FBC: Firebreak has been out for around a month, and Remedy Entertainment has revealed how it plans to draw more players in ahead of the game’s first big update in September. While Steam only counts for a portion of the game’s audience–it’s also available through the Epic Games Store, as well as on Xbox Series X|S and PS5–the numbers haven’t been too encouraging lately. The game peaked with 1,992 players on launch day, and since then, those numbers have fallen to well under 100 concurrent players on average.
In a blog post, Remedy says that one of the issues it looks to address is the opening of the game, as that crucial first hour has become a point of criticism amongst the playerbase. “We’ve seen many players come into the game and leave within the first hour. And that’s because our first hour can be frustrating; you feel ineffective and confused as to what to do. This needs to be improved,” Remedy explained.
The company says that it plans to improve the narrative onboarding experience by placing an introductory video into the game and improving the tutorial section with better pop-up tips. In effect, this should help players figure out “where they are, who they are, and what they are trying to achieve” as members of Firebreak.
In terms of gameplay, Remedy explained that it wants to strike a fine balance between using old-fashioned first-person shooter gunplay and Crisis Kit tools to triumph, giving players more control over their growth. This will involve adding three new heavy guns, dropping all “generic” upgrades from equipment and replace it with a Mod System that lets players tweak how their weapons function.
Other changes on the horizon include tweaks to the Jobs system and a dynamic series of objectives to keep players on their toes. “We’re bringing in a new handcrafted level, three Zones, a new status effect, two more enemies to deal with, and all the rest you’ve come to expect from a new Job,” Remedy added.
The studio stressed that its plans aren’t set in stone and could change over time, but overall, it expects the first Major Update to introduce a significant number of improvements to FBC: Firebreak. Remedy has been fairly candid with the response to its three-player cooperative shooter, and while it did hope for a better launch, it says that it remains fully committed to improving and evolving the game.
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