FBC: Firebreak Gets a Major Course-Correction Update
- Breakpoint revamps FBC: Firebreak with faster onboarding, deeper systems, and more variety.
- Randomized missions, new gun mods, perks, and dynamic objectives improve replayability.
- Rogue Protocol in November adds cross-play voice chat and a new mode, with another update planned in early 2026.
Jump to:
Not Weird Enough
Developed and published by Remedy (Alan Wake, Control) in June this year, FBC: Firebreak is the studio’s first online co-op game. Despite being set in the same building and world as the well-received Control, FBC: Firebreak was met with lackluster reviews from both critics and players, who found the game lacked the narrative punch and technical polish of other Remedy titles.
Remedy acknowledged the poor release in a launch week update, with “Several things have gone well. Clearly, not everything has.” As such, immediate changes were made to try and improve the game’s onboarding and first few levels of play: “Getting you to the fun faster, giving you the nice toys quicker, is critical.”
Several other patches followed at a steady rate, but it’s the upcoming full update, Breakpoint, that’s set to offer major course-correction when it launches on Sept. 29. “We have taken a lot of feedback to heart,” Remedy posted on the game’s official site. “Over the summer, we have worked hard on releasing updates to the game.”
“Still, Breakpoint is only the first major step, we know we need a few more, bringing significant improvements and new systems, as well as content, into the game, incorporating community feedback alongside our own ideas.”
The Oldest House Needs Help
FBC: Firebreak follows an elite team who work for the Federal Bureau of Control, and is set during an outbreak of super weird phenomena affecting the FBC headquarters, the Oldest House. Fans of Control will already know what to expect, but for the uninitiated this includes possessed objects, shifting architecture, and levitating monster-people called the Hiss.
Players familiar with multiplayer shooters will know the drill: character classes can be equipped with specific skill and equipment sets to suit different styles of play. The main difference between Firebreak and something like Call of Duty is that these classes are mechanic, water carrier, and electrician, with load-out “Crisis Kits” featuring grenades and hoses.
Initial reviews lamented the lack of truly strange weapons and a repetitive mission structure; Control was filled with Remedy’s signature weirdness, but gamers complained that Firebreak felt too much like a traditional shooter that didn’t make the most out of the unusual FBC setting.
While Remedy has been hard at work releasing hotfixes and quality of life improvements, it’s primarily focused on things like speeding up levelling and clarifying information (for example, there’s now an introductory video that explains more about the game/world). The Breakpoint update should build on these and then some.
World’s Best Janitors in The World’s Worst Job
The FBC: Firebreak team is effectively a cross between first responders and janitors, as they’re tasked with stopping paranormal outbreaks before they get worse, and cleaning up ones that have spiraled out of control. However, Remedy has noted that the game experience doesn’t really feed into the power fantasy of this set-up.
“With Breakpoint, we want to improve everything about the FBC: Firebreak experience,” the studio said in a recent news post. It plans to do this by injecting “more variety into Jobs and reduce repetition, deliver on the fantasy of being a first-responder facing unpredictable crises, improve onboarding and make the game more welcoming for new players,” and to “add more depth and build variety with guns, grenades, perks, and the new Gun Mod system.”
The studio also offered more details on how it wants the game to show players the fun rather than ask them to hunt for it: “Firebreak was formed to manage an ongoing crisis, and as a first responder, you should be reacting to dynamic, unpredictable dangers, not being asked to create danger for yourself.”
“To better serve this fantasy (which many of you did bring up) and give more variety to our players, we are introducing the Crisis Board, which replaces the current Job selection screen. It shows Crises that appear at different levels (what we formerly would call Jobs) around the Oldest House.”
Crises will also feature more randomization too, to keep players on their toes. From the placement of Shower and Ammo station locations (the former is used for healing) through to two unique Alternative Objectives that can replace the previous primary objective in a mission, FBC: Firebreak should soon better resemble what players initially expected.
The First Big Step to a Better FBC
Breakpoint goes live on Sept. 29 across all major platforms at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 18:00 BST / 20:00 EEST. However, the game will need to go offline at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 17:00 BST / 19:00 EST in preparation for the update.
Remedy has also revealed that this will by no means be the last big update rolled out for FBC: Firebreak. Although the dates are subject to change, the studio plans to release another major update in late November – its working title is Rogue Protocol and it’ll feature cross-platform voice chat and a brand new game mode. There’s also another update currently scheduled for March 2026, but Remedy are keeping details on this one under wraps for now.
or
