The first half of 2025 has brought a torrent of new games to play, but one particularly exciting one is going to be available onXbox Game Passday one later in June: Remedy Entertainment’sFBC: Firebreak. Remedy has largely become known for its mind-bending world-building in single-player games likeAlan WakeandControl, which share a connected universe.Alan Wake 2was one of2023’s best horror games, andControl 2is still in development, but the studio is filling the game withFBC: Firebreak, an unexpected spin-off.
While Remedy’s two series are connected,Firebreakshares its setting withControl: the Federal Bureau of Control’s Oldest House, an ever-shifting building in New York City that houses some of the most mysteriously powerful objects ever discovered. That said, while I strongly recommend playingControl, it won’t be necessary to enjoyFBC: Firebreak.The spin-off is a co-op first-person shooter depicting events afterControl’s story, where prior knowledge won’t necessarily be required to enjoy the game.
FBC: Firebreak Is Day-One On Game Pass On June 17
For PC Game Pass & Game Pass Ultimate Subscribers
If anything,June is a great month to grab a subscription to Game Pass, even if you don’t plan on keeping it. A lot of great games have come to the service this year, includingObsidian Entertainment’sAvowed, Sandfall Interactive’sClair Obscur: Expedition 33,Compulsion Games’South of Midnight, Virtuos and Bethesda’sOblivion Remastered, and, most recently, id Software’sDOOM: The Dark Ages.FBC: Fireberakonly adds to the pile, and offers a multiplayer reprieve from these lengthy single-player games.
Why You Should Be Excited For FBC: Firebreak
Welcome To The Oldest House
If the bizarre, endlessly fascinating setting of the Oldest House inControlis anything to go by,FBC: Firebreakwill be a jaunt through different dimensions with many unexpected turns. The Federal Bureau of Control is responsible for investigating what it calls paranatural phenomena, typically the result of Altered Items, which express their connection to the Astral Plane in any number of strange ways.
Some examples of Altered Items include a mid-century refrigerator that must be watched at all times, lest the last person to view it suffer harm, and a traffic light, which requires those in its vicinity to play a game of red light, green light, where moving while the red light is illuminated teleports the player away from the traffic light. The Oldest House itself has a deep connection with the Astral Plane,making most of its shifting corridors impossible to map and its actual internal size unknowable.
FBC: Firebreakcenters on rebuffing an invasion by the Hiss, a malevolent, interdimensional force attempting to destroy the Federal Bureau of Control. Players are members of Firebreak, an elite unit of the Bureau’s security force tasked with restoring order to the Oldest House. The most prominent mission shown in gameplay footage has been to address an outbreak of self-replicating sticky notes, which eventually combine into a massive sticky-note monster.
Remedy’s co-op game supports three players on a team, which should be easy enough to manage with its day-one release onXbox Game Pass. It’s a novel venture for the developer, but has a lot of potential for the unexpected thanks to its setting. I’m a huge fan ofControl, and Remedy usually doesn’t disappoint, so I’m really looking forward toFBC: Firebreak’s release on June 17.
