Summary
It has now been nearly six years since the release of Remedy Entertainment’s action-adventure gameControl, andControl 2is still likely a ways off. However, fans of the game may still be able to find what they love so much about it in its upcoming co-op spin-offFBC: Firebreak, though it is already proving itself to have a vastly different attitude than its younger sibling. Based on some earlyhands-on previews ofFBC: Firebreak, fans ofControlmay be able to tide themselves over for a bit with the live-service shooter, which maintains the DNA ofControlbut almost coils it in the opposite direction.
At its core,FBC: Firebreakstill looks to capture what popularizedControl’s gameplay, tone, and world-building in the first place. However, it has already shown its true colors as quite an exaggerated take onControl’s bizarre premise, and the fact that it is an online cooperative first-person shooter sets it even further apart. With gameplay that is humorously chaotic, mechanically absurd, and endlessly demanding,FBC: Firebreaklooks likeControlif it were taken off its hinges, and that might be the best thing for it in the long run.
FBC: Firebreak Goes From Federal Bureau to Full-Blown Mayhem
Control’s DNA Is Still in Play, But It’s Drenched in Absurdity
If there’s one thing that’s true aboutControl’s pacing, it’s that it feels more like a slow spiral into bureaucratic madness than an explosive, action-packed joyride of a game from the get-go. At its deepest depths,Controlclearly hosts an outlandish world, but it isn’t until its greatest mysteries begin unfolding that players bear witness to how truly tumultuous it is. As aControlspin-off,FBC: Firebreakis just as peculiar, only it takes whatControlgradually leans into and makes it a springboard on which it propels itself forward.
At its core,FBC: Firebreakstill looks to capture what popularizedControl’s gameplay, tone, and world-building in the first place.
Controlis more quietly absurd, in that it presents the impossible with a straight face. In doing so, it delivers aneerie calmreinforced by bureaucratic seriousness, making it feel unnerving rather than comedic.FBC: Firebreak, on the other hand, wears its absurdity on its sleeve and exaggerates whatControlbakes into its formula to the point of spectacle. IfControlis the cake, thenFBC: Firebreakis the icing, along with all the elaborate designs and extras that put a spotlight on the occasion — the style — rather than the cake itself — the substance.
FBC: Firebreak Turns Control’s Cosmic Horror Comic
For all intents and purposes,FBC: Firebreakis founded onControl’s DNA, but it’s ultimately drenched in layers of absurdity to the point that it turns cosmic horror comic. It’s not so much thatFBC: FirebreakabandonsControl’s identity, but simply that it presents that identity in a different way.Controlmight see players fighting a haunted traffic light, but the game’s tone and atmosphere still manage to make that fight feel harrowing, tense, and even a bit horrifying.
FBC: Firebreak’s tone, however, sees those same encounters framed within a comedic context that changes the mood entirely. The Hiss inFBC: Firebreakare still just as dangerous as ever, but when players are required to perform unconventional actions like showering together to remove status effects or battling large monsters nicknamed “Sticky Ricky” who are made up of millions of sentient sticky notes, things take a turn for the funnier. As a result,FBC: Firebreakcarries the undertones ofControl’scosmic horror, but it makes what would normally be a bit unnerving a hilarious joke that should still be taken seriously.
FBC: Firebreakmay twistControl’s unsettling weirdness into something more flamboyant and irreverent, but that doesn’t mean it loses its edge. If anything, the game seems to embrace its strangeness with open arms, doubling down on the surreal as its foundation but covering it with a ceiling of joy. It still draws from the same paranormal well asControl, but it chooses to splash in it rather than sink.For fans waiting onControl 2,FBC: Firebreakmay offer a different kind of descent, but it still functions as an echo of its younger sibling.
