In case you missed it, last Thursday, Remedy hosted a special FBC: Firebreak livestream on their Twitch, Steam YouTube channels. During their two-hour broadcast, they showcased two jobs; Paper Chase and Hot Fix. Yesterday, we took a deep dive into everything that was discussed with Paper Chase, but today we're putting Hot Fix in the spotlight. We'll also be taking a look at the Q&A featured of the broadcast.
The broadcast 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). They were joined in-game by Miika Huttunen (Senior Communications Manager) and Henrietta Satamo (Junior User Researcher).
DEMO #3: Hot Fix Job, Clearance Level 02
Heading to the Job Selection menu, we get the outline for the next mission, Hot Fix. The mission description, "The Furnace has broken its blast seal and is flooding the sector with a growing, unnatural heat." is paired with a longer formal document issued by the FBC. Though it might change before launch, the document currently reads:
HOT FIX
Situation:
The furnace continues to rage since the disappearance of XXXX. Firebreak has installed special blast seals capable of containing the furnace's frequent paranatural flares however, these shields often break following the periods of sustained XXXX. Filling the furnace with Black Rock powder can XXXX it temporarily, allowing the shields to be repaired.
Operational Procedure:
1. Repair heat transfer fans across the sector.
2. Fill barrels with Black Rock powder and deliver them into the furnace.
3. While the furnace is neutralized, approach and repair the blast seals.
Risk Assessment:
While the intense heat radiating from the furnace can be extremely draining, its frequent XXXX flares are extremely lethal. Any living being outside of cover during a flare will be immediately XXXX.
Volunteers acknowledge and accept liability for the following potential health and safety risks:
Immolation
Exhaustion
Partial but sustained loss of XXXX
Demo Setup. As we discussed in our previous article, a Job setup can impact the gameplay quite a lot! For this play through, the Firebreakers entered the Job with a Clearance Level 02 and a High Threat Level. As they would be exploring the first two zones only, they would miss dealing directly with the problematic stove. Potential Rewards include Lost Assets, and a mysterious second listing, "Whispering Ash". This Job centres around the Furnace, a mysterious item which seemingly appeared one day, and now demands constant maintenance. Much like the cat distribution system. Enjoy your angry, screaming, hungry furnace. For this play through, the goal is to repair transfer fans in both zones so that they can pump air into cooler and safer areas of the Oldest House.
Crisis Kit Doubles. While not specific to this job, the third demo introduced some new general gameplay concepts, one of which being the Crisis Kit management. In FBC: Firebreak, there are three Crisis Kits available; Fix, Splash, and Jump and each Firebreak team has three members... but that doesn't mean that you have to use all three kits. While it might be useful, you can also have a situation where some kits are doubled up, meaning that two players can enter the Job with the same Splash Kit.
Cooling Down. Now onto the demo itself! As soon as your team step off the lift, you're thrown immediately into the action. Being contained in the same space as a giant angry furnace also means that things burning up... those things being you. As well as repairing the transfer fans, your goal is to keep an eye on your temperature to make sure you don't overheat and, well, die. The temperature limit is shown as a small fire icon next to your health in the bottom left corner. If things get a little spicy, there are several ways of cooling down such as standing near fans, a quick cooldown in the shower or dowsing your teammate in water with the Crank-Operated Fluidic Ejector.
Fan Fixing. Your main mission, apart from the not dying, is those pesky transfer fans. Fortunately, fixing the transfer fans is as simple as zapping the generator/control panel with the Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor from the Jump Kit. As soon as you do that, the surrounding area will start to cool down. If you don't have a Jump Kit in your team, or you're playing on your own, you're going to be able to fix the generator using the manual mini-game option. (If you're planning to play the game solo, make sure you get your minigame practice in, you're going to need it!)
Rush Ability. While returning from fixing one of the fans, Henrietta showcased the Rush ability, an upgrade available for the Wrench (Fix Crisis Kit) that makes the tool lighter to handle and yourself easier to move around. The ability also allows Firebreakers to crash into unsuspecting Hiss.
Efficiency is Key. Talking about how immediate the threat is, Mike states that "again, a lot about this game is efficiency so you guys could absolutely sit around and take your time, not repairing these fans, but if you do it, these waves are going to come faster and faster, harder and harder, and really start risking your ability to succeed at this job."
Re-Fixing The Issue. On the topic of efficiency, you're also going to want to keep an eye on that repair total to make sure it doesn't creep up. As the Hiss swarm on your location, there's the possibility that once-fixed fans will suddenly become broken again in the chaos and require more work. They can be damaged both in the overall action, and by intentional Hiss attacks, so you're going to want to be quick at getting them all operational.
Resonance Shield. With the first five transfer fans repaired, it was onto the second zone, but don't celebrate too soon. Entering the second zone increases the level of danger, so teamwork is essential for surviving the Job. At this point in the livestream, Mike brought up a shield indicator, which will be your best friend in the missions. This indicator sits above the crosshair, and is your rechargeable resonance shield. Just above that is the number of team members who are in your shared shield. If your number drops, you will be able to find the missing crew member with its useful compass-like indicator. The latter will also allow you to know where your friends are without spamming the ping function.
Overcrowding. In Paper Chase, Mike warned about the dangers of the Hiss heating up and becoming stronger. As you can imagine, this is a particular issue in Hot Fix. As a result, if you have the Splash Crisis Kit, one of your roles can be to cool down the waves ensuring that your other team members aren't overwhelmed.
Pinging The Best Firebreaker. Before they wrap up the final demo, Mike highlighted one of the features of the ping system. When a task-specific item is pinged for your crew member's attention, the ping will be sent to the Firebreaker with the best tool for the job. For instance, pinging a generator/control panel for a fan, will alert your friend with the Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor.
Quick Fire Questions
With Hot Fix being a shorter demo than Paper Chase, we wanted to pair this teaser up with the quick fire questions round held at the end of the livestream. These were submitted during the playthrough and collected by Vida to pose to Mike, Julius and Thomas.
- Old Gods? Likely kindled by the guitar solos heard in the soundtrack, Vida asked ifPoets of the Fall were to be making a comeback in the upcoming adventure. Unfortunately, Mike has confirmed that for FBC: Firebreak, Old Gods of Asgard would not be making a return at present.
- Team Number Balancing? For the introverts, another question centred around the game's balance to ensure solo players or two players can also enjoy the game. In response, Mike stating that "we're doing our best to balance the game for that.” Though ideally, you would be completing the Jobs as a set of three, as the levels have been built specifically for that number.
- Replaybility Factors? For replayability, the team mentioned that Corruptions can add an exciting twist including randomisation and enemy behaviour games. They also add that there are plans to expand the game in the coming months, with additional Jobs.
- Sprays? Throughout the Jobs, Firebreakers can also use sprays to tag walls in the game. The artist behind the designs also created the FBC office posters seen in the original adventure.
- Physical Copies? At present there is no physical copy planned given the genre and size of the game, HOWEVER Puha didn't rule it out completely saying that it's possible that they will make one if there's interest in the title.
- Crossplay? The game will support crossplay, allowing you to play with your friends regardless of which platform they're on. This function will be available from Day One.
- PC Specs? PC specifications are still being finalised, but Puha estimated that the studio will reveal them mid-to-late May. He did emphasise again that the game will be less demanding that Alan Wake 2 and easier on modern machines.
- Steam Deck? While still in development, the team is hoping that the game will be Steam Deck-Verified at launch.
- Cross Progression? While there will be crossplay, there won't be cross progression. Mike explained that it was a conscious decision as “that is very difficult for us to pull off” with a small team and limited resources.
- Easy Mode Only? If you're not into extreme challenges, you can clear the entire thing up on easy, though it will take you much longer to accquire the Lost Assets. As Mike states though, “Take the game at your own pace.”
- More News When? Remedy has invited selected media and influencers to the office for an exclusive behind-closed-doors demo. (Following a post from Game Informer, we now know the embargo will lift on May 14th).
- Lore? Remedy's titles are packed with lore, and while there will be some in FBC: Firebreak, the dev team consider Control 2 as the next main thing driving the story forward.
- Inspiration Behind Paper Chase? In Control, you may have stumbled across a certain sticky note-filled room. That was the inspiration behind the Paper Chase Job, but Mike also teased a little dev story about that specific area. When you're next in the room, appreciate the placement of the notes, they were all put there one at a time by dedicated developers.
- Player Drops Out? If the host drops there are limited options available, but if one of the other teamembers drops out suddenly, the game is balanced in a way to check in with your progress during mulitple points in the level and adjusts as needed.
- Job Number?At present, Remedy can't announce how many Jobs will be included in FBC: Firebreak at launch, but their focus is "quality over quantity".
- Composer? It wouldn't be a Remedy game without Petri Alanko, and fortunately that music maestro is back for their latest outing!
- Why Not Four? Testing was conducted with different number of Firebreak teammembers, while traditionally games tend to set a crew at four, the dev team went with three with Mike stating that "this was the sweet spot for this game."
- Acccessibility? If you also loved Control and Alan Wake's Assist Mode, this is for you. The dev team is approaching the project with accessibility on their mind. While that can cover a huge range of things, it's a priority for the team, and something that they would also like to explore in post launch content.
