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Something to look forward to: We've known for a few years now that Alan Wake developer Remedy has been working on a multiplayer shooter set in the world of Control, which itself is part of the company's Remedy Connected Universe. During the Xbox Partner Showcase yesterday, we got our first look at FBC: Firebreak.
Formerly known as Project Condor, FBC: Firebreak is a three-player cooperative first-person shooter. It's the first multiplayer game Remedy has made, though it did work on the two single-player campaigns of Smilegate's multiplayer shooter CrossfireX.
For those unfamiliar, the FBC part of the name stands for Federal Bureau of Control, the fictional US government agency that investigates paranatural phenomena. The FBC's shape-shifting Oldest House headquarters in New York is the setting for Remedy's excellent 2019 hit Control.
Set after the events of Control, the game places players in the role of the FBC's first responders, the Firebreak unit, as otherworldly forces lay siege to the Oldest House.
Director Mike Kayatta says FBC: Firebreak is not a sequel to Control or DLC, but more of a spin-off of that game. Communications director Thomas Puha promises that it will be easy to pick up and play, meaning no long periods of setting up loadouts before missions – though there will be player progression and things to unlock.
Players will be able to equip Altered World objects with paranatural properties that function similarly to Overwatch's Ultimates. Puha notes that using them comes with risks. "I like to think of them as a jaguar in a box," he said. "You carry the box, you point it at something, you open the box, and you just kind of hope the jaguar doesn't turn around and eat you or your friends instead."
FBC: Firebreak will be "mid-priced" and available on Game Pass at launch. Expect plenty of new content and updates post-launch, though Remedy seems to actively avoid calling it a live-service game.
FBC: Firebreak will be released at some point in 2025.
Another Control-related trailer appeared at the Xbox Partner Showcase in the form of Alan Wake 2's second expansion, The Lake House. Players take control of Federal Bureau Of Control agent Kiran Estevez, who appeared in the main Alan Wake 2. This one definitely looks more scare-filled and horror-focused than the series of kooky vignettes that made up the first expansion, Night Springs.
The Lake House arrives on October 22, which is only one week away.