fated games that were canceled soon after launch. Exceptions like Remedy have been rare. Over the past decade, the studio has been implementing a plan to help it compete with bigger, better-funded developers and publishers, steadily inching its way from a work-for-hire studio to one in charge of its own destiny. As the industry has shifted toward live-service hits like Fortnite and blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto, Remedy has taken big swings with ambitious and delightfully strange narrative titles. Now it's trying to expand even further with its first multiplayer — and self-published — game in FBC: Firebreak. The stakes are high: it's the perfect example of Remedy's new way of working and a proof of concept for its larger, more expansive future. It's also a strange experience, marrying the surreal tone of Control with co-op play that bucks the latest online gaming trends. But to hear it from the Finnish developer, it only gets to take swings like Firebreak because it nailed all of the boring stuff first. 'We are this building,' explains creative director Mikael Kasurinen. 'This is it; this is us. We aren't owned by anybody else, and I think that realization brings that culture of taking more responsibility. There is nothing above us that will save the day if things go wrong. It's all on us.' This wasn't the case for much of the studio's existence. Founded in 1995, Remedy's first release was a combat racing game called Death Rally. A few years later, the studio garnered widespread acclaim with 2001's Max Payne, a hard-boiled noir with action ripped out of a John Woo movie. After a sequel, Remedy expanded in new directions with the survival horror game Alan Wake and sci-fi game / TV show hybrid Quantum Break. Despite its modest success, though, the studio found itself stuck in a cycle of working from game to game. It didn't own any of its creations — instead, they were the property of publishers like Rockstar and Microsoft — and, with the exception of the rapid 18-month development of Max Payne 2, Remedy was only putting out new games every five years or so. That half-decade cycle meant that if any game failed, so did the company. This put Remedy in a precarious position, and it's something Tero Virtala realized right away when he took over as CEO in 2016. 'At that point Remedy had been around for 20 years, and succeeded in relation to many criteria,' Virtala says. That included releasing several hit games and steadily growing in headcount. But Virtala says that 'it didn't feel like enough' to have such a talented team and only release one game every four or five years. While it's typical for games to take years to build, only having one project at a time left the studio vulnerable in case any of them flopped. Virtala helped spearhead a new path for Remedy's future built on two pillars: One was becoming a multi-project studio, so that it was less dependent on any single game. Second, Remedy also wanted ownership of its original creations and to eventually become its own publisher. 'It's important to understand enough of the business, even though I don't love it.' A major part of making this work was ensuring that everyone in the studio bought in and understood the plan, not just management. It sounds like a controversial idea and runs counter to the way the industry typically works: whereas most studios operate with clear lines dividing creative and business, Virtala believed that empowering developers to understand the business side meant they'd be better able to make the right decisions on the creative end. 'People are smart,' Virtala says of his employees, 'and they are mature enough to understand that if you want to make creative, ambitious games, it's not possible unless you have the financial basis, unless you are aligned with the technology, unless you have the people and the production plans are in order. We try to provide the teams with as much information as possible. And then the teams are in the best place to try to figure out what is the best creative path within these constraints.' And it seems that the creative side has bought in. Sam Lake has been with Remedy for nearly its entire 30-year existence, starting out as a writer on Death Rally. (He's also the face of the original Max Payne — literally.) He now serves as creative director and is the lead writer behind all of Remedy's major franchises. 'It's important to understand enough of the business, even though I don't love it,' Lake says. 'When you're creating a game concept, there are a lot of decisions being made, and the more you understand about what these decisions affect, the better you are prepared to choose wisely.' The real turning point came with the launch of Control in 2019, the first game released under Virtala's leadership. While the idea for the story and world had been kicking around in Lake's head for some time, the actual development happened as Virtala was implementing broader studio changes. He pushed for more efficient processes and timelines, hoping to make games faster without sacrificing the quality level Remedy had become known for. 'Those three years were transformative for Remedy,' Kasurinen says. He notes that this new development style meant planning much more in advance on Control, and viewing limitations around budgets and timelines as creative challenges 'that forced us to reinvent many things in a good way.' When it came out, Control exemplified exactly what the studio wanted to be: it was developed in a comparatively brisk three years, was a brand-new property that the studio would (eventually) own outright, and was in development alongside another project in collaboration with Korean publisher Smilegate. Creatively, it also allowed the team to attempt a new kind of open-ended action game and it opened up new directions for the future. Control's success allowed this plan to continue. Since then, Remedy has steadily expanded. Control was followed by a long-awaited sequel to Alan Wake, and the studio has grown to 380 people. It currently has four projects in development: a sequel to Control, remakes of the Max Payne games, an unannounced title, and its first multiplayer game, the recently launched Control spinoff FBC: Firebreak. With the exception of Max Payne, which is being published by Rockstar, all of its in-development games are self-published. Remedy now also holds the publishing rights for Alan Wake (the sequel was originally published by Epic Games), and has created its own connected universe, which unites the worlds of Alan Wake and Control. In 2024 it partnered with Annapurna Pictures to potentially expand this even further through film and TV adaptations. Branching out into new genres and mediums is a further attempt to grow Remedy's capabilities — and to better insulate itself from the volatile whims of the games industry. Getting to this moment required some structural changes. Remedy now has multiple development teams, with staff shifting between them as needed, and it also has a unique setup with two creative directors in Lake and Kasurinen. Lake says that both of them want to be hands-on when they're leading a new game, and so having two people in the role allows the creative side to always be involved in larger studio decisions, even in the midst of an intense development process. 'When I was deep into Alan Wake 2, I wasn't a part of attending weekly management meetings,' Lake says. 'I just needed to focus on [the game]. But it's really important that we have the creative side represented on the company level. So this arrangement gives us flexibility. We can represent each other.' Even still, the transition wasn't always smooth. As Remedy attempted to grow into a multi-project studio, not all of its expansion attempts worked out. First, the studio partnered with Smilegate on a new iteration of the popular military shooter Crossfire. The idea was that Smilegate would make the multiplayer portion of the game, while Remedy would craft a single-player story mode, giving the studio a chance to make its first first-person shooter. But CrossfireX was poorly received upon release in 2022 — campaign mode included — and shut down a year later. Remedy also attempted to get into the world of free-to-play games through a partnership with Tencent, but the title — known as Project Vanguard — eventually shifted to a premium release, before finally being canceled before it was ever shown to the public. Virtala says that these setbacks were largely a result of pushing too far too fast. And in the case of Vanguard, the failure helped the studio realize that four games at a time was the sweet spot for what the company could manage. 'We started to feel that we had a bit too many projects for our size of organization,' he explains. 'We saw that if we had a bit more focus, it would help our other projects to succeed.' But those failures don't mean Remedy is done trying new things. In fact, the studio's first fully self-published game, FBC: Firebreak, is also one of its most surprising releases. It's a multiplayer shooter, which might sound like an odd release from a studio known for single-player narratives. But as the studio looked to expand, multiplayer was one of the key areas the team wanted to explore. 'We want to explore ways of building new types of experiences.' Firebreak is a relative baby step in that direction. It's connected to a popular game the studio owns, and it was built by a small internal team. While regular updates are planned — including 'major' releases in the fall and winter — Firebreak isn't a live-service game on par with Fortnite or Call of Duty, designed to keep players coming back with ongoing events and daily activities. It's a paid game meant explicitly to 'respect the player's time.' It's also a way for the studio to expand its capabilities without stretching the team too far. 'We want to explore ways of building new types of experiences,' says Mike Kayatta, game director on Firebreak. 'I like to think that we know what we're doing when it comes to these large, single-player story-driven games. This is how the studio built its reputation and what it's good at. When you're faced with saying, 'Hey, we need to diversify the types of experiences we're making,' do you really just want to just make five more of these linear, story-driven games?' So far, Firebreak's release hasn't gone exactly to plan. It was greeted with mixed reviews from critics and players, many of whom complained that, while it maintains some of the weird and unsettling tone as Control, it's held back by repetitive gameplay and a lack of Remedy-style narrative flourishes. But the studio seems intent on fixing things, recently posting an extensive list of patch notes and other upcoming changes that cover everything from the onboarding experience to the UI. 'Several things have gone well,' the studio wrote. 'Clearly, not everything has.' The success of a game like Firebreak is still critical for Remedy even under its multi-project structure. It's a complex plan that has kept Virtala very busy over the last 10 years. In fact, when I spoke to him in an empty conference room at Remedy's office, he was delayed because he had to prepare for the studio's most recent financial report the next day. 'Every single game is highly important for us,' Virtala says. 'There is no question that we are not fully insulated. But we are less dependent on any single game than we used to be.' This feeling is only strengthened by the current realities of the gaming industry. It's a space where even a well-funded EA studio can't get a Black Panther game made, a Sony-backed multiplayer shooter in development for eight years, Concord, is quickly shuttered, and the likes of Netflix and Amazon are struggling to make headway despite huge investments. Remedy is currently in a good place, with a growing back catalog and multiple games in development, and while it has grown, it's still a fraction of the size of most other studios making big-budget games, which often have headcounts in the thousands. While the last decade has been a big shift at Remedy, Lake describes his time at the studio as being filled with constant change, as the company steadily grew in terms of both staff and the scale of its projects. Even still, he believes that the current incarnation of the studio might be ideal for this multi-project structure, and says that he 'would be surprised' if Remedy continued to grow significantly over the next few years. While many large studios are seemingly focused on perpetual growth, the team at Remedy is happy to be sustainable. 'There were a couple of false starts trying to get there, but now it feels very much like we're settled,' says Lake. 'This is what Remedy is now.'
Engadget
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
June's Game Pass additions include Remedy co-op shooter FBC: Firebreak
Microsoft's Game Pass is having a very impressive 2025 where the quality and cadence of releases is concerned, and things are showing no signs of slowing down as we settle into the summer months. Highlights of the June lineup include co-op FPS FBC: Firebreak , which joins the service today, Sloclap's highly-anticipated soccer game, Rematch , and a trio of Warcraft remasters. Let's start with probably the most significant addition. Back in May, Engadget's Jessica Conditt got to play Remedy's FBC: Firebreak and was tentatively optimistic about what is a pretty major genre-shift for the studio known for single-player games such as Alan Wake and Control ( Firebreak is set in the same location as the latter). The important building blocks of a great co-operative shooter were there, and the hope is that Remedy has polished up the experience ahead of launch. FBC: Firebreak also joins PS Plus today as a day one release for both platforms, which should hopefully help get it off the ground. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. Also joining today is Lost in Random: The Eternal Die , a roguelite spin-off of 2021's Lost in Random , that has more than a hint of Hades about it judging by screenshots and fast-paced gameplay clips we've seen in the runup to launch. Another notable Game Pass additions arrives on June 19. Rematch is a soccer game that eschews the more sim-like approach of EA Sports FC in favor of an arcade-style spin on the world's most popular sport. Matches are 5v5, and you only control one player on your team. There are no offsides, no fouls and no breaks in play, so referees won't bail you out when something doesn't go your way. Rematch is the latest game from the Paris-based indie studio Sloclap, who made the incredibly stylish kung fu game, Sifu . It's no surprise, then, that Rematch 's almost impressionist aesthetic is just as easy on the eye. To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so. It's also a big month for Game Pass' ever-growing catalogue of Activision Blizzard games, with the remastered versions of Warcraft I and Warcraft II , as well as Warcraft III: Reforged all being added on June 26. Call of Duty: WWII joins them on June 30. As we head into July, Game Pass subscribers can download or stream Little Nightmares II and Rise of the Tomb Raider , which returns to Microsoft's service ahead of the game's 10th anniversary in November. You can check out the full list of announcements here.
CNET
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNET
FBC: Firebreak: 6 Fun Nods to Control
FBC: Firebreak is studio Remedy Entertainment's first multiplayer romp. As a Left 4 Dead-esque objective-based horde shooter taking place in the Oldest House (the headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Control), the game is heavy on action and light on story. That doesn't mean that the game is completely divorced from the shared Remedyverse that bridges the events of Control and the Alan Wake series. Firebreak takes place six years after the events of Control, and dimension-hopping Hiss invaders are still causing havoc throughout the building. There are many references and bits of dialogue that hint toward the events that transpired in Control, but you might miss them as you hose down the Hiss, stomp out sticky notes, pick up radioactive pearls and do more of the jobs no one else wants to volunteer for. As a matter of fact, the entire Firebreak initiative is named after the black rock-lined bridges that disconnected entire sectors of the Oldest House from one another when the Hiss initially invaded the FBC. Readers beware -- if you haven't yet beaten Control, this article will contain spoilers for events throughout the game. Here are the most interesting nods to Remedy's take on the X-Files/SCP Foundation genre of government agencies taking on the supernatural. This ragtag team of volunteers better hope and pray their HRAs don't get knocked off during the more frenetic fights. Remedy Entertainment/Screenshot by CNET Every player is carrying a Hedron Resonance Amplifier No matter what cosmetic skin you apply to your Firebreaker, you'll notice there's a little black box strapped to your suit somewhere or another. Those are Hedron Resonance Amplifiers, and it's a good thing you're carrying them around. If you lost that piece of your kit, you wouldn't be yourself for much longer. These devices prevent the Hiss from taking over the human body by pumping out a different frequency from a more benevolent resonance-based organism: Polaris, Jesse Faden's symbiotic mental passenger, who accompanies you during the events of Control. Lots of care was put into differentiating the character cosmetics in Firebreak. The ragtag team of volunteers isn't armed to the teeth, but they've devised different ways to armor themselves against gunfire, flames or other field hazards. The single constant is the HRA, because no one would survive a mission without it. It's a nice bit of attention to detail -- keep a keen eye on your character model as you try out different cosmetics, because you'll always be able to spot Dr. Casper Darling's protective device. There's a fun narrative reason that the Black Rock Neutralizer will be an integral map pick up for your team. Remedy Entertainment/Screenshot by CNET The Black Rock Neutralizer is the only way to handle paranatural threats Those Hedron Resonance Amplifiers didn't spawn out of thin air. The FBC's head of research, Dr. Casper Darling, needed to find a way to stabilize the anti-Hiss resonance. The Oldest House contains its own paranatural quarry containing black rock, a rare ore that can destroy or contain other powerful, unexplained phenomena. Black rock was used in the construction of the HRAs, and the FBC frequently boxes in altered items and dimensional thresholds with this material to ensure they can't spread throughout the agency's headquarters. In FBC: Firebreak, players will find special weapons called Black Rock Neutralizers that use chunks of black rock ore as ammunition. The ore is fed through a grinder, fragmenting it at high velocity toward enemies. (It's very similar to the skull-spewing guns from Doom: The Dark Ages.) During Jobs with a corruption variable, players may run into paranatural threats that make their lives harder. The Black Rock Neutralizer is the only way to eliminate these level-modifying altered items. The existence of this weapon is a testament to how inventive the Firebreakers are, creating an effective arsenal with the resources they have on hand. The Federal Bureau of Control planned ahead for paranatural emergencies -- and these bunkers were the result. Remedy Entertainment/Screenshot by CNET The safe areas scattered about are what saved the FBC during the Hiss outbreak You'll feel an overwhelming sense of relief when you find the bunkers scattered throughout FBC: Firebreak's levels. Sure, opening them up will flood the zone with a wave of Hiss enemies, but after you deal with that pesky inconvenience, you'll have access to a new safe area filled to the brim with ammo drops, grenades, lost asset folders and a functioning sink for emergency healing. If you need to respawn, you'll come back from the closest shelter you've opened, which is far nearer than the elevator. If you're lucky, you'll even find a Black Rock Neutralizer to tear through the next bunch of baddies that come your way. These bunkers will be familiar to anyone who has played Control, because they were the last bastions of safety for some of the most important FBC agents once the Hiss invaded the Oldest House. Emily Pope, a research specialist and one of Jesse Faden's staunchest allies, was trapped in one of these bunkers in the Executive Sector until the Hiss presence was brought down to a more manageable level. These shelters also contained mods that buffed up Jesse Faden. In every game they appear, these bunkers are kind of just well-armored treasure chests, so crack them open and get to looting. The victims of the Bureau Book Club faced suspiciously similar fates to the fictional characters they read about. Remedy Entertainment/Screenshot by CNET The reformation of the Bureau Book Bunch Control contains tons of collectibles that tell side stories that flesh out the day-to-day lifestyle of FBC agents. We got an idea of what the average work-life balance looks like for these folks as they balanced their time between fantastical paranatural jobs and the banalities of office paperwork. One of the most interesting sets of written correspondence players could run across was the notes from the FBC's Bureau Book Bunch. This quartet of agents would routinely meet in the Oldest House's cafeteria to discuss novels together, though the novel itself seemed to have paranatural properties, as each FBC agent involved in the book club would write a different synopsis of events contained therein. The Bureau Book Bunch fell apart during the Hiss invasion, with at least two of the members falling victim to the resonance-based hivemind. Though the Oldest House is still in a state of crisis by the time the Firebreak initiative is put together, it seems as though some FBC agents are trying to retain a sense of normalcy. During one dialogue exchange before players embark on a Job, the leader of Firebreak, Hank Flowers, is invited to a new iteration of the book club being put together by an agent named Francine. He quickly turns down the offer, but that doesn't mean the Bureau Book Bunch won't be riding again by the time a full sequel to Control comes along. Your parautility will give you a much-needed burst of firepower when the going gets tough in the Oldest House. Remedy Entertainment/Screenshot by CNET Your ultimate ability is a paranatural force in and of itself The Firebreakers are pretty expendable foot soldiers in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn't mean Hank is sending them out there intending for them to bite the dust. This volunteer force is made up of amateur parautilitarians (individuals who have bound and use paranatural items). Each Firebreaker carries a single altered item -- the garden gnome, piggy bank or tea kettle, depending on which kit you choose -- so they don't have the luxury of mix-and-matching powerful items like Jesse Faden does. Still, it's likely that these altered items (and the altered items that get in your way during corrupted levels) were released from the Panopticon area featured during the back half of Control. The Panopticon housed some of the most dangerous paranatural items and entities that the FBC has come across, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Now these powerful items are crisis management tools for the Firebreak initiative. Jesse Faden better be involved in a case well above my paygrade if she's not showing up to lend us a hand. Remedy Entertainment/Screenshot by CNET Director Faden doesn't have time for the Firebreakers Control protagonist Jesse Faden is one of the most powerful parautilitarians known to the FBC. After the death of director Zachariah Trench, she becomes the next wielder of the Service Weapon and subsequently takes his place as the acting director of the agency. Director Faden struck the first real blows against the Hiss invaders and other paranatural organisms in the Oldest House by binding herself to nearly a dozen altered items. She's absurdly strong, which would make her a great asset against the sticky notes, pink goop and other threats that players encounter in Firebreak. However, the most you'll hear about Director Faden is a couple of lines of dialogue explaining that she's busy dealing with more important issues. Hank grumbles that her presence would probably be good for the team's morale. When I'm armed with only a revolver and a glorified Super Soaker, I can't say I'd disagree. The Hiss have been running amok around the Oldest House for six years now, and things seem to be getting a little, y'know, out of control. Jesse Faden better be palling around with Alan Wake on a quest to save the world or something if she's not helping the CNET crew deal with the Hiss in Paper Chase.
Engadget
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Engadget
'FBC: Firebreak' preview: Controlled chaos
A successful co-op shooter feels like a bottomless tub of popcorn, hot and smothered in golden butter, built for bite-sized consumption and impossible to resist. Smooth mechanics and a satisfying, repeatable loop should draw you in for one more bite, one more round, over and over again. FBC: Firebreak , Remedy Entertainment's co-op shooter set in the universe of Control , almost hits these marks. It just needs a little more salt. Remedy is a AA studio best known for crafting single-player games like Alan Wake and Control , which feature Lynchian mysteries and hellish twists, and Firebreak is the studio's first attempt at crafting an online, cooperative, first-person shooter. Firebreak supports up to three players at a time, and it pits your team against hordes of otherworldly Hiss monsters in the bowels of The Oldest House, the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control. The building was locked up with a bunch of Hiss inside at the end of Control , and Firebreak takes place six years later. You're a government employee who's volunteered to eradicate the Hiss in The Oldest House — or try to, at least — and you're sent inside with some improvised weapons, no extra training and a hearty pat on the back. We broke down the specifics of Firebreak 's gameplay loop and upgrade cycles after the developer walkthrough in March, but here are the basics: Before the match begins, each player gets to select one of three Crisis Kits, loadouts designed with specific playstyles in mind. Crisis Kits come with a tool and an item each. The Jump Kit is based around electricity and it has the Electro-Kinectic Charge Impactor, a portable jackhammer kind of device with a conductive metal plate on the end, capable of slamming into enemies or propelling yourself into the air. It also has the BOOMbox, which plays music to attract enemies before exploding. The Fix Kit gives you a big wrench that's able to repair machinery and stagger Hiss, and it also includes a turret that you have to smack with the wrench to assemble. The Splash Kit is for all the water signs out there — it features the Crank-Operated Fluidic Injector, an industrial water cannon that can extinguish fires and soak enemies so they're primed for extra damage, plus a Humidifier, which sprays healing water in a wide area. The game is broken down by Jobs, which are essentially custom-built missions in specific regions of The Oldest House. All Jobs have three zones, but otherwise each one has a unique objective, crisis, and environment. After selecting a Job, you get to customize your run by setting the Threat Level and Clearance Level — Threat Level determines combat difficulty and the number of rewards up for grabs, while Clearance Level sets the number of zones you have to clear and the type of rewards. I spent roughly two and a half hours playing Firebreak with two strangers who quickly became the best Hiss-fighting friends I've ever had, and we messed around with three different Jobs, and various combinations of Threat and Clearance levels. I stuck with one loadout, the Fix Kit with the big wrench, and was able to purchase upgrades to add the turret, grenades, upgraded guns and an exploding piggy bank accessory to my loadout. The piggy bank slots into the wrench and creates a thunderous AOE tornado when you hit Hiss with it. While I don't fully understand the science at play with the pig, I immensely enjoy slamming it into monsters. We ran through three Jobs — Hot Fix, Ground Control and Paper Chase. Hot fix is an industrial level where you have to repair giant fans and eventually fill up barrels with fuel before sending them down a zipline. In Ground Control, you shoot these nasty, wriggling pustules that look like giant botfly larvae to retrieve radioactive leech pearls and throw them in a mining cart. Paper Chase features an office filled with sentient sticky notes, and you have to shoot them off the walls and floors before they consume you or turn into big yellow monsters. Throughout all of these tasks, waves of Hiss appear, demanding your attention and gunfire. There are ammo refill stations and healing showers positioned around the maps, though their positions change with each tweak to the Threat and Clearance levels. You'll also have to repair some of the environmental features in order to fully take advantage of them — for instance, the shower initially spews out cold water, which can freeze players while they're trying to heal, but you can send in someone with the Fix Kit (me!) to quickly mend the hot water. This, and fixing the ammo station, were generally the first two things my teammates and I did in each run. And then, chaos. While each Job has its own goal, there's a shared cadence to the missions, with moments of calm preparation and exploration violently interrupted by hordes of Hiss. Out of the pistol, shotgun and submachine gun, the SMG was my weapon of choice, and it tore through groups of enemies, spurred along by my teammates' fire and, every now and then, a grenade. Ammo and health were constant considerations, but it was easy enough to note the locations of refill stations and showers, and or to ask my Splash Kit teammate to throw some healing water my way. Firebreak does a great job of rewarding teams that stick together — you get an extra shield when you're near your friends, and a bright visual cue accompanies this bonus, consistently reminding you to stay as a group. Of course, friendly fire is also a thing in this game, and errant explosions and bullets brought down everyone on my team a few times. We laughed and revived our way through it, but this highlighted my main issue with the game: It's often difficult to discern where any attack is coming from, making it tricky to reposition or avoid damage. Overall, I craved a bit more feedback. Firing the SMG was effective, but it also felt imprecise, and this vibe extended to the rest of the gameplay. Gathering ammo, collecting currency, healing, repairing things, using special abilities, taking damage and identifying objectives — all of these actions could be clarified and made more tactile. Remedy isn't exactly known for its gunplay , but some small tweaks could make the core experience in Firebreak far more coherent. While we played the most rounds of Paper Chase, Ground Control was my favorite level, featuring wide-open spaces for fighting Hiss and a clear objective in shooting all those gross pustules. The clarity in Ground Control was refreshing, especially when compared with the slight but constant confusion hovering over the rest of the experience. Once we all unlocked our special abilities, Firebreak really started to flow. Even when we weren't exactly sure where to go or what to do, my teammates and I grouped up and stood against the Hiss, healing each other, laying down crowd control and, in my case, smashing piggy banks in enemies' faces. We laughed, we strategized, we accidentally shot each other and we screamed, 'Where the hell is the safe room?' into our headsets. We had a fabulous time. And this is the highest praise I can lay at Firebreak 's feet: I spent nearly three hours playing Firebreak with two strangers and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. When our session ended, I wanted to keep playing. Though there's room to clarify some mechanics and add feedback to some functions, Firebreak lays a solid foundation for the modern Left 4 Dead of our collective dreams. I know that's an outdated reference, but I'm also confident I'm not the only one who's still chasing the high of the Left 4 Dead series — it was a running point of comparison among my Firebreak crew. All of the issues I have with Firebreak can be fine-tuned before the game launches this summer, and I have faith in Remedy to do so. Firebreak is poised to be a thoughtful and focused entry in the co-op shooter genre, and it's already an inviting extension of Remedy's darkest and silliest sensibilities. FBC: Firebreak is due to hit the Epic Games Store, Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on June 17 for $50. It's coming to the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Xbox Game Pass day-one.
