FBC Firebreak’s Launch is Off to a Rocky Start - ZEGAME.NET – Ultimate Gaming Blog for Reviews, News & Guides

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If the last few years’ worth of developers’ push into live-service has taught us anything, it’s that making and retaining a hit live-service game is incredibly challenging and rare. We’ve seen failure after failure from high-profile studios — Sony, Square Enix, and more — that prove the live-service push is ultimately a gamble that just doesn’t seem to be worth it. But despite some recent high-profile live-service flops like Suicide Squad and Concord, Remedy Entertainment, of all studios, decided to throw its hat into the ring with FBC Firebreak. Remedy, best known for atmospheric, narrative-led single-player games like Alan Wake and Control, took a big swing for the fences with FBC Firebreak, and it unfortunately seems to have whiffed.

FBC Firebreak launched earlier today on all modern platforms except the Switch, and it’s largely landed with a thud. Despite some praise being levied toward its unique sense of style and atmosphere (to be expected for a game that takes place in the same surreal universe as Control), FBC Firebreak is missing many of the features and breadth of content it would need to net a core player base and succeed as a live-service game. While there’s still hope for it to bounce back in the coming weeks as Remedy makes adjustments and improvements, the first impression that the studio’s co-op FPS is making out of the gate doesn’t bode well for its longevity.

Review Scores Place FBC Firebreak as Remedy’s Lowest-Rated Game

One of the more surprising things to see about FBC Firebreak is its critical aggregate on sites like Metacritic and OpenCritic. As of the time of writing, FBC Firebreak is Remedy Entertainment’s lowest-rated game developed internally by the studio (so, not counting Crossfire X). And while its current aggregate score (67% on Metacritic, 75% on OpenCritic) isn’t terrible by any stretch, it pales in comparison to the level of quality that we’ve come to expect from a studio like Remedy.

Remedy Entertainment Releases and Their Review Aggregate Scores

Max Payne (2001) — 89% (Generally Favorable)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003) — 86% (Generally Favorable)
Alan Wake (2010) — 83% (Generally Favorable)
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (2012) — 76% (Generally Favorable)
Quantum Break (2016) — 77% (Generally Favorable)
Control (2019) — 85% (Generally Favorable)
Alan Wake Remastered (2021) — 79% (Generally Favorable)
Alan Wake II (2023) — 89% (Generally Favorable)
FBC Firebreak (2025) — 67% (Mixed or Average)

Interestingly, preview coverage for FBC Firebreak seemed to tell a different story than the reviews of the full release. That discrepancy between playing a small, isolated slice of the game and seeing everything that’s on offer in the full version seems to be important, as one of the main gripes being levied at the game (from both players and critics alike) centers around its lack of content for a $40 game.

FBC Firebreak’s Steam Reception isn’t Faring Any Better

FBC Firebreak Steam Store page — ©CheatCC

Even if review scores aren’t to be trusted as a true metric of how general audiences may or may not mesh with a game, Steam User Scores are usually a better indication. Unfortunately, that’s one metric where FBC Firebreak is actually worse off than its critical review aggregate. Across nearly 200 user reviews, with more coming in by the minute, FBC Firebreak currently sits at 34% “Mostly Negative” on Steam. Again, comparing the player reception to Firebreak against Remedy Entertainment’s other games available on Steam paints a pretty bleak picture of how the game stacks up to the studio’s previous work.

Remedy Entertainment Releases and Their Steam User Scores

Max Payne (2001) — 88% (Very Positive)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003) — 94% (Very Positive)
Alan Wake (2010) — 90% (Very Positive)
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (2012) — 72% (Mostly Positive)
Quantum Break (2016) — 86% (Very Positive)
Control (2019) — 88% (Very Positive)
Alan Wake Remastered (2021) — N/A
Alan Wake II (2023) — N/A
FBC Firebreak (2025) — 34% (Mostly Negative)

For the most part, player reception to Remedy’s other games is actually more positive than those games’ critical review aggregates, while the opposite is true of FBC Firebreak. Reviewers generally seem to have been less critical of Firebreak, while players are raising concerns about critical issues that are hampering their enjoyment of what seemed to be a promising new take on a co-op first-person shooter experience.

What Players Are Saying About FBC Firebreak at Launch

©FBC Firebreak gameplay screenshot – Original

Looking at a review aggregate to make a judgment on a game’s quality is one thing, but going through and reading the reviews themselves to see what players are saying is another. FBC Firebreak‘s 34% “Mostly Negative” user score on Steam is a bit jarring, to say the least, especially considering most players’ enjoyment of the studio’s other titles. But FBC Firebreak is a very different experience from Remedy’s other games, and the issues that players are having with it stem primarily from a general lack of content and issues with it missing features vital to the co-op aspect of its FPS gameplay.

The most common complaint lodged against Firebreak is concerning the amount of content on offer at launch in relation to the game’s price. At $39.99, most players seem to have expected a certain level of depth and variety in the level of content on offer at launch that Firebreak simply does not meet, with some going so far as to say that the title should have an Early Access tag. One of the top-billed user reviews from Steam user LynxarA had the following to say:

Not worth 35 bucks/40 euros right now at this state, No Early Access badge, but feels like one with amount of content it has. 5 missions, 3 levels of access each, 2 missions later this year. I think it is around 6 hours of L4D-like missions…

Another of the main complaints brought up in several user reviews is the general lack of direction on where to go or what to do, with Steam user BadBountyHunter pointing out that “there is barely any guidance on what to do during a mission, just a short dialogue from the radio-guy and you’re set off to run around and figure it out yourself”. Throw in missing features essential to co-op shooters like dedicated voice or text chat, and you have a title that’s frustrating players more than it’s entertaining them.

How FBC Firebreak Could Bounce Back in the Coming Days

Of course, as a planned live-service title, there’s every chance that Remedy Entertainment could improve FBC Firebreak and bring it to a state more in line with what players were expecting in the coming months. The game’s current lack of content may not be as big of an issue down the line as Remedy continues to add in new missions, enemy types, and other features. Similarly, issues stemming from the game’s lack of co-op functionality — mainly, the absence of crucial communication tools like voice and text chat — will likely be addressed sooner rather than later in a dedicated patch. That said, a live-service game needs to have an active and engaged audience to justify the financial cost of developing and launching those patches, so whether the game thrives despite its issues or dies on the vine is up in the air after its initial rough start.

It’s disappointing to see a studio like Remedy, one that regularly takes big risks that pay off, try to tackle a new genre and land with a bit of a flop. With any luck, the goodwill that the studio has earned throughout the years from producing incredibly engaging and thought-provoking adventures like Alan Wake, Control, and Max Payne will push people to stick with FBC Firebreak, giving Remedy the resources and reasoning to polish the game and bring it to a more content and feature-rich state.