Remedy has officially unveiled FBC: Firebreak‘s Breakpoint update, and it comes complete with a ton of seismic changes to the first-person shooter, although whether they can turn its fortunes around remains to be seen.
Back in July, Remedy promised that it would release FBC: Firebreak‘s first big update in September, and the studio has made good on that promise; Breakpoint launches on September 29th (that’s this coming Monday at time of writing).
According to Remedy, Breakpoint is “packed with systemic overhauls, new content, and quality-of-life improvements” with a view towards making FBC: Firebreak “more fun, varied, and rewarding to play”.
Breakpoint’s first big addition to FBC: Firebreak is the Crisis Board, which will replace the Job Board and offer “curated playable content” in order to make the shooter “feel more dynamic, less predictable, and closer to the first-responder fantasy” Remedy intends.
The Crisis Board will show you situations emerging around the Oldest House, and you’ll be expected to respond to them; after all, Remedy says, you should be “reacting to dynamic, unpredictable dangers” rather than “being asked to create danger for yourself”.
You can also expect a brand new tutorial mission by the name of Orientation, which will be “accompanied by onboarding improvements across the game”, so if you felt a bit lost when you jumped into FBC: Firebreak, this should hopefully improve that experience.
There are a ton of other huge changes coming to FBC: Firebreak as part of this update as well, so if you want to know everything that’s changing, be sure to check out the full announcement right here.
If you’re not familiar with FBC: Firebreak, it’s a multiplayer-oriented first-person shooter set in Control‘s Oldest House. You play a member of the titular Firebreak team, and it’s your job to contain a range of bizarre supernatural threats within the Federal Bureau of Control.
The game launched back in June to a mixed reception, and player numbers have dwindled significantly since launch according to SteamDB (although FBC: Firebreak is also available on both PS Plus and Game Pass, for which I don’t have player data).
Remedy itself admitted back in August that launch sales of FBC: Firebreak had been disappointing, but the studio described the game as having a “solid” foundation and expressed optimism that it could turn the shooter’s fortunes around. Breakpoint is, presumably, the first step in that effort.
You can check out FBC: Firebreak right now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, and it’s available as part of certain tiers of PS Plus and Game Pass as well. Make sure to give our Luis’ review of the game a read too!
