On Thursday, Remedy hosted a special FBC: Firebreak livestream via their Twitch, Steam, and YouTube channels. During their massive two-hour broadcast, they showcased the Paper Chase Job, a mission previously shown to select press, and revealed new information about the game including its release date and game bundles.
The event was hosted by Julius Fodem (Community Manager), Mike Kayatta (Game Director), and were later joined by Thomas Puha (Communications Director), with off-camera assistance with Vida Starčević (Senior Community Manager).
In this first part, cut due to length, we'll be focusing on the news and details from the Paper Chase demos shown during the first half of the game. For our breakdown, we've taken each note as it happened in the livestream as many were connected to the mission-specific setup.
To set the scene, Mike caught players up with the game's backstory, "Firebreak is a cooperative first-person-shooter for up to three players, launching on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X all set within the iconic Control universe," Mike describes. "Now you don't need to have played Control to enjoy Firereak, although you should play Control it's a great game, but here's just a quick primer on the world you'll be stepping into. So, The Oldest House, the impossibly strange headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, is under assault by a violent and chaotic force from another dimension called the Hiss. And to keep the Hiss from spilling out into New York and beyond, the FBC locked the exits, trapping them inside the building and the FBC's employees as well." If you have played Control, you will likely remember that this is where Remedy left it. Jesse is the new Director, the current major Hiss crisis has been averted, but the threat is still at large.
Mike continues, adding where players will pick up from at the FBC, "Here is the thing; this lockdown has now been in effect for six years! Six years stuck in your place of work, sounds great. People are dying, maybe not so great. Critical supplies are running out policies and procedures are now failing. Enter the Firebreak Initiative. So, you'll be playing as a member of Firebreak; first responders who volunteer to take on the weirdest and most dangerous paranatural crises spreading across The Oldest House. These aren't some kind of specially trained elite task force, they're secretaries, rangers and middle managers all suiting up in manufactured armour using guns and custom tools to put down the Hiss and bring the bureau back under control."
As the build warmed up, Mike gave an update on the current stage of the game, revealing that team are currently focused on ensuring that each piece fits together as it should. He splits this stage into three categories; 1) clarity of the experience and features, 2) ensuring balance and that the components are fun, and 3) important Quality Assurance.
PRE-DEMO NOTES
For the demo, the on-screen duo jumped into Paper Chase, a Job which tasks your team with destroying as many sticky notes as possible and, depending on your Clearance, culminating with a face off with Sticky Ricky. We got a snippet of what the Job Selection menu would include such as Threat Level, Clearance Levels, and Job Rewards, though with any game in development this is subject to change before launch.
Threat Level. Staying on the Job Selection menu, Julius and Mike talked through some of the tailoring that can be made to each Job. For instance, the Threat Level option, which allows players to tailor their combat intensity. , The higher the Threat Level, the more the Hiss (and corrupted former-Firebreak teammates) are going to swarm in. As a sidenote, Mike reveals that the team views the default/normal difficulty to be Moderate, but it's up to the player to scale depending on preference and requirements.
Clearance Levels. Clearance Levels are unlocked as you progress through the game, but can also be used to customize your game, and playlength.. The Level and refers to the number of zones that you are taking on when you enter the job; the higher the clearance, the longer your gaming session may be. Mike also states that the maximum is set at Clearance Level 03, though that may be specific to the Paper Chase job.
Third Customisation. Though not explored in the demo, Mike teased a third cusomisation option, "it's called Corruption which lets you handle things like modification into the experience, and randomisation".
Job Rewards. Before jumping into each Job, the game reveals the list of potential rewards, including "Lost Assets" (a sort of in-game currency) and "Viscous Strips". While the Strips weren't touched on in the demo, we learned that the Lost Assets help pay for in-game unlockables in the Operational Requisitions menu.
Crisis Kits. To get the advantage, Firebreakers need the best kit. Before jumping into the job, players can go in with one of three saved loadouts called Crisis Kits; a special set of gear built around a vital tool for the job. The three Crisis Kit options are:
- Splash Kit: Centred around the Crank-Operated Fluidic Ejector (aka The Coffee / Ejector), the Splash Kit comes with a Humidifier and the Teapot Altered Augment. It's designed for players want to fight fires and manipulate the surrounding conditions, but also want the ability to stun the advancing waves. If your team is in sync, the Ejector can be twinned with the Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor to give a shocking result. Plus, despite the standard name, there's nothing ordinary about this Humidifer. With it deployed, it can also provide additional water for healing, wash off those pesky sticky notes, or paired with the Tea Pot for added scalding chaos.
- The Fix Kit: A traditional kit with Wrench, Swivel Turret, and the Piggy Bank Altered Augment, described for Firebreakers who "want to solve most problems by hitting them with a massive wrench." It was described as Mike as the most accessible Crisis Kit for newer players.
- The Jump Kit: Mike's personal favourite, which comes packed with an Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor, BOOMbox, and Garden Gnome Altered Augment. Designed for those who want to "excel at field control and positioning" (aka very high jumping). Mike describes the original idea behind it as being "what if we combined a defibrillator with a pojo stick". This was the option chosen by Julius for the demos.
Paper Chase. Before entering the Job, players will be briefed on what it entails. For Paper Chase, a quick mission description, "The sticky note population has replicated to a critical volume, consuming members of the FBC and turning them into shufflers" is paired with a longer formal document issued by the FBC. Though it might change before launch, the document reads:
Paper Chase
Situation
Total destruction of the Oldest House's XXXX sticky note population has proven impossible, however, culling it to a management amount once it reaches a certain volume is critical to preventing XXXX from XXXX.
Operational Procedure:
- Destroy sticky notes (in any form they take).
Risk Assessment:
Sticky notes aggressively attach to nearby living belings, leading to their eventual XXXX and transformation. The oirigin of XXX XXXXX is not XXXX however, it is advised that any who approach XXXX it with XXXX.
Expect increase risk of...
- Increased frequency of XXXX dreams
- Paper cuts
- Irreversible morphological deviation.
For the playthrough Julius was joined in-game by Miika Huttunen (Senior Communications Manager) and Henrietta Satamo (Junior User Researcher).
DEMO #1: Paper Chase Job, Clearance Level 01
Completing Paper Chase. The initial task in Paper Chase is relatively simple, destroy 15,000 sticky notes before they can pose a danger. There are multiple ways of getting rid of them, including just walking through piles (as long as you remember to shower before they take over), get them wet, electrocute them, throw grenades or by hitting them with the impactor.
Showers. During the demo, got to see the infamous showers in action! At the start of the Job, their nearby shower is broken, though with a swift hit from her wrench, Henrietta was able to get the fix underway. Following up, Julius was able to then electrify and heat using the Jump Kit's Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor, increasing the healing rate. Heat is not the only thing that can be altered, with water pressure, both impacting healing speeds. It's a little unclear whether the showers will need fixing at the start of each level, but it's something to be aware of when starting a new Job.
Safe Rooms. Similar to Control, The Oldest House is filled with safe rooms which provides a respawn point if a team member falls, a healing station/drinking fountain and is packed with additional resources (e.g. ammo, grenades and in-game currency). Explaining the currency, Lost Assets, Mike jokes that "the most important thing in a crisis is to recover the paperwork". Welcome to the FBC. If you can successfuly recover the paperwork, the assets are shared among your teammates, and it's the main way that a player can collect in-game currency. The in-game currency is used for Operational Essentials under the Requisitons menu, allowing you to unlock more weapons and cosmetics.
BOOMbox. During one of the Hiss waves, Julius showed off the BOOMbox capabilities from the Jump Crisis Kit. The device can be planted, like a turret, and attracts the enemy who proceeds to attack it. Once the box has received a certain level of damage, it will explode taking out the Hiss. You can also encourage the timer to go off sooner by hitting it.
Ending Jobs & Revives. Once the task is done, your team needs to call the lift. Things are quite done yet, as it arrives to your floor, your task is to hold back the Hiss waves now swarming to your location. Once secure inside, the situation has been contained, and will bring up the results screen. It's still being worked on, but the end screen will show the kills, damage delivered, and spent revives during the Job. Should you leave someone behind, their stats will show up but their character will be missing. There won't be unlimited revives, but there's a total of "Crew Lives", next to your team list that will go down if a player dies.
Team Communication. Naturally, the best way to stay alive is to stay a cohesive unit. On the topic of communication with your team, there are a number of ways that you can talk without using your microphone such as using pings or using commands via the voice wheel. The voice wheel allows you to say hello, thank a player, or cheer someone along.
Hank & Jerry. As the duo got ready for their next Job, Mike introduced two new characters to viewers. Throughout the trailers, you would have heard clips from two FBC characters. In the background of the Job Selection menu, focused at his desk is Jerry; a bureaucrat who reports directly to Arish. He is there to monitor Firebreak and keep people in check, ensuring that paperwork is filled out and correctly stamped, perhaps a slight herding cats role. He talks to the founder of Firebreak, Hank... located inside the giant circlular tank next to his desk. Lovingly referred to by the dev team as the "Hank Tank", the phrase become a real-life meeting room at the office. "As to why Hank is in a tank...", teases Mike, "well, some mysteries are left for the community and for the game experienece." Hank will be a familiar voice cheering the team on via the intercoms and guiding the players.
Next up, the Firebreak team took on the same Paper Chase Job... but with some vital changes. The difficulty has moved up from "low" to "moderate", and the Clearance Level has now increased up to 03. This means that the team will need to take on two new zones to complete the job. If things sound complicated, you can also view the zones as additional task; each zone brings in a new level of difficulty and a new problem to solve.
DEMO #2: Paper Chase Job, Clearance Level 03
RMC Connections. As Julius, Henreietta and Mikka jumped in for a second round, the loading screen featuring a quickly glimpse of a FBC document detailing Alan Wake 2's The Lake House expansion:
Deployment Order
Urgent
Description:
At approx. 1900 hours on 12 Sep 23, readings from a remote surveillance unit monitoring Cauldron Lake, a known Threshold to what researchers theorize is the dimension of A-040, the Shadow, passed acceptable limits. Attempts to contact FBC resarch faciliy WA-03, code name "the Lake House", were unsuccessful, Onsite event verification is not possible.
Response procedure are initiated with immediate effect.
Lead Agent K. Estevez will mobilize Investigation Unit Beta from the remote operations site at XXXX. All available Shadow-specific equipment (lot 4-138) has been approved for use in the field.
Objective(s):
To confirm an active event.
If an active AWE is occuring, the dispatch team will identity its nature and severity, limit exposure, and attempt to contain or neutralize the source.
If no event is active, check monitoring equipment, perform a limited-profile of the area, and check status of the Lake House and its staff.
Additional Information:
Relevant operatives in the area include the Cult of the Tree, XXXXXX, and Alan Wake (currently missing).
Clearance Level Impacts. Immediately as the team step off the lift, there are a number of big changes, now that the Clearence Level has been raised. The first noticable change is sticky note quanity, which stands at a mighty 28,662 for the first zone (at least in this build), almost double that of the initial playthrough. For the second zone, that number will increase to 112,838, though that huge increase is likely due to a new enemy type called the Shufflers.
The Shufflers. The Shufflers are former FBC member who have been overtaken by the sticky notes threat. These enemies have the habit of hiding, and if you don't defeat them quickly, they will replicate. These papery fiends are also covered in a dense shield of sticky notes which raises your sticky note total considerably. Fortunately taking them out reduces the number. Unfortunately they will be a familar foe in these corridors.
Named Characters. The Hiss aren't going to be polite when it comes to attacks. One major obstacle players might encounter are randomised and named enemies, such as Alex Cohen who caused havok in the second playthrough. These characters trigger an automatic lockdown, to prevent them from reaching the other FBC officers in other parts of the building. Unfortunately, that means that they're sealed in with you. To be able to leave the level or enter another zone, the team will need to take these players down.
Heating Things Up. That's not all when it comes to the new enemy types either. Six years have passed since we last saw them, but the Hiss isn't quite as we remember them. In the second demo, players met a new enemy type that reacts strongly to heat and fire. When these foes get warmed up, they can be incredibly quick. This can be a big problem especially in areas where fires were frequent. If you have a teammember with the Splash Crisis Kit, they will be able to extinguish the fires, reducing their power.
Mini-Game To Complete Tasks. So, what if you're missing a member? Some processes, such adjusting electrical, can be completed without owning the specific tool needed. During these stages, the player enters a mini-game. In the playthrough, this was represented with hitting the controller bumper buttons (LB and RB) in a specific order. The icons not only show a small image of the which bumper, along with initials, but also colour co-ordinates it (grey for left and yellow for right), so you can get through the sequence quickly. Each wrong button hit causes a little bit of health-loss, so you'll have to roll the dice.
Teamwork is Best. Sticking close to the rest of the crew is important to staying alive, particulary as your group will be protected by a resonance shield. As Mike describes, "the further away you are, the less shielded you're going to be. And especially if you have very, very strong perks on later, you can actually share the effects of those perks with people close by as well. So you're not really punished for not being close by, but you are rewarded for sticking together."
Respawning, Risks & Benefits. When a player is knocked down, teamembers can rush over to provide assistance. If they don't receive help, they can respawn in the lift at the start. Taking this route is a double-edged sword. By respawning, you lose all collected Lost Assets, but you are able to change your Crisis Kit and weapons if you need to. However, your team will also have very limited crew lives shared among you per Job. If one person is revived, it increases the risk for your squad.
Spilling the Tea. In the second demo, Henrietta showcased the Teapot Augmented Item's abilities, an exciting moment for us Brits. With the Splash Kit, players can pair the item with the Crank-Operated Fluidic Ejector. As a result the tea heats up to napalm levels which can be used as a weapon against the Hiss (and stray teammembers, so watch out!).
Passing Between Zones. With Clearance Level 03, there are three zones to investigate, each separated by a vault-like door. This isn't as straight forward as it sounds. Opening a door that size is a loud experience, and is almost like a siren for the Hiss in the area. They swarm down on the players as the next zone opens up. During these moments, prepare for standing your ground and gathering your squad. Mike tells us that later in the game, there are perks available eliminate the sound, such as door oil.
Destruction Level. As the broadcast was live, Vida was on the sidelines posing questions to the team from the chat as they explored The Oldest House. Whereas Control had extreme levels of destruction caused by Jesse's powers, FBC: Firebreak is slightly calmer in comparison, although still packed with chaos. Answering a question by duston toy via the YouTube chat, Mike stated that "Of course we considered it and it would be completely amazing. In multiplayer, we have to really focus on performance. We have to really focus on the things that make sense in this type of game. Now, of course, we have tried to pack this game with all sorts of different effects; some lighter destructibility you'll see of course, like the sticky notes going flying. Some other kind of light things will break and and create a a big kind of visual spectacle. But in terms of you know like kind of true destruction no, we have kind of shied away from that just to prioritize some gameplay performance."
Threshold Entity 14-N. Now for the big guns! In the third clearance zone, the team will meet the Threshold Entity 14-N (aka Sticky Ricky). This guy isn't having a great time; he's a large beast made out of sticky notes totalling over a quarter of a million, so naturally he's not in the best mood. That man is papercut central. To defeat him, the team will need to fix the water sprinklers above him, dousing him with water, before giving his a zap of electricity. Once stunned, Rick is vulernable, though it might take several attempts to get the mighty health bar down. Depending on threat level and modifications, his behaviours will also change. Sticky Ricky isn't truely defeated, the Paper Chase Job is one regularly on the books for the FBC, hence the water features above the boss arena. As for what awaits the FBC, that's more for Control 2 to focus on.
