Remedy Entertainment has finally revealed its first multiplayer game. FBC: Firebreak will take players back to the Federal Bureau of Control in 2025.
The developer showed off the first look at the game, which is a standalone experience and not a Control sequel, at the end of October’s Xbox Partner Preview on Thursday. It’s a three-player, PvE co-op first-person shooter where a group of individuals stuck in the FBC as the Hiss outbreak sets in band together to take them on.
And because these are just regular people with no supernatural powers, they’re packed with some heavy weapons, some improvised armor and gear, and, likely, a sense of fear as they go up against the Hiss and other monstrosities. While this takes place in the Control world (and therefore the Remedy Connected Universe), it seems like you won’t need prior knowledge of the game to get into FBC: Firebreak.
“It’s going to be easy to get into, a game that you can enjoy with your friends and tackle multiple hectic co-op missions showcasing that Remedy creativity,” communications director Thomas Puha said in an Xbox Wire post.
However, if you are engrossed in the Control world, you’ll find more lore and details in FBC: Firebreak.
“For the people who are keeping up with the single-player journey, we wanted to make sure that FBC: Firebreak was a legitimate and impactful part of that history and lore,” game director Mike Kayatta says. He explains that it wouldn’t have fit as a part of Control due to its structure. “That said, you will see more of Control’s world. More of the Federal Bureau of Control. Meet more of the people who work there. Explore more of the Oldest House. Run into more weird stuff. And importantly, experience this world, old and new, from a completely different perspective.”
Remedy had a big day at the Xbox Partner Preview, also showing off the first gameplay for Alan Wake 2‘s The Lake House expansion, which takes place at an FBC research station. This isn’t a standalone experience, but takes place in the middle of Alan Wake 2 with a new playable character, new enemies, and a new weapon to take them on.
The studio is all-in on its connected universe, and is working on more games in the world of Control. It previously announced it had two sequels in development: Heron and Condor. Heron was described as a “bigger” game set in the universe, and is likely a sequel. Condor was a spinoff game. While this could’ve been FBC: Firebreak, it was in the proof-of-concept stage in 2022, so there could be yet another game incoming.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.