Remedy's new FPS may use the best elements from Control, Destiny co-op strikes, and Dead Island

Remedy's latest game FBC: Firebreak is an interesting breath of fresh air from the developer, taking on a multiplayer co-op design centered around Control's outrageous and unhinged cursed relics and items.

2

Ask anyone who's played Control and they'll tell you that Twilight Zone-y/Needful Things-esque cursed items are one of the best parts of the game. These objects are called Altered Items, and are often innocuous, innocent-looking things like refrigerators, jukeboxes, and even a rubber duck. Everything is cursed and does something radical, volatile, and unpredictable, often bending reality to comedic effect.

Remedy built an entire co-op shooter around this premise. It's called FBC: Firebreak, and it's something that should be on your radar if you like Control. In Firebreak, gamers play as a kind of supernatural MIB-meets-X-Files cleanup force that wipes out hordes of enemies in bouts of co-op survival. The big selling point is the chaos that ensues during gameplay. You can attach those cursed Altered Items to your guns to create goofy makeshift weapons straight out of Dead Island, including attaching haunted piggy banks to giant poles that create a "paranatural coin tornado" on striking, or a garden gnome that "summons lightning storms."

The effects of these items are pretty crazy and actually make the game look like tons of fun to play.

Remedy just dropped a new gameplay trailer for FBC: Firebreak that quickly outlines the stylish absurdity of the universe. You'll be tackling such fearsome foes as a gestalt entity of sticky notes that can form into anything and everything like the Sandman from Spider-Man, and of course teeming hordes of baddies that are just sport for your fancy upgraded weapons.

FBC: Firebreak is due out in Summer 2025 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, and it will launch day one into PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium, Remedy has confirmed.

"A three-player cooperative first-person shooter set within a mysterious federal agency under assault by otherworldly forces.As a years-long siege on the agency's headquarters reaches its boiling point, only Firebreak- the Bureau's most versatile unit-has the gear and the guts to plunge into the building's strangest crises, restore order, contain the chaos, and fight to reclaim control."

Remedy explains these weapons in a PlayStation Blog post:

The Garden Gnome (AI9) is a regular looking garden gnome that is all but normal. You can attach the Garden Gnome to the Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor which allows you to fire it towards your enemies. Once it lands, it will summon a lightning storm around it, damaging and stunning all creatures in its area and draining all energy from surrounding batteries. However, be careful! The Garden Gnome walks around and doesn't discern friend from foe. Unless you want to play a teeny tiny prank on your crewmates. In that case, no need to be careful.

The Piggy Bank (AI16) attaches to the end of the Wrench, and when you swing your Wrench around, it deals massive damage in a large arc in front of you and shatters, releasing a paranatural coin tornado that damages all creatures in it, but don't worry, the Piggy Bank reassembles itself back together after the tornado makes its way back to you! Just be sure to not hit your friends with the tornado as getting hit by a multitude of coins in the face is considered rude in some cultures.

The Teapot (AI44) attaches to the top of the Crank-Operated Fluidic Ejector (COFE) giving it the ability to shoot boiling water at enemies. When the Teapot is attached to the COFE, the tool deals the burning condition and cannot overheat. Do note that this also means that the COFE now damages teammates and cannot clear any other conditions from them except the cold condition. Lastly, the Teapot does not actually come with any real tea. Sorry, tea lovers.