FBC: Firebreak reminds us that the Bureau of Control is a very unsafe workspace

Things never seem easy in the Federal Bureau of Control. Ever since Remedy introduced the organization in the aptly named Control, it’s been dealing with all sorts of supernatural phenomena throughout Remedy’s narrative universe. Now, in FBC: Firebreak, the anomalies have come home to roost and it’s our job to clear them out. Remedy invited me to have an early look at Firebreak, and we came away with solid sense of a days work in the FBC.

The office is a little eerie

In FBC: Firebreak, you play a member of an anomalous clean-up crew at the Federal Bureau of Investigation known as Firebreak (hence FBC: Firebreak). Supernatural forces are staging an all-out assault on the Bureau and it’s our job to patch things up and send them packing. During my time with the game, we got to try out three Job types, which are the missions in this game. We also got to try out a few Kits, which are sort of like classes.

Jobs in this game consist of an objective-based extraction-style shooter. You run through a mission in various parts of the Bureau, do whatever it is you need to do, then head back to an elevator and get out before things get too overwhelming. We played Jobs that had us repairing FBC equipment and facilities, killing off certain anomalous creatures, and collecting energy sources from anomalies that had to be loaded into a cart. In each instance, increasingly dangerous supernatural monsters spawned to try to kill us before we could complete our task and escape. They start at low level zombies, but soon you get zombies that are on fire, creatures in floating chairs that shoot energy orbs at you, and full riot gear zombies with grenade launchers. Getting done and getting out as fast as you can is key to survival.

Of course, so are the Kits. As mentioned prior, we had three Kits to choose from, and good use of them was paramount to our success. The Fix Kit supplies a big wrench that can be used to bash enemies and stagger them or fix various gear, such as ammo benches and chemical showers (for getting life-threatening supernatural goop off). The Splash Kit provides a water cannon that can put out fires and drench enemies. That works well for the Jump Kit, which provides a electrical discharge gun that can be charged up to zap enemies or gear that can be repaired electrically.

I liked how Kits interacted with the world. For instance, if you use the Jump Kit to zap wet enemies, the charge will jump between them. It seems there’s going to be plenty of interactions with the environments between these kits that make them all viable. You can also unlock new stuff for the kits that make them more interesting. Firebreak features an unlock chain called Requisitions that lets you get new gear, cosmetics, and more as you complete missions. After a few Jobs, I unlocked a Humidifier tool for the Splash Kit that, when deployed, would sprinkle water over the area around it and heal players that stayed near it. I also saw an automated turret for the Fix Kit in Requisitions.

Of course, a lot of this wouldn’t matter if the gunplay wasn’t up to snuff, but it’s feeling decent so far. There was a revolver, shotgun, and submachine gun available to us at the start with stronger options available to unlock once we got far enough in requisitions. The revolver and shotgun felt impactful while the submachine gun provided a more versatile and crowd-clearing option. The feedback on enemies when you slug them with something like a revolver round to the dome was also satisfying. I’m interested to see what stronger weapons will look like down the line.

We’re working overtime

One thing that I really appreciate about FBC: Firebreak is how Remedy injects a bit of joviality into the experience. This is these people’s day at the office, and it extends to the equipment they take into Jobs. I felt like a ghostbuster as much as I felt like a combatant and that’s something cool I wasn’t expecting. I’m excited to see how the Kits continue to expand, as well as what further king of Jobs we’ll be dropped into when it comes out. One thing’s for sure, those hard luck Firebreak squaddies deserve hazard pay.

This is based on an early PC preview of the game offered by the publisher. FBC: Firebreak comes to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on June 17, 2025.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.