Remedy Entertainment as lifted the lid on its FBC: Firebreak system requirements, giving us a peek at what specs we’ll need to run the Control spin-off. The FPS game looks like it’ll make even the hardiest gaming PC sweat, as it requires upscaling at all times, likely to ensure a comfortable 60fps with ray tracing and a fair few particle effects.
The barrier to entry thankfully isn’t too high, with minimum system requirements angling for Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 or AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT to run low settings at 1080p/60fps. Most gamers already have 16GB of memory and six-core CPUs like AMD Ryzen 5 1600X according to Steam’s Hardware Survey, so the shooter starts off strong.
In order to have a 4K 60fps experience with High graphics settings and Ray Tracing, however, you will need at least an RTX 4080 or RX 9070 XT while enabling performance upscaling. As a reminder, Performance DLSS means that the game is rendered internally at 1080p before being upscaled to 4K. In other words, Firebreak requires an RTX 4080 to play at 1080p native with RT on. That’s a bit much, if you ask me, but at least this is a co-op PvE experience rather than competitive PvP.
Thankfully, disabling Ray Tracing lowers the load drastically, as RTX 3070 and RX 6800 XT are enough for 4K 60fps, though again with Performance upscaling. Further lowering the resolution to 1440p and graphics to medium brings the requirement even lower, where a four-year-old mid-range card like the RTX 3060 is good for 60fps using the much better Quality upscaling.
It’s a shame to see it enforced because we love the freedom of choice when it comes to our settings. We’re PC gamers, after all. But this is a growing trend in the gaming space, with Alan Wake 2, Senua: Hellblade II, and Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail all making the likes of DLSS, FSR, XeSS, or specific anti-aliasing mandatory. Plus there might even be a way to disable it all through the ini file if you’re desperate to get it gone – time will tell.
FBC: Firebreak is a co-op first-person shooter set in Remedy’s Control and Alan Wake universe. In it, three players assume the roles of Firebreak operatives, which are the Bureau’s first responders tasked with containing paranormal crises within the Oldest House (the Federal Bureau of Control’s extradimensional headquarters). Players can customise loadouts with weapons, crisis kits, and paranormal upgrades, preferably in a way that synergises with other teammates. Your job is to survive waves of Hiss-infected enemies while completing various tasks to contain outbreaks. The game seems to be quite hectic with enemies coming from every direction and objects flying all over the place, so there’s little surprise that it’s a bit more demanding than it seems at first glance.
FBC: Firebreak is set to launch on June 17, at $39.99 for the standard version, and $49.99 for the deluxe edition which adds a bunch of weapon skins and armour sets. It’ll also be available day one on Xbox and PC Game Pass. Most importantly, Firebreak won’t be live service, meaning you pay once and you are good to go, no microtransactions and no battle passes, just fun whenever you feel like it.
