FBC: FIREBREAK

New co-op shooter is built for chaos and 'joyful discoveries'

- Robin Valentine

For nearly 30 years developer Remedy Entertainment has been in the business of making narrative-driven singleplayer games. Just look at the levels Remedy has gone to in Alan Wake 2 to knit it into what is now known as the Remedy Connected Universe, which sees lore, characters and narrative threads from various of the studio's other singleplayer games shared to some degree.

All of which ensures that, however you slice it, the biggest question hanging over its upcoming co-op shooter, FBC: Firebreak, is 'why?' With its multiplayer, systems-driven action and absence of cutscenes or scripted story sequences, it's certainly not the Control follow-up diehard Remedy fans would be expecting. "You should expect the unexpected from Remedy!" says Firebreak game director Mike Kayatta. "The studio has changed quite a bit. We are getting to work on lots of projects at the same time. And of course, that opportunity just breeds a lot of new ideas, creativity and opportunity."

CONNECTED UNIVERSE

In that sense, Firebreak seems to be a side effect of a stronger, more independent Remedy than ever. Not only does it now have multiple games on the go at once, but this is also its first ever self-published game. Despite the shift of genre - not only from singleplayer to co-op, but also from third-person to first-person shooter - the game still slots into the existing lore. The FBC of course stands for Federal Bureau of Control, and indeed Firebreak is set entirely within the Oldest House, the same sprawling office otherspace Jesse Faden found herself trapped in.

Now years into the Hiss invasion, the Bureau regularly sends out