Firebreak’s Review Scores Compare to Control, Alan Wake’s

Remedy Entertainment has plenty of hits under its belt, but the studio is known for taking big swings. And when a studio takes big swings, it can either land with thunderous success, or miss the mark entirely. FBC: Firebreak seems to fall into the latter category.

Released just last week, FBC: Firebreak was heavily criticized at launch due to its convoluted onboarding process, obtuse mission structure, poorly designed progression systems, and severe lack of enemy and map variety. These criticisms were almost unanimous across the board, leading to FBC: Firebreak having a much lower critical score than some were expecting, particularly when compared to Remedy’s past work.

How FBC: Firebreak Sets The Stage for Control 2

FBC: Firebreak is pretty light on story content, but there are still a few interesting tidbits of lore that could set the stage for Control 2.

Comparing FBC: Firebreak’s Critical Reception to Past Remedy Games

How FBC: Firebreak’s Review Scores Compare to Past Remedy Games

For the purposes of this review round-up, all scores below have been simplified to be out of 10.

	IGN	GameSpot	Eurogamer	PC Gamer	GamesRadar	Game Rant
Max Payne	9.3	9.2	N/A	9	10	N/A
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne	9.4	8.4	9	8.6	8.7	N/A
Alan Wake	9	8	7	8.6	8	N/A
Quantum Break	8	6	N/A	7	7	9
Control	8.8	8	“Recommended”	8.8	9	9
Alan Wake 2	9	10	6	88	10	5
FBC: Firebreak	Review in progress	8	6	6	4	6

Though Remedy’s first game was Death Rally, the studio really hit the big time with 2001’s Max Payne and its 2003 sequel. These third-person shooters brought bullet-time mechanics into the mainstream right as Matrix fever was at its height, and their quality storytelling certainly didn’t go amiss. Max Payne 1 and 2 are still some of Remedy’s most acclaimed titles.

It took seven years for Remedy’s next game to hit store shelves, but Alan Wake seemed to be worth the wait. Though its mind-bending story left some scratching their heads, other critics seemed to adore Remedy’s risky approach to narrative, leading to the game earning decent review scores.

In 2016, Remedy released Quantum Break, an Xbox console exclusive that’s still regarded as the black sheep of Remedy’s catalog. With Quantum Break, Remedy decided to take its experiments with genre to the next level, attempting to merge TV and video games to produce something wholly distinct. While Quantum Break was certainly unique, it wasn’t a major critical hit for the developer, though it still earned fairly favorable scores.

2019’s Control marked something of a comeback for Remedy, with it earning high 8s and 9s across the board. 2023’s Alan Wake 2 proved to be oddly divisive, however. While some outlets gave it scores as low as 5, others gave it a 10. But generally speaking, Alan Wake 2‘s critical reception was on the higher end of the spectrum when all review scores were taken into account.

Then we come to FBC: Firebreak. The latest in Remedy’s line-up is also its lowest-rated in history, with many outlets giving the multiplayer shooter scores in the 6s and 7s. FBC: Firebreak‘s middling critical reception is even more apparent when looking at its OpenCritic score.

FBC: Firebreak‘s first patch did a great job of addressing a lot of day-one criticisms. But it’s still got a long way to go before its critical reception turns around.

How FBC: Firebreak’s OpenCritic Score Compares to Past Remedy Games

	Top Critic Average	% Critics Recommend
Max Payne	N/A	N/A
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne	N/A	N/A
Alan Wake	77	N/A
Quantum Break	78	70%
Control	84	89%
Alan Wake 2	89	93%
FBC: Firebreak	64	29%

FBC: Firebreak‘s OpenCritic scores paint an even clearer picture of the game’s critical reception compared to its predecessors. Its Top Critic Average score of 64 is much lower than any of Remedy’s previous projects, and only 29% of critics recommend the game.