Today’s game is FBC: Firebreak. I usually avoid buying games Day 1, but i watched the Gameplay trailers and was honestly really excited. I bought a copy for me and a friend, and i had my brother drop in for player 3. Honestly really enjoyed it. A lot of people have been saying that it has a lack of Tutorials, and yeah, i get that. Once we got everything figured out though it kind of became a lot more fun. The first difficulty was quick, but kind of like a tutorial. The difficulties kind of build off each other to teach the basics of each game mode, which i like. I do think it maybe could use a labeling as a tutorial, but besides that it works in a way i enjoy.

Once we get to Level 3 of it, we kind of just start randomly shuffling them (The game definitely needs a built in shuffle option though). It helped keep everything kind of fresh and fun. We’ve been treating it less like Left 4 Dead and more like something Like REPO or Lethal Company and honestly i think that affected the mindset though.

The game has a lot of depth mechanically which i love. Me and my friend’s favorite combo right now is him Soaking the enemies and then i shock them. It does massive AOE damage to all the soaked enemies. I just have to be careful not to get wet myself.

Speaking of the weapons, the game has a system called requisitions which is similar to Helldiver’s Warbond system (at least that’s what i’ve heard it compared too, i’ve never played Helldivers). It introduces new functionality to the weapons and tools in a manner that rewards you for playing. Honestly i really like it, it’s fun having an option of choosing where to progress my tools and unlocking them in that manner.

The game is a bit light on story, but honestly i think it might be for the best. It’s not a sequel but it also needs to build off of Control’s world already, so for anyone who hasn’t played control it’s the basic setup of “You’re in the Oldest House, You’ve been trapped here for 6 years, And you’re a volunteer squad who stops things from falling apart”. I feel like that is a good enough gist that if you’re new you don’t need to learn much more, but it gives you little pieces of lore you can look into on your own that if you choose you can look into.

It borrows a lot from control too. And i don’t just mean the world. I mean graphically. It feels like I was ripped straight from control’s metroidvania like game and crammed into this first person shooter. It makes everything familiar to me and it’s just cool to see these from a first person perspective. It does show how this game had a smaller team though with it reusing models of the enemies.

So far my favorite mission (or i guess game mode) is the Furnace one (pictured above). You have to have your water guy micromanage your heat so you dont burn, and you have to repair the fans and make your way to the furnace to seal it up. It definitely provides a good framework too use the mechanic’s of the game together with since you have to really work together to keep from burning alive. I believe this is the same furnace from Control too which is even more fun to see.

Another game mode that i feel like had good mechanics to work with the game is one where you’re harvesting leech pearls. They cause radiation, which hurts you. But you know who else gets hurt by radiation? The hiss, so you can strategically place the pearls or cause them to fall in a way that will hurt the hiss and support you. All the while you’re being kept safe by your water guy

Overall, I’m definitely wanting to play through this to completion. I’m really enjoying it (though i probably say that about most games so i probably sound like a broken record) and i’m literally planning to hop into another round with friends after i post this. Though, my fun may be vastly different from everyone else’s because i was fortunate enough to gather 3 friends i know i can work well with to play it with, as opposed to strangers. We’re also a far more casual group so that may affect things.