FBC: Firebreak (Video Game)

It's Time to Clean House.

"This place was always dangerous. And weird. Policy and procedure used to keep us in control. But now, we need a new approach. Welcome to Firebreak!"

—Hank

FBC: Firebreak is a 3-player Co-Op Multiplayer First-Person Shooter developed by Remedy Entertainment, released on June 17, 2025 as the fifth entry in the Remedy Connected Universe.

In the wake of the Hiss Invasion of the Oldest House, the FBC is in a state of chaos. With the Hiss and other menaces still running rampant in every corner of the massive building, a small, yet highly adaptable crew known as Firebreak is deployed in the hopes of restoring the FBC's control of their headquarters.

Previews: Announcement Trailer, Gameplay Trailer, Hazards of the Job Trailer, Launch Trailer, Gameplay Overview, Surviving the Workplace: Introduction, Surviving the Workplace: Hot Fix, Surviving the Workplace: Paper Chase, Surviving the Workplace: Ground Control, Surviving the Workplace: Frequency Shift, Surviving the Workplace: Freezer Duty

FBC: Firebreak contains examples of the following tropes:

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A-H

Abandoned Area: Due to the lockdown and the FBC's efforts to limit casualties, the Jobsites where Shifts take place are all devoid of life barring the Hiss and area-specific entities. They stay that way until the Hiss detects a Firebreak crew coming in to fix an issue that's currently affecting the Bureau at large.
Ability Depletion Penalty: Firebreakers who are out of stamina are forced to stand still for at least a second or three to begin recovering it. Should they perform any action that uses it up in the meantime, however, then its recovery rate will immediately be cut short.
- Splash Kit users who carelessly use up the Ejector to the point its heat gauge is maxed out will have no other choice but to wait for it to fully cool down before they can get to reuse it again.
Abnormal Ammo: The new Universal Mods for all three Gun types introduced in the Breakpoint update allows Firebreakers to apply certain special effects to their fired bullets, which ranges from them dealing elemental damage, returning to their Gun's chamber, restoring their Health by attacking burning enemies, and finally, to becoming explosive.
Achievement Mockery: Two Achievements are given for failures and moments a player would likely not want memorialized if done accidentally. "Gnomed" is for downing yourself with the Jump Kit's "Garden Gnome" Altered Augment, and "Hitchcock Moment" is for getting Downed while you're in a shower.
Act of Sabotage: The "Crowbar" Corrupted Item will sabotage any working machinery it comes across by swinging away at them until they break down, and if it's been left alone for too long, it will eventually damage everything on a Jobsite. Neutralize it quick before it starts hitting something important.
Action Bomb: The Hiss Charged make a return as an occasional threat to Firebreak crews, but unlike in Control, they're now far more of a threat here as the Firebreakers lack Jesse's parautilitarian abilities. Keep an eye and ear out for their distinctive eerie appearance and shrieking if you don't want to lose your Resonance Shield at the worst possible time.
Action Girl:
- Two of the default Firebreaker voice packs are women helping out the FBC by volunteering to carry out risky operations with Firebreak.
- The Firestarter used to work as a rather paranoid, conspiratorial member of Disposal before taking up arms against the Hiss threat.
- The Lab Rat - a familiar voice - primarily focused on researching the Mold, but now that it evolved, so too has she evolved her means of studying it.
Aggressive Play Incentive: While reactively fighting off the Hiss is a decent valid strategy for completing a Shift, sometimes taking the initiative first can give eager Firebreak crews a much more easier time of it. Making the call to go all out during a Hiss wave or choosing to play it safe and tough it out can be the tipping point between a successful or failed Shift.
Airborne Mook: The Hiss Elevated also return as a common threat, and their two different variants still have noticeable differences in Firebreak. As of the Breakpoint update, the Corrupted Airborne Rangers from Control's Altered World Event DLC have also returned as another threat towards Firebreakers.
- The chairbound Elevated tend to keep away from Firebreakers and are very fragile, yet hard-hitting with their projectiles. To make up for their low Health, this version of Elevated spawns in groups.
- Meanwhile, the free-floating Elevated will happily launch themselves towards Firebreakers in lieu of throwing chunks of stone at them. But in return, however, they're more damage-resistant and will rarely spawn in alongside the other Hiss types.
- The Corrupted Airborne Rangers in particular are more dangerous than the Elevated, being armed with guns while capable of throwing Grenades. Like the former, they can spawn in groups... and like the latter, they're damage-resistant to boot.
A.K.A.-47: All Guns are referred to by their types, regardless of them being based on real guns. The unlockable Lewis gun used by the FBC Rangers in Control is only referred to as the "Machine Gun", for instance. The same goes for the game's starting "Submachine Gun", despite it being a Grease Gun.
- Inspecting certain Guns in your Loadout will also reveal that their real names and/or manufacturers have been replaced with similar-sounding ones, ie. the "Revolver" is a 'Cobra .357' and the "Bolt-Action Rifle" is made by 'Huntington'.
Alien Geometries: Owing to the nature of the Oldest House, House Shifts can leave relatively normal areas of the Bureau suddenly twisted into confusing geometric oddities. All three zones of both "Paper Chase" and "Outbreak" have very clear examples of the rules of geometry being bent in their aftermaths, with "Ground Control" set in a vast Threshold that's somehow still contained within the building itself.
Alien Kudzu:
- As a result of two agents opening a Threshold in a desperate attempt to escape the Oldest House, an extremely volatile and gum-like sticky material known as "Pink" is now threatening to rapidly spread into the rest of the building after easily overrunning the containment zone they were accessing it from via an Altered Item. Thus, the ultimate goal of "Frequency Shift" is to delay its encroachment via signal emitters until a safer, permanent solution to stop it is finally found.
- The "Outbreak" Job introduced in the Breakpoint update has Firebreak crews entering a "Mold"-infested containment zone, where it has spread enough to have grown 'trees' and a thick carpet of moss and fungi all over the Jobsite. Firebreakers must go and collect fragile clumps of glowing Mold Spores to analyze what kind of chemicals it is currently weak to, and then apply them to its point of origin to temporarily curtail its growth - all while they must avoid becoming fully Moldy.
Alliterative Title: FBC: Firebreak.
The Aloner: A player can opt to do a Job all by their lonesome if they so choose to, but it's not really recommended - the developers have stated that Jobs were not designed to be balanced for solo attempts, meaning they're more difficult and take much longer to finish alone than with a full crew.
And Then John Was a Zombie:
- If the Sticky Notes on a Firebreaker aren't either washed or burnt off by the time they're close to completely covering their screen, then they're quickly converted into a Shuffler - a running humanoid mass of Sticky Notes - and can't even be rescued from their conversion into one. This fate is particularly deadly, as it's one of three ways to die where you will be forced to use up a redeploy, on top of leaving behind your hostile body for your fellow Firebreakers to deal with.
- If a Firebreaker gets Downed while fully Moldy, then they will transform into a Mold Walker. The only way to prevent this from being your fate is to expose yourself to a source of Cold, such as the many stationary fans and portable coolers found across the Jobsite of "Outbreak". The Hiss will also be transformed into Walkers themselves if given enough exposure to Mold, which can lead to a localized Zombie Apocalypse that you and your crew have to fight through if too many of them happened to transform all at the same time.
Anti-Frustration Features:
- No matter how long a Firebreaker has been left Downed for, they will always take the exact same amount of time to revive. As long as they have a sliver of Health remaining, they have a chance to quickly get back into the fight. The Crew Perk, First Responder, makes doing so much faster.
- While showers are randomly placed across all Jobsites and have limits to their usage before they stop being effective at healing you, sinks are found in fixed Safe Room or restroom locations and have infinite uses, but in return are slightly slower at recovering a Firebreak agent's Health.
- There is always a sprinkler in every Safe Room that hasn't been affected by House Shifts, just in case an afflicted Firebreaker couldn't find one somewhere else to wash off a Harmful Condition.
- If you can't find Black Rock Neutralizers in ammo stations, they can alternatively be found in Safe Rooms. However, they aren't a guaranteed spawn, so Firebreakers must still use them sparingly.
  - As of the Breakpoint update, they now also have a pale yellow icon that indicates their presence near a Firebreaker's general location, but only when a Corrupted Item is still active.
- If your crew runs out of redeploys, staying alive long enough will let you get another one. The Crew Perk, Recruiter, can speed up the process.
- Both the Hiss Guards (Armored or not) and Hiss Demolition Experts can sometimes drop a box of ammo upon being killed, which can make clearing out waves of Hiss a bit more bearable if there's no ammo station nearby to get resupplied from.
- As of the Breakpoint update, picking up the Lost Assets found across a Jobsite - or the ones that were dropped by killed crewmates - now requires only the single press of a button, saving players from having to spend much of their time, effort and grief in gathering them up before continuing on with completing their current objectives.
Anti-Hoarding: Outside of a few Perks that increase ammo or Grenade capacity, players can't take more than what they can carry from ammo stations or supplies that can be found anywhere on a Jobsite. This is to ensure that their crewmates can also get enough to keep going after they're done resupplying.
Anti-Magic:
- As per Control, Hedron Resonance Amplifiers (or HRAs for short) are worn by Firebreak agents to stop them from being overtaken by the Hiss. They're strapped onto each and every body armor piece in the game, with some even having more than one on them attached just to make sure.
- Black Rock gains more prominence in Firebreak. The 'Neutralize' term used in-game refers to the useful ability to destroy Corrupted Items - through the use of a Universal Mod, a few certain Perks or a Black Rock Neutralizer/Grenade - which is the only way to stop the negative effects they will impose upon Firebreakers during a Job from continuing to hinder their crews any further.
Anti-Regeneration: The "Table Saw" Corrupted Item disables a Firebreak crew's Resonance Shields, making a Job more perilous than it should be while it's active. Thankfully, it's stationary and can be easily Neutralized with a Black Rock Neutralizer once it's found, with its distinct idle sawing sounds helpfully clueing players in towards where its hiding place is.
Anti-Role Model: Out of the three "Surviving the Workplace" Muppets, Dave is the stupid one who makes bad decisions that viewers are warned not to do. A disclaimer tells FBC agents that the FBC is not liable for any conduct classified as "Being a Dave".
Anti-Wastage Features:
- Averted for showers. While they are meant to be used to rapidly restore Health and/or reduce Harmful Condition build-ups, staying in one past your needs will still use up its remaining water, which can be determined by looking at the square barrel situated just right above the shower stall.
- Played straight with ammo stations. Firebreakers can only resupply up to a set amount of ammo, Grenades and Improvised Items, and therefore will be prevented from taking any more unless they use the appropriate amount of Perks.
Arc Number: Three. It's featured heavily throughout the game, either through its gameplay mechanics or in its thematic narrative. There are always up to three members to a Firebreak crew, three levels to a Perk, three zones to a Job and so on and so forth.
Arc Symbol: The Firebreak Division's logo, which is based off of the FBC's original one depicting the Board, now representing them doing everything that they can to keep the rest of the Oldest House going in spite of the rising number of crises they're facing.
Arc Words: Clean House. It's become a sort-of motto for Firebreak as a whole, referring to their recurring actions of dealing with the many crises affecting the Bureau at large. It also refers to them whittling down the Hiss's numbers, one Shift at a time.
Armor Is Useless: It doesn't matter what kind of armor pieces a Firebreaker is wearing - they're all treated as purely cosmetic items by the game, which means that a character wearing the "Samurai" or the "Overseer" set has just about the same amount of protection as anyone else who's wearing otherwise.
- Painfully averted with the Hiss, particularly the Troopers and Armored Guards. Their armor does indeed add to the difficulty of killing them.
Artifact of Doom: Corrupted Items encountered on Jobs are this, being Hiss-tainted copies of Altered Items that were previously contained by Jesse and the FBC. Exhibiting odd behaviors much unlike their original selves, Firebreakers are highly encouraged to Neutralize them to make their Shifts easier to finish.
Artificial Brilliance:
- Firebreakers killing too many Hiss under a certain amount of time will cause the remaining ones to look for alternate paths towards them. This can pose a problem, as players are likely to be flanked or ambushed while they're preoccupied with the Hiss that are already in their sights.
- If the Hiss are close enough to target them, they can attack any working machinery instead of a Firebreaker, hindering a crew's progress during a Job or outright considerably setting it back should they succeed in breaking them down.
- Attacks done by ranged Hiss such as the Guards, Elevated, Troopers and Rangers will make it far harder for you to retreat from their melee fellows by slowing you down with each successful hit, forcing you to either stay and fight or to prioritize killing them first before you can get to run away.
- The Hiss can occasionally dodge your attacks by performing a sudden dash to the side. This is particularly frustrating for Precision Gun users, as there's no warning or hint as to when they'll do it, leading to perfectly lined shots being wasted.
- Corrupted Airborne Rangers can slow down retreating Firebreakers with a long spray from their gun, which can cause hapless players to get Downed by being mobbed by other Hiss during their attack. Additionally, they can also throw Grenades to force Firebreak crews away from favorable holdout positions or mission objectives.
Artificial Outdoors Display: Likewise in Control, some rooms in certain Jobsites have skylights streaming down what appears to be sunlight from them, but don't be fooled - they're actually electric lights.
- However, some Jobs do have skylights that seem to be showing the skies of other Thresholds. The one above the "Radio Loop Antenna" Altered Item in "Frequency Shift" is an eerie pink, and a few in "Outbreak" have a pale yellow tint to them.
Artificial Stupidity:
- The Hiss have a tendency to laser-focus on a player they've decided they really want to kill, and will actively run past other, easier-to-attack players to try and get to their chosen target.
- They also tend to ignore environmental hazards, and may end up later getting killed by the Harmful Conditions they got from going through them before they can even reach your crew.
- If the melee-oriented Hiss can't find a way to a player out of their reach, then they'll simply stand there and become easy pickings, or at least until they finally switch to attacking easier targets.
- If a Boombox is powered on, all Hiss on the Jobsite will make a beeline for it and attack it until it's destroyed, regardless of any nearby targets in their immediate vicinity.
Attack Its Weak Point: A new type of Hiss, the aptly-named Breaker, debuts in this game. It's a twisted, hulking monster that's very resistant to damage. Its sole weak point is its glowing red, shriveled-up upper half jutting out from its back. Hitting it there is the only way to reliably kill one, as the rest of its body is simply just too tough to even scratch.
Attack of the Killer Whatever: The Hiss aren't the only threat Firebreakers have to contend with during their Shifts. In "Paper Chase", the duplicating Sticky Notes scattered all around the Oldest House have begun to do so en masse, and can actively swarm the living to convert them and take full control of their bodies - that, and the Job itself is also topped off with a fight against a towering mass of Sticky Notes known as Sticky Ricky, who serves as its Final Boss.
- Deadly Heat Flares, Astral Spikes, Pink Clumps and Frost Anomalies also feature as secondary threats in "Hot Fix", "Ground Control", "Frequency Shift" and "Freezer Duty", respectively.
Aura Vision: Firebreakers are always able to see their crewmates' outlines through walls across Jobs. It's not explained how they can do so, but it's a big help when it comes to keeping an eye on them or for whenever players get separated from one another.
- Any object that was Pinged by a player will also have their outline be seen, at least until it gets replaced by a newer Ping or is interacted with.
Auto-Revive: The Crew Perk, Night Terrors, gives a Firebreaker a chance to get back on their feet after being Downed. It allows crews to be more reckless during Shifts, especially when Resonant, but care must still be taken to ensure that players equipped with the Perk won't bite off more than they can chew.
Back-to-Back Badasses: This can happen frequently throughout a Job, as the Hiss will do their utmost best to take down Firebreakers while they're busy with completing objectives across their Jobsite.
Badass Boast: Some voice packs are prone to doing this. The Firestarter and The Dave are the most likely voices that you'll hear in a Shift spouting them off.
The Firestarter: "I've seen much worse than you."
The Dave: "Hiss! My! Ass!"
Badass Crew: The player characters are ordinary FBC employees who volunteered to join the Firebreak Division to help keep the Bureau safe. They rely on each other to get their Jobs done, and unlike Jesse with her Service Weapon, they use mundane or jury-rigged equipment to see their Shifts through with.
Being Watched: If one knows where to look, a player can find cameras tracking their movements on some Jobsites. It's just Hank keeping an eye on you.
Bifurcated Weapon: The "Scattergun" is a Blast-type Gun whose Secondary Fire allows you to launch an explosive projectile, sacrificing overall accuracy for massive splash damage and/or (optional) Harmful Condition build-up via Universal Mod(s) - making it a Gun suited for destroying or debilitating Hiss with.
Big Bad: The Hiss, as is the case in the previous game. Even after their defeat, their presence is a constant reminder that it's too dangerous to lift the lockdown while they're still around.
Big Labyrinthine Building: The Oldest House, and how! Traversing Jobsites during Shifts can really put into perspective just how winding they can get, with crews often tending to take wrong turns somewhere even when they're already very familiar with an area.
Bizarrchitecture: Again, the Oldest House in general, being as it's where both Control and Firebreak takes place. In the latter, "Paper Chase" is notable for having its zones set in the aftermath of a House Shift, whereas "Outbreak" is set in a cavernous containment zone which is the result of multiple House Shifts having formed it into being.
Bling of War: Some Guns have skins which adds to or replaces their original looks with golden accents or stylish decals, with the "Submachine Gun" bearing the honor of having a skin that turns it gold. A few Revisions for some armor sets also does the same.
Bloodier and Gorier: Unlike in the previous game, shooting at the Hiss will sometimes have them spurt out actual blood instead of exuding their resonance.
- Killing a Breaker and a Powerful Enemy will also briefly mark the spots of their deaths with a large burst and cloud of blood, respectively.
Blown Across the Room: Kills made by explosions or the Jump Kit's Impactor can cause Hiss corpses to be sent flying. The Impactor in particular can have the weaker Hiss sail across a Jobsite when both of its firing modes are discharged against them.
Body Horror:
- Hiss Breakers are horrifying enemies to face off against in the Oldest House, as their hulking bodies have been overcome by a black, shell-like growth which is sturdy enough to turn gunfire useless against them... that has also forced out their hosts' upper bodies through their backs.
- The Hiss Distorted takes the cake, with their bodies looking like they've been flayed, stretched, and then pulled back into a form the Hiss prefers. Their heads have also been reduced to their lower jaws, and their ribcages are cracked wide open.
- The Mold has completely transformed its Walkers and Turrets into forms that allows itself to be very easily proliferated from. The former's shambling movement speed and general appearance are clear signs of how much it has changed them, while the latter are worse off - having become stationary in return for being invulnerable and the ability to shoot out Mold-laden projectiles.
Boom, Headshot!: One of the fastest ways to defeat the Hiss is to shoot them right in the head, plain and simple. Firebreakers will know they have done so successfully when their hit indicator briefly turns red.
- This is especially emphasized with Mold Walkers and Turrets. You'll be wasting your bullets if you don't aim for their heads, as they have greater damage resistances across the board to make up for their slow movement speed (or lack thereof).
Boss Arena Recovery: In Sticky Ricky's arena, there's a convenient Safe Room nearby for Firebreakers to redeploy in should they get killed or converted while fighting him. There are also sprinklers on the low ceilings where the water and electric systems used to defeat him are set up, and if you and your crew are lucky, there too can be a shower and/or an ammo station just right before or even inside his arena.
Boss in Mook's Clothing: The incredibly rare but very disturbing Distorted feature as one of the most - if not the most - dangerous type of Hiss in Firebreak. Able to cloak themselves before going in for the kill with their wide, hard-hitting scream, they're the bane of many a Firebreak crew for upending their usual tactics and for necessitating them to stay away from each other lest they get Downed all at once. Pinging one is the only way to make it less of a challenge to kill, let alone stun or subject to Harmful Conditions.
- Worse, a Powerful Enemy Hiss has an equally rare chance to spawn as a Distorted. When that does happen, a Firebreak crew must shift gears and make it their top priority to kill it before it gets around to single-handedly wiping them out.
Bottomless Magazines: The Splash Kit's Ejector never runs out of water. Considering the existence of Ahti and the mystery behind his presence and role within the Oldest House and the FBC, this may be a case of Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane.
Bottomless Pits:
- The Jobsite of "Paper Chase" has a few. Due to the Oldest House's shifting nature, there are inconvenient pits in the third zone that are deep enough to fade into blackness. Should a player fall into one, they will instantly die and are forced to use up a redeploy to get back into the fight.
- The latter two zones of "Ground Control" has an endless starry void beneath the massive floating island its Jobsite is set on. Falling off the edges is very possible, as not all of them have railings, while some have ziplines going over said void.
- "Outbreak" has edges that Firebreakers can fall from across the entirety of its Jobsite. Its latter two zones in particular have massive chasms that can be crossed by bridge, zipline or Impactor, and falling from or tripping off of them is very startlingly easy to pull off due to how dark those areas can be, even with all the lights turned on.
Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": The 'leeches' of the Black Rock Quarry in "Ground Control" have little if any resemblance to the Earth animal they're named after. Aside from 'leeching' off of Black Rock, they're very stout and form pearls within their bodies, much like mollusks. Of course, being from another reality and being passively radioactive makes it very clear any relation to animals from Earth are fairly superficial.
Call-Back:
- A lot of the problems Firebreak handles are escalations to issues alluded to in Control, such as the Sticky Notes previously found in an office within the Executive Sector and the Furnace mentioned as being in the Maintenance Sector.
  - As of the Breakpoint update, the Mold has now once more become a recurring threat to the FBC's remaining agents, though as a different enough strain unlike before.
- The "Surviving the Workplace" videos continue the trend of the FBC making Muppet-based Orientation videos like the "Threshold Kids"... except instead of being incredibly creepy, they're better made, informative and quite snarky.
- As per Control's Altered World Event DLC, the "SHÜM" and "SHÜM 2" arcade cabinet pair have seemingly multiplied throughout the FBC. This time, "SHÜM 2" can be seen in the background of Firebreak's Mission Control lobby, while "SHÜM" can be randomly found inside Safe Rooms.
  - Corrupted Airborne Rangers are yet another aspect of Control's Altered World Event DLC reintroduced in Firebreak, appearing as uncommon enemies who are powerful enough to force players into killing them as quickly as possible before they get Downed by them.
- Incidental dialogue includes several references; Director Northmoor is brought up, Emily Pope is mentioned as looking for maneki-neko statues, Simon Arish has been trying to get involved with the Firebreak Initiative and Frederick Langston is their go-to guy for more information about the Corrupted Items that are on the loose.
  - Successfully sealing the Furnace in "Hot Fix" can sometimes have Hank refer to Ahti as that "foreign janitor" who he hopes will come back to the Maintenance Sector soon.
  - With the main threat of "Outbreak" being the Mold, who else but Raya Underhill would make a reappearance? She seems to have found a place with Firebreak as one of its volunteers.
- The Hiss Sharpened make a reappearance since their debut in Control's The Foundation DLC, now as the Hiss type that's encountered the most by Firebreak crews aside from Guards and Elevated. Though they have lost their ability to move quickly in short bursts and throw their pickaxes at you, they make up for it with their sheer numbers.
Cap: The highest Reputation level a Firebreaker can attain is currently set at 200, while the highest Rank a Crisis Kit can achieve is set at 9. Additionally, 200 is also the limit to the number of Lost Assets and Traces that a determined Firebreaker can amass.
Cassette Futurism: Because of the FBC's rules regarding the Oldest House's incompatibility with modern technology, employees are unable to use any equipment developed past the 1970s or 80's.
Chandler's Law: Taking too long with completing a mission objective will have the Hiss spawn in to incentivize Firebreakers into doing so. This also gets invoked by the time they're allowed to evacuate back to the Elevator, as the Hiss will near-constantly spawn in to pressure them into leaving the Jobsite.
- An alternate mission objective introduced in the Breakpoint update, "Recovery", can have Firebreak crews rushing around a zone to gather certain objects, all while waves of Hiss continuously spawn in to try and stop them.
Character Customization: The game features a variety of customization options for your Crisis Kits and character. Along with any collected materials being used to add new Perks or upgrade them for fine-tuning your Loadout to affect gameplay, further customizations (ie. armor pieces, voice packs, etc.) which doesn't give you any advantages are also available to be earned with the same materials, or bought after paying with real money.
Cherry Tapping: It's entirely possible for Fix Kit and Jump Kit users to defeat the Hiss using their tools. The latter Crisis Kit is more suited for it as the Impactor can hit multiple enemies, whereas the Wrench takes up more effort to kill them with.
Chiaroscuro: The "Ramen Lantern" Corrupted Item disables every non-natural light source when it appears, all to have itself be the only one available. While it does makes it harder for a Firebreak crew to see in the dark while they're away from it, its light conversely makes it easier to spot and Neutralize.
Close-Range Combatant: The Hiss Sharpened and Breakers excel in melee, but are otherwise useless against Firebreakers until they're within range of them. As they hit hard, keeping your distance or gaining height is the key to surviving their attacks.
Color Motif:
- Yellow. It's the first of three colors Firebreakers are familiar with, which signifies mission-critical objectives or paths leading to Safe Rooms that are needed supply pit stops for fighting the Hiss.
- Red. The second color Firebreakers see the most, it represents danger and unpowered machinery. If it's red, then it needs either killing or charging.
- Green. The third color Firebreakers hope to see, it refers to security and recovery - as is depicted in the form of powered up machinery and showers.
Combat Resuscitation: When a Firebreaker loses all of their Health, they enter the Downed state, where they must either wait for a crewmate to revive them at 65% of their Health or choose to accept death in order to redeploy as a fresh volunteer on the Job.
Comical Overreacting: Most Firebreakers react violently to becoming covered in Pink. While it is very dangerous, since getting coated in the stuff makes one extremely liable to blow up, their alarmed shouts of "PINK!" does make it seem like they're much more worried about being painted all over in a completely unflattering color instead of an explosive death.
Firebreaker: "Pink?! No no no!"
The Pencil Pusher: "PINK!! HOW DO I GET THIS OFF?!"
The Firestarter: "Pink? Not good."
The Lab Rat: "A pink hue. That is unfortunate. How does one become unpinked?"
The Dave: "PINK?! NOOOOOOOOO!!"
Conspiracy Theorist: The Firestarter is hardened and wary from her time working in Disposal before the Hiss Invasion, and she openly questions the way why things are done as they are within the Bureau. Not that she can be faulted for it, to be honest.
Content Warning: When booting up Firebreak, the game always opens up with a Photosensitivity Warning reminding players that epileptic symptoms may be caused by the gameplay, and encourages those who may be at risk from an epileptic seizure to immediately stop and consult their doctor.
Controllable Helplessness: As of the Breakpoint update, Downed Firebreakers are now able to crawl around until they either get revived, have their revive timer count down to zero or choose to die. This is to ensure that their crewmates can easily get to them, especially when they're in an environmental hazard.
Cowardly Mooks: Shufflers are just as likely to book it away from you just as they are likely to stand and fight while taking damage. Given they're important targets in "Paper Chase" due to being major chunks of your objective in dire need of destroying, hunting them down becomes vital to completing the Job in a timely and efficient manner.
Critical Staffing Shortage: This is part of the reason why there are only three Firebreak agents to a crew when more than that would make their Shifts easier: There are simply too many issues to deal with and not much manpower left to spare in the aftermath of Control, which is further complicated by Hank only accepting volunteers who genuinely want to do more for the FBC into the Division's ranks.
Darkness Equals Death: The Hiss spawn more often in the dark, generally in areas where there's a broken fuse box or unpowered generator nearby. Leaving them alone is not a good idea, as not only are the Hiss likely to overwhelm a Firebreak crew through all of their waves spawning in faster, the Firebreakers themselves will also take longer with completing their objectives from having their visibility impaired.
Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Until the very end of a Shift, a Firebreak crew has a number of redeploys which activate from the nearest opened Safe Room. Once the last one is used up, a countdown begins for it to be restored, but in the meanwhile they can get back into the fight until they run out of redeploys again - all at the cost of dropping their collected Lost Assets at the spot where they died each time.
- Zig-Zagged, in the sense that although players do respawn after getting killed, the 'lives' they lost don't - all subsequently spawning Firebreakers are stated to be other volunteers who may or may not have the same Loadout as their predecessors had... but still happen to wear the same armor pieces they wore whilst sharing the same voice.
Depleted Phlebotinum Shells: The Altered Material Utility Initiative was a plan devised by Jesse to utilize Altered Items as Lethal Joke Items against the Hiss.
- The "Piggy Bank" is attached to the Fix Kit's Wrench via a holster to create a damaging cyclone of coins upon being smashed open against or swung towards a target, where then it will linger for some time before trailing after its user to be reused again upon its reformation.
- The "Garden Gnome" is launched from the Jump Kit's Impactor to create a localized lightning storm centered around it, which also happens to home in on the nearest living being while it's active. It can both easily clear a wave of Hiss and down its user if they aren't careful with aiming it.
- The "Teapot" is heated up by the Splash Kit's Ejector to have the tool release superheated water to extensively damage and burn the Hiss with, briefly turning the normally supportive Crisis Kit into an offensive one. However, it's prone to igniting its own user as well as their crewmates.
Deflector Shields:
- Firebreakers have Resonance Shields from their HRAs to help them survive the many dangers they may face on their Shifts. They have the benefit of being strengthened, but only for as long as each Firebreaker stays close to one another. The Crew Perk, Influential, increases the distance they are allowed to move in before they lose their boosts.
- Powerful Enemies have their own version of one, appearing as a pulsing, transparent mass of red resonance around their bodies. It reduces the damage they take, and makes them stand out from the other Hiss in the chaos of a Job.
Destructible Projectiles: Mold Turret projectiles can be shot at by attentive players while they're cruising towards their targets. It helps that they're around the size of a head, though players should avoid shooting them too close as they'll still leave behind spores.
Difficulty Levels: A Job can be set between four Threat Levels - Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme - which indicates the amount and intensity of Hiss and hazards the Firebreakers will encounter on it. Another scale, called Distortion, can also affect it:
- Quick Crisis, which has a Job wrap up after its second zone, but is likelier to have dangerous alternate mission objectives instead of the usual.
- Corrupted, which can have up to three Corrupted Items menacing a crew over the course of a Job.
Double Meaning: The Jump Kit gives Firebreakers the Impactor, an electrical battering ram. As the name suggests, not only can it be used to jumpstart generators by skipping the minigame to power them up, the Impactor can also catapult its user high into the air after they target the ground with its charged alternate fire, avoiding obstacles or Hiss.
Draw Aggro:
- While all Crisis Kits can attract enemy attention through their Improvised Items, the Jump Kit's Boombox is the best one suited for it. It incites the Hiss into attacking it through its loud music and flashing lights, and once enough damage has been dealt to it or enough time has passed since it was powered up, it will then violently explode - taking out or heavily damaging the Hiss around it.
- The "Rubber Duck" Corrupted Item turns the Firebreaker it has chosen to 'abnormally bond' with into the Hiss's singular focus of their wrath. Until it's Neutralized or unless other Firebreakers happened to get in their way, the Hiss will never stop hounding after its hapless victim.
Drop-In-Drop-Out Multiplayer: Quick Reinforce is this for non-host players looking for an active Shift. They can enter one at almost any point (except for when the evacuation back to the Elevator begins) and also leave it whenever they want. The host players, on the other hand, will have the Shift end for everyone else if they quit out of it before it's finished.
Early Game Hell: Firebreak initially starts off this way, as players are intended to go on many Jobs at low Threat Levels to get used to the gameplay while they earn experience and resources. Once they have enough of a handle on the game mechanics and a deeper understanding of their Crisis Kits and Perks, however, that will be when the game starts to shine and become chaotically fun to play.
Elevator Action Sequence: To complete a Shift, a Firebreak crew must defend themselves from the Hiss one last time while waiting for the Elevator to arrive. When it finally does, Firebreakers have until they flip the lever to leave the Jobsite, during which the Hiss may still attack even as the doors close.
Elite Mooks: As of the Breakpoint update, the Corrupted Rangers, Hiss Demolition Experts and Hiss Armored Guards towards the Hiss Guards. All Ranger variants have more Health and hit hard, the Demolition Experts have uncanny accuracy and can break a Firebreaker's Resonance Shield with just one hit from their rockets, and the Armored Guards can tank more hits while still being able to pack quite the punch with their guns, on top of being nearly as numerous as their unarmored counterparts.
Endless Game: The Endless Shift gamemode, natch. Players are expected to keep on fighting the Hiss until they all get Downed during a wave, and to lessen the sting of 'losing', they are also given an appropriate amount of Lost Assets and/or Traces as added compensation for lasting as long as they possibly could, aside from the chance of unlocking new Enhancements and having some linger on them.
Enforced Technology Levels: As per the Cassette Futurism trope further above, this is the reason why Firebreak has access to a very eclectic variety of outdated and non-standard gear, the latter of which had to be developed in-house in order to circumvent this issue and supplement their limited arsenal.
The Engineer: Firebreakers using the Fix Kit are given a Wrench that allows them to skip fixing machinery via the minigame to repair them, by way of directly whacking them back into working order again with it instead. They can also set up Swivel Cannons or repair any broken ones found across Jobsites for temporary but potent firepower against the Hiss.
Everyone Chasing You: The Hiss will immediately home in to your location to try and keep you from finishing your Shifts. It's subverted for the melee Hiss when you're on a ledge that they can't reach, but it's absolutely played straight for the airborne ones.
Evil vs. Evil: The Hiss and the Mold in "Outbreak". If there are no Firebreakers nearby, they will proceed to fight each other until one side falls or is transformed. This can prove helpful to players, as the Hiss will be divided between harassing them and the Mold.
Experience Points:
- Finishing Shifts, successfully or otherwise, grants players an increase towards their Reputation, which is their in-game level in all but name. The higher your Reputation becomes, the more your character has earned their access to their gear and even better quality Perks, culminating in an agent who's prepared to take on anything the Hiss can afford to throw at them... and then some.
- A secondary system of this is also used for the three Crisis Kits you can choose from. The longer you play as each, the higher your Rank in them becomes, even in the Shifts you have failed to complete. Rank up, and you'll gain access to an additional slot for Perks in the respective Crisis Kit until the slot limit is reached.
Explosive Barrels: Averted. You can shoot at fire extinguishers you can find across Jobsites to briefly turn any Hiss near them into Frozen targets, which will immensely slow them down until they thaw out. They can also quickly put you out if you're on Fire.
Explosive Stupidity: Your Grenades are just as deadly to you as they are to the Hiss. Throwing one at your feet, or at an enemy too close for comfort is bound to deal serious self-damage, if not outright knock you and your crewmates out of the fight.
The Faceless: The playable Firebreakers all wear masks or helmets which covers up their entire face. Hank is stuck in a large containment tank you don't get to see into, and Jerry never faces the players.
Falling Damage: Falling from considerable heights damages your Health as expected, which is reflected by your character entering an animation where they briefly smack against the ground before getting back up again. If you're unlucky enough, you can even get Downed from doing so - though it's hard to pull off outside of certain zones in some Jobsites.
Falling into the Cockpit: While the game starts you out with Hank teaching you the basics of doing a Job and using a Crisis Kit, almost everything else is learned the hard way, on the fly or by experimenting.
Fast-Killing Radiation: The leech pearls you must gather to fill the shuttle with in "Ground Control" emit radiation, and will eventually down fully Glowing Firebreakers if not treated in time. Possibly justified, as the things are from another dimension after all.
Festering Fungus: The Mold encountered in this game is a variant strain of the one in Control, but it's just as dangerous - while the Mold Walkers and Mold Turrets here can't directly damage Firebreakers, they can apply rapid Mold build-up instead, which when combined with a wave of Hiss can transform them into Mold Walkers upon getting Downed while Moldy. Not just that, but the Jobsite itself can passively add to its build-up the more players break up its 'trees' and linger in the spores they briefly leave behind.
First Day from Hell: A letter of correspondence you can read during a loading screen, and incidental dialogue between him and Jerry, mentions Hank is the head of the "Facility and Resource Deployment Services Division", now more widely known as the "Firebreak Initiative" or simply just "Firebreak". He was isolated in Orientation when the Hiss first struck and the rest of his Department were all killed to the last, making him the new boss by dint of his survival.
Flawed Prototype: An incidental dialogue between Jerry and Hank has the former mentioning that he discovered files about a defunct Crisis Kit called the Burn Kit. According to Hank, it happened to kill more Firebreakers than it did the Hiss, leading the Initiative to quietly shelve it but continue to tinker around in the hopes of potentially creating other Crisis Kits.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Fix Kit users are able to do this to the Hiss via their Wrench Rush ability. However, doing so rapidly drains their stamina, and may get them into deep trouble if timed badly or done wrong.
Foreshadowing: Some incidental dialogue from Hank has him bringing up power outages that seem to be caused by the dark, which are growing in frequency. This was the first in-game teaser for the Blackout update that was announced for the Winter of 2025.
The Friend Nobody Likes: The Dave's personality is at odds with the professionalism the rest of the FBC has, with his role in the "Surviving the Workplace" videos highlighting how his lack of caution in his actions or concern for their consequences often puts the others at risk (or frustrates them). To his credit, The Dave does give it his all during Shifts.
Friendly Fireproof: Downplayed. Should you injure a crewmate with one of your attacks, their character will complain about the friendly fire, but the damage they take is significantly reduced, making killing them by accident much harder than it should be.
- The Crew Perk, Side Eye, also further reduces any damage you take that's caused by a crewmate.
- The Jump Kit's "Garden Gnome" plays it straight. Crewmates can walk through its lightning storm with no issue, though its own users can get hurt or even Downed if they don't run away from it.
Gadgeteer Genius: Firebreakers are collectively this out of necessity. They even have what appears to be a dedicated workshop at their headquarters in the main menu. Most of their gear - such as their Crisis Kits, Improvised Items and their Grenades - are well thought out and surprisingly effective inventions in spite of looking like they're made out of random junk.
Gaiden Game: While it's set in the RCU and directly picks up from the open ending of Control, the game is a spin-off without much major plot developments, and rather than continue the story of Jesse Faden, the prospective shifts to a crew of FBC grunts doing legwork for the wider organization.
Game Lobby: Firebreak's main menu doubles as one when a player has chosen a Job they want to go on, if they haven't joined one that's already in progress via Quick Reinforce. A Shift also cannot start until the host player is Ready, with the others having up to a minute left to prepare or be Ready if they aren't.
Game Over: If a Firebreak crew has run out of their available redeploys while all members are Downed, then their Shift will be immediately counted as a failure. The players will then be brought to the results screen where Hank will agonize over their deaths.
Gameplay and Story Integration: A player respawning is stated to be a new volunteer entering the Jobsite. If a player joins a Job in the middle of a Shift, that also uses up a redeploy, since they're still a new volunteer. Conversely, a player who leaves a Shift will give back a redeploy for another to join in with.
Gang Up on the Human: Both the Hiss and the Sticky Notes of "Paper Chase" won't even bother with trying to fight each other. Instead, they will happily work together to kill any Firebreaker they come across, which only adds to the difficulty of finishing the Job.
Gas Mask Mooks: A Firebreaker can be a rare heroic example of this if they wear the "Samurai", "Hotshot", "Researcher" or "Dearie Me" helmet pieces, as well as any of their Revisions.
Gatling Good: As per Control, a variant of the Hiss Trooper wields a Gatling gun to hinder and harass Firebreakers with. These Troopers are quite accurate with it too, and it's just powerful enough to down you if you stay within their line of sight for too long.
- The "Rotary Cannon" holds 150 bullets per drum, which its high fire rate makes very good use of. Combine it with the Spray Mod, Ammo Belt, and a Firebreaker can mow down waves of Hiss in a single sitting. Sadly, it's also very heavy and has an abysmally slow reload speed, requiring crews to coordinate just so its users can make the most out of it in spite of its drawbacks.
Gender-Blender Name: As the names of Powerful Enemy Hiss are randomized, this can lead to bizarre moments where you can, for example, fight off a Guard named Laura Baker - despite the Guard in question being male. Or encounter a Distorted whose name is Larry Walker, despite being female.
Genki Girl: The default female Firebreaker voice packs are very eager and chipper in all that they do as volunteers for Firebreak.
The Ghost: Mentions are sometimes made of other Firebreak agents or FBC employees from different Divisions who remain unseen, unlike Jerry and Hank.
Giant Mook: On certain waves in an Endless Shift, a gigantic Hiss Trooper will spawn in as a major threat that a crew has to kill or avoid. Unlike base Troopers, it takes less time to fire and is more damaging with its attacks, making it a trial for players to see if they can survive the waves it appears on.
Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Certain skins that are available for some Guns and armor sets can turn them a noticeably shiny gold, or at the very least turn small parts of them into such.
Gravity Screw: The "Wolff Globe" Corrupted Item gives Firebreakers permanent low gravity up until it's Neutralized. It's one of the few Corrupted Items whose effects can be used to your advantage, with floatier jumps making it easier to avoid enemies or obstacles and travel vertically - although it makes moving along the ground slightly slower than usual.
Grenade Launcher: The other variant of the Hiss Trooper wields one to down Firebreakers with. Players have three seconds to run from their fired payloads before they explode and take out big chunks of their Resonance Shields or Health.
- The Secondary Fire of the "Scattergun" functions like this. It's notably the only Gun in the game so far where Firebreakers can easily unleash heavy explosive firepower upon the Hiss, outside of their Grenades and two of their Improvised Items.
Grenade Spam: Equipping the Player Perk, Pin Collector, allows a Firebreaker to carry an additional Grenade per Perk tier, meaning that up to 18 of them can be carried by a crew altogether when Resonant.
- Corrupted Airborne Rangers will often throw out Grenades at Firebreakers in between attacking them, which is why a crew should take them down before they get wiped out by their very accurately thrown explosives.
Guide Dang It!: While the Breakpoint update added whiteboards informing Firebreakers of the dangers of their Jobsite and how to deal with them by the starting points of their Shift, they're easy to miss if players aren't paying attention.
- Leeches in "Ground Control" spew out their juices when they're destroyed. Getting drenched in them temporarily makes you immune to Glow, but this isn't mentioned in-game. Leech juice doesn't have a gauge like the other Harmful Conditions, too.
- In "Outbreak", exposing yourself to a source of Cold is one of the few ways you can get rid of Mold build-up. Hank doesn't mention this at all.
- As a Jump Kit user, you can pull off a unique slide movement combo that allows you to traverse a Jobsite a lot faster than by chaining Impactor Jumps together. But at no point does the game ever tell you or even hint about it^note.
- In the Endless Shift gamemode, leaving the small orbs of Corruption alone to later accumulate into bigger ones over time will earn you more of it than you would by picking them up immediately. The Hiss dying in the same spot or close enough also speeds up the accumulation rate of the orbs. Neither are mentioned or hinted at by the game.
Hand Cannon: The "Revolver" used in-game is a compact 4-inch (10 cm) Colt Python. As a Precision-type Gun, it packs a very powerful punch per shot and has a limited piercing effect to compensate for its low clip capacity and ammo reserves.
Harder Than Hard: A Shift taken on Threat Level Extreme is this, as Hiss waves will spawn in more frequently and with far greater numbers or diversity. It can be very challenging to finish - especially when Corrupted Items are involved - although the rewards earned can be Worth It.
Heal It with Water: Showers, sinks and Humidifiers heals all wounded Firebreakers when interacted with, as well as puts out Harmful Conditions such as Fire, Sticky Notes, Glow and Pink. The Splash Kit's Ejector and sprinklers found in Safe Rooms or elsewhere will also reduce their build-up.
Healing Shiv: The Healing Grenade works this way, fully restoring the Health of injured Firebreakers when thrown at them, as well as reducing Harmful Condition build-up. Against the Hiss, however, it simply soaks them Wet instead.
Heavily Armored Mook: Hiss Troopers return from Control in this role. Massive and equipped with the FBC's heaviest weapons and armor, they're one of the greatest roadblocks to Firebreak crews aside from Powerful Enemies - especially given they're likely to be one of them - who can slow down their progress towards Shift completion. They also tend to spawn in pairs, making it harder to defeat them.
Hero with Bad Publicity: An anonymous note being passed around the Bureau reveals that there is a growing number of Bureau operatives who suspect Jesse deliberately brought the Hiss into the Oldest House and murdered Trench to usurp control as Director. Considering that the circumstances of the Slide Projector and the Prime Candidate Program were all classified in the last game, it's likely that this is a mix of False Cause logic, a lack of transparency from the higher-ups, and just a general need for someone to blame in the hopeless situation they've all been dealing with for the past six years.
Hitbox Dissonance:
- When a Hiss Breaker is brought to its knees after being stunned, its host's upper body is exposed. Due to a bug however, you must shoot at it from up close, as the game will treat your attempts to kill it from range as if you're directly shooting at its armored body instead.
- Due to another bug which sometimes causes them to appear looking like a limb-flailing ball, your shots may not register against the Hiss Charged whenever they're in this buggy state.
Hit-and-Run Tactics: A Firebreaker standing their ground is well and good, but staying in one place for too long can gradually get them overwhelmed by the Hiss. Running and gunning is sometimes the better choice, especially on Jobsites with open spaces.
- The Hiss Distorted does this to the Firebreakers themselves. After attacking, they'll flit back a fair distance away from their targets before creeping in to attack again, which makes killing them an issue if you can't tell where they're coming from.
Hoist by Their Own Petard:
- Fix Kit users can end up getting themselves and their crewmates Downed by a Swivel Cannon they set up, despite Friendly Fireproof being in play. Their Improvised Item is just that powerful, so staying out of the direction it's pointing at is usually your best bet towards avoiding that fate.
- The Jump Kit's "Garden Gnome" Altered Augment will chase after its user if there's no other living being in the area. If you do need to launch it, get ready to run once the Hiss you fired it at are dead.
- Likewise with the Jump Kit, the Splash Kit's "Teapot" Altered Augment can easily set its user and their crewmates on Fire. Aim it further away than usual to prevent you and your crew from being cooked alive by beyond boiling-hot water.
Hold the Line: The end of every Shift signals the moment where you and your crew must return to where you entered the Jobsite from in order to call down the Elevator, where then you all must hold out against a final swarm of Hiss until it arrives.
- Another alternate mission objective, "Survive the Hiss", has Firebreakers preparing themselves in order to withstand an onslaught of Hiss instead of completing their current zone's usual objective.
Horror Hunger: Holding on to a Mold Spore for too long will have your character take a big bite out of it, increasing their Mold build-up by a large margin. This is a nod to how the original version of the Mold lured its victims into consuming itself via its pheromones.
Human Sacrifice: The "Condor Ascender Ski Lift" is an Altered Item that takes the form of a two-seater ski lift, which encases anyone who rides it in ice. If not given any humans to freeze to death, it causes severe weather anomalies instead. The Bureau uses Mannequins as a workaround to its demands.
Hyperspace Arsenal: This is perhaps the only likely explanation for how a Firebreaker can carry their Gun and its ammo, their Crisis Kit's tool and Improvised Items as well as some Grenades all at the same time, not to mention their Altered Augment.

I-R

Immune to Bullets: What makes Hiss Breakers a troubling threat to Firebreakers is the fact that their bodies have mutated to the point where ordinary bullets will not damage them, at all, if they've been shot anywhere else other than their sole weak point.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Surprisingly averted for the ranged Hiss in general. Give them enough time to get a bead on you or to charge up their attacks, and they'll whittle away at your Resonance Shield and/or Health until you're Downed. The only time they can miss you is while you're on the move, or when you've just taken cover.
Improperly Placed Firearms: The Rangers' Lewis gun returns as Firebreak's "Machine Gun", and is still the only WWI-era gun around as of this time of writing.
Improvisational Ingenuity:
- Shock Grenades can be used to power up generators very quickly compared to doing so manually, which is a big help in "Hot Fix" where they're grouped in fours, and in "Freezer Duty" where heaters are used against Frost Anomalies.
- You can discharge both modes of the Jump Kit's Impactor against the Hiss, essentially turning the tool into an infinite use crowd control shotgun, which is extremely effective when used under a sprinkler or when paired together with Perks that synergizes with its Shock and Stagger effects.
- Using the Splash Kit's "Teapot" Altered Augment on Humidifiers will make them spray out burning hot water instead of healing Firebreakers, while turning it on Frost Anomalies in "Freezer Duty" will also melt them without the need for heaters.
- Saving the fuse boxes within the vents for last in "Hot Fix" can leave you stuck inside if you can't get out in time. Shooting at one of the generators outside before the fan starts spinning at full tilt will eventually disable it, allowing you to escape.
- In "Paper Chase", wet Sticky Notes can be easily dealt with through the Jump Kit's Impactor. A Splash Kit user can douse as many of them as they can just for a Jump Kit user to zap once, which will quickly destroy clusters of them.
- As for "Ground Control", you can throw leech pearls into the spot where a wave of Hiss will spawn in, causing them to suffer from Glow build-up that will damage them over time once they're afflicted. Also, you can line or pile them up near active Boomboxes to have self-disposing Hiss.
- Throughout "Frequency Shift", tight clusters of Pink will block your crew's path almost every step of the way. Clear just enough to climb over or slide under the rest, and any Hiss chasing after you will be forced to go through them, giving you precious time to complete your objectives safely while they're slowed down to a snail's pace.
- "Outbreak" has multiple coolers placed across its Jobsite that can turn both the Hiss and the Mold alike Frozen solid. Players can take their time lining them up at chokepoints in order to take advantage of their rapid Cold build-up, giving them and their crew much needed breathing room while they go and complete objectives.
Improvised Armor:
- The playable Firebreakers mainly have "uniforms" made out of whatever they could piece together from actual FBC uniforms and other random accessories, which mirrors their informal yet important role in keeping the Bureau safe.
- Out of the three default outfits, the "Samurai" armor set best exemplifies the trope: It's a weird combination of clothing that hails from different Departments - with Black Rock scraps being converted into its armor plates - that's topped off by its helmet's punk-esque paintjob of cyan.
Improvised Weapon: Black Rock Neutralizers. While they're mainly used for ridding a Shift of Corrupted Items, there's nothing stopping a desperate or canny Firebreaker from spraying away their payloads at incoming Hiss to Stun them in their tracks, though for obvious reasons it's highly recommended that a crew should stick to using either their Guns or tools instead for whenever they have to deal with the Hiss.
In a Single Bound: Jump Kit users can easily traverse Jobsites by performing an Impactor Jump, which is achieved by unleashing their tool's fully charged alternate fire against the ground to gain verticality.
Incoming!: Pinging an enemy has your character call out its presence, and also gives it a red outline for your crewmates to easily see it through anything. This is invaluable for keeping an eye out on deadly Hiss, like a Breaker, Trooper or especially a Distorted.
Incredibly Obvious Bomb: The Jump Kit's Improvised Item, the attention-grabbing Boombox, is this. It's in the name, figuratively speaking - once it's powered on, the Hiss will attack it until it literally blows them up despite them seeing the clearly labeled blocks of Semtex that were perfectly fit into its frame.
Infernal Retaliation: To highlight their now inhuman nature, none of the Hiss are actually stopped by Fire until they're killed, and benefit in the meanwhile as their movement and attack speeds gets boosted. This means burning Hiss will gladly chase after Firebreakers to ignite them before they go down themselves, which can be a far more dangerous prospect than a horde of unimmolated foes.
Infinite Flashlight: All Firebreakers are equipped with one to help them to see easier in the dark. It has a respectable range and width to it, though it will occasionally start to flicker if left on for too long.
Innocently Insensitive: Part of the reason why The Dave seems to be disliked by many in the FBC is his lack of tact regarding the lockdown and the Hiss, the latter of whom he assumes are not people despite most of them being possessed FBC personnel.
Instant Armor: The "Riot Helmet" Corrupted Item grants an armor bar to all enemies, making them harder to put down. Firebreakers are recommended to Neutralize it before entering a new zone in a Job, lest their progress stalls from waves upon waves of armored Hiss steadily pushing them back.
Instant Ice: Just Add Cold!: The "Jasper Post Box" Corrupted Item turns the Jobsite it appears in unnaturally Cold, which is enough to cause both Firebreakers and Hiss alike to start freezing up. When fully Frozen, movement and attack speed is slowed to a crawl - thus, make sure to Neutralize it so that you and your crew are able to make quick getaways again, especially towards the Elevator.
Interface Screw:
- Losing your Resonance Shield can have broken blue glass-like shards appear on your screen, before fading away in a second or three.
- Reaching Critical Status will cause a blood-red haze to encroach from the corners of your screen, limiting your field of vision to its center. Restoring your Health past that point will quickly remove it.
- Being completely Wet will leave your screen damp with moisture, blurring out the spots where the water drips and condenses. Luckily, exposing yourself to a source of fire can get rid of it all.
- If Sticky Notes are removed by physically running through their areas, some of them will be stuck to your screen. Also, failure to remove them with any source of water or fire by the time they're fully blocking your view will result in an instant death.
- Standing too close to a leech when you kill it will get its viscera smeared over your screen, which impairs your vision until it wears off. However, it also has the positive side-effect of making you Glow-resistant, so bearing with the leech juice can be worthwhile to get the Job done.
- Being coated with Pink will cause globs of it to stick to your character, which can make looking for and aiming at incoming Hiss an issue. A brief trip to a shower or sprinkler will wash them off.
- Getting covered in Mold will cloud the corners of your screen with it, mottling them a dark green.
Inter-Service Rivalry: There seems to be a degree of reciprocated animosity between the heads of the Rangers and Firebreak. While Arish is his boss, Hank does not appreciate his oversight and seeming unwillingness to do more than just protecting the surviving FBC employees holed up in Executive. For Arish's part, he has the Rangers often give Firebreak gear that are more or less hand-me-downs in poor condition, with him forwarding a document voicing his concerns about Hank towards Jesse.
Invincible Minor Minion: Unlike in Control, Astral Spikes are slightly less of a deadly nuisance here than they were in the previous game, as they now roam randomly around Jobsites and don't seem to actively chase after Firebreakers.
- Downplayed with Mold Turrets; although they can be damaged, they can't be killed - but you can get a reprieve from their constant projectiles by shooting at or exposing them to a cooler.
Jumped at the Call: The Dave is rather pumped to be volunteering for Firebreak compared to the other voice packs. It's implied that he sees the operations the Initiative does as fun things to do to pass the time while waiting for the lockdown to lift, with many of his voice lines expressing his joy as he does them.
Justified Extra Lives: If a player dies on a Job, they're able to respawn at the cost of a volunteer redeploy, which is framed in-game as having a fresh Firebreak agent appear at the Elevator or at a Safe Room to assist their surviving co-workers. This is to ensure that a Shift has a moderate chance of succeeding, though the higher the Threat Level, the lesser the number of available redeploys a crew has for it.
Kaizo Trap: On the way back from a Shift, at literally the final point of necessary Job interaction, the manual control lever for the Elevator can break on use. This provides one final challenge as it has to be quickly fixed, all while the Hiss continue to stream in.
Kick the Dog: A Firebreaker who's on the Elevator at the end of a Job can flip the lever to begin leaving the Jobsite without the rest of their crew. Luckily, it can be interacted with again whilst a grace period of thirty seconds counts down, but those who still aren't on the Elevator past that point will be treated as MIA by the game - with all of their carried Lost Assets being considered lost along with their lives.
Kill Enemies to Open: This is one part of what makes killing a Powerful Enemy Hiss so very important: Firebreak crews literally cannot proceed with their current objectives - be it entering the next zone or evacuating from the Elevator - until it is killed, as Hank will insist upon having it removed as a threat.
Kill It with Fire: The Furnace of the Maintenance Sector is completely out of control. The ventilation systems are exploding with fire, and the Furnace itself is periodically giving off Heat Flares of blue fire. It can be sated for a time with barrels full of Black Rock being rappelled and fed into it, but it's by far the deadliest hazard of "Hot Fix" due to being able to very rapidly kill both Firebreakers and Hiss alike.
Kill It with Ice: The "Condor Ascender Ski Lift" Altered Item, the focus of "Freezer Duty", generates deathly cold temperatures. Before it was contained by the FBC, it killed several skiers by freezing them on their way up Whitebank Mountain. It's now going berserk and has completely frozen over its containment zone, on top of producing Frost Anomalies. It can only be sated for a time (originally annually, but now, much more frequently) by tricking it into thinking it's freezing people by placing Mannequins on its seats.
- Mold Walkers and Turrets are especially weak against Cold. Turning them Frozen through whatever means available will render them helpless, as well as massively reduce their otherwise considerable damage resistance.
Kill It with Water: Afflicting enemies with Wet through Perks/Mods, sprinklers, the Splash Kit's Ejector and Humidifiers (as well as Healing Grenades) will both noticeably slow them down and lower their damage resistance. Being Wet will also make them a lot more susceptible to Shock and Cold, and in fact enhances their effects on them to a much greater degree than they otherwise normally would have.
Laughing Mad: If set on Fire, a Firebreaker with The Firestarter voice pack will let out a long and chilling cackle. Based on some of her voice lines, working in Disposal wasn't good for her mental health at all.
Le Parkour: Despite their gear weighing them down, Firebreakers are still able to climb up most obstacles with surprising ease. Jumping up towards ledges while looking at a spot just beneath them will have your character pulling themselves up to get on them, although this does take practice and a general feel for what places can or can't be climbed by players.
- In fact, this is one of two ways how Firebreak crews can access the House Shift-affected Safe Room in "Paper Chase" for its rewards - despite it being in the ceiling - as the intercom to open it is actually interactable: All you need to do to get its Lost Assets and supplies is to keep climbing up.
Leeroy Jenkins: Firebreakers who don't wait for their crewmates to catch up can have all sorts of horrible situations happen to them, like getting caught in a Heat Flare in "Hot Fix" or being promptly Downed by the Hiss wave that they spawned in after opening a Safe Room. Players are generally better off staying as a group, unless they know what they're doing.
Let's Split Up, Gang!: While the game does heavily encourage Firebreakers to stick together, sometimes it can't be helped that they have to split up to carry out mission objectives faster. "Ground Control", "Freezer Duty" and "Outbreak" are prone to having this happen to crews, as they have them gather specific items for progressing through the Jobsites.
Lightning Bruiser: The "Snare Drum" Corrupted Item turns every single enemy in the game into this for as long as it's around, more so if they were already on Fire. If Firebreakers want to progress through their Jobs, then it would be in their best interests to find a Black Rock Neutralizer immediately.
Limit Break: Altered Augments act like this for the Crisis Kits, given that they're Altered Items approved for usage by Jesse. They're incredibly strong crowd control moves performed through their tools, but first have to be charged by killing Hiss, repairing or powering up machinery, putting out fires, completing objectives and through equipping certain Perks.
Limited Loadout: Firebreakers stick to using just one Gun along with the tool of their Crisis Kit - plus their Improvised Items and Grenades - on every Job until their completion. Justified, as their objectives are to deal with whatever's currently causing issues for the FBC, rather than straight-up exterminating the Hiss.
Living Motion Detector: The "Red Light" Corrupted Item is a stoplight which enforces this on Firebreak crews. If it approaches while its light is turning to red, anyone it "sees" must stop moving until its light turns green again, or else they'll start taking serious damage until its line of sight on them is broken.
Loading Screen: Once a crew is Ready to take on a Shift, them going into the Elevator is disguised this way by having documents show up on the screen. They are usually about correspondence between FBC employees, and if not, are often detailed memos informing readers of matters related to the Bureau.
Logical Weakness: Shufflers, Sticky Ricky and Sticky Notes in general are very weak to both water and fire. They can also be affected by electricity, but that's only after they've been made thoroughly Wet.
- The Mold is understandably susceptible to Cold. Walkers and Turrets are made harmless when fully Frozen, and being exposed to it is one of two ways you can get rid of the Harmful Condition or its build-up before suffering from being Moldy.
Long-Range Fighter: The Hiss Guards, Elevated and Troopers, Rangers and Demolition Experts pick up the slack of what the Sharpened, Breakers and the Distorted can't do to Firebreakers while they're out of their reach, but only after they've gotten them in their sights. Fortunately, they're fairly easy to kill before then, barring the Troopers and Rangers of course.
Luck-Based Mission:
- The placements of showers, ammo stations and mission-critical objects are all randomized, which may sometimes cause problems to players who were expecting them to be in their usual spots.
- Supplies and Black Rock Neutralizers are not guaranteed finds within Safe Rooms, as are Lost Assets. There being enough of the three inside of them to completely resupply or properly reward a Firebreak crew is also an entirely different matter.
- Preplaced Improvised Items are not always where you found them on a previous Shift, nor are they always of the same type you last saw them as. Their presence during a Job is also up in the air.
- Environmental hazards may or may not appear on Jobsites. Oil spills may be found already lit, unlit or completely missing, Astral Spikes may be all absent from their haunts, Frost Anomalies are either found in inconvenient spots or elsewhere, and Mold Turrets are either spaced out per area or are very dangerously bunched up together.
- The total amount of Lost Assets and Traces that can be found across Jobsites per Shift are not pre-determined. For example, a Shift can end with Firebreakers finding less of both (or none at all in the case of the latter) compared to other Shifts.
- There is no rhyme nor reason to the order of Corrupted Items that can appear during a Shift. They can also range from being life-threatening, annoying or even helpful to Firebreakers, though it depends on the Job and the zone they're in.
- There's no telling what types of Hiss might spawn in waves. They can be made up of Sharpened, Guards or Elevated, be a solid mix of Breakers and Troopers along with a few weak Hiss, be a host led by a deadly Distorted and her cabal of Charged, and so on. Or most if not all of them.
- Powerful Enemy Hiss don't always show up during a Job, though they are far more likely to while Firebreakers are evacuating to the Elevator. Their appearances are somewhat rare before then, but will increase in frequency the more dangerous the Threat Level of a Shift is.
- The first two zones of a Jobsite are likely to have an alternate mission objective instead of their usual standard ones, which are switched to either "Recovery" or "Survive the Hiss". The former has a Firebreak crew gathering a fixed set of one object while fighting off the Hiss, whereas the latter has them holding their ground until a Powerful Enemy finally arrives and dies at their hands.
Ludicrous Gibs:
- Leeches from "Ground Control" are very fragile. The smallest graze of gunfire can result in an entire batch of them exploding into high-pressure streams of biomaterial, which is even more so for their rare but highly sought-after giant variant.
- Killing a stunned Hiss Breaker will cause its host's upper body to explode in a shower of gore, which will cover and mark the spot it died in with blood.
- Powerful Enemy Hiss will burst into a hazy cloud of blood upon their deaths. This partially masks the sudden appearance of their Lost Asset drops.
MacGyvering: The core of the game's visual identity, as shown off in all of the marketing and trailers. Adaptability is specifically called out as a key quality of a Firebreak agent, and this is reflected in their weaponry and outfits, which are both functional and clearly cobbled together from whatever random scraps they had lying around. This even extends to their logo, which resembles wooden planks or pieces of yellow tape haphazardly thrown into being.
Made of Explodium: Pink, also known as Exogenic Matter, can cause this to happen on anyone it sticks to - it's the focus and main threat of "Frequency Shift" for that reason alone. Rightfully feared for its explosive nature and for its ability to reform within moments, any Firebreaker or Hiss that's fully covered in it becomes a liability to themselves and their allies, especially when they get exposed to Fire.
- A type of Pink resembling a leech pearl is worth keeping an eye out on for the extreme danger it poses - it's so sensitive, simply walking near it is enough to cause a chain reaction of explosions.
Madness Mantra: The returning Hiss Agents from Control that can be found levitating in Jobs are now chanting what seems to be a different version of their original mantra from six years ago. It's more unsettling, coherent and direct compared to before.
Major Injury Underreaction: Prolonged exposure to a form of interdimensional radiation from the leech pearls in "Ground Control" can be deadly, but aside from some groaning or worried questioning, the afflicted Firebreakers don't seem to react much to it.
Firebreaker: "Oof, my cell walls hurt."
Firebreaker: "And I am glowing."
The Pencil Pusher: "What does glowing mean again?"
The Firestarter: "This kind of glow, it's not good."
The Lab Rat: "What is this peculiar glowing?"
The Dave: "Ohohohoho! This energy... is this... chi?"
Man on Fire: Being fully lit on Fire will steadily cut through your Health until you're extinguished by a source of water. Alternatively, moving fast through means such as riding ziplines and using the Fix Kit's Wrench Rush, or falling from heights such as from after using the Jump Kit's Impactor Jump, can also helpfully put you out if there's no water nearby.
- An Effects Perk, Blazing Speed, allows you to exploit yourself being on Fire by having your movement speed boosted while you're burning.
The Medic: Splash Kit users take on this role through their Improvised Item. Theirs is the humble but very potent Humidifier, which is a deployable barrel that sprays out healing waters for themselves and their crewmates outside of the usual showers and sinks.
- The other Crisis Kits can also take up this role, though in a more immediate fashion by throwing out Healing Grenades at their injured crewmates.
Mini-Boss: Any Powerful Enemy Hiss that isn't a Distorted is this, to varying degrees of difficulty and danger. While the Sharpened, Guards and Elevated versions are fairly easy to beat, beating the Breakers, Troopers and Rangers requires you to work for it.
Mission Control: Hank is your guide throughout your Jobs. He is indicated to be in charge of controlling who's assigned to one, opening Containment Doors kept locked off to keep the Oldest House safe, and giving general tips throughout a Firebreaker's Shift.
Mook Medic: Hiss Clusters return from Control, and will once again heal other Hiss for as long as they're nearby. Thankfully, they aren't as flighty as they used to be, but this time they tend to hang back from the fighting or randomly float around, making it a hassle for Firebreakers to pop them.
More Dakka: Spray Guns carry more bullets per clip and fires them at faster rates compared to Blast and Precision Guns, in exchange for tending to deal less damage per second than the other two Gun types.
- The "Submachine Gun", which is a Grease Gun in all but name, is a very lightweight but less potent automatic Gun. It's incredibly useful for its quick reload speed and rate of fire against the Hiss, with a limit of up to 32 bullets carried per clip.
- The "Machine Gun", based on the WWI-era Lewis gun, is a wave-clearing beast of a Gun. The only issues it has are its heavy weight and slow reload speed, both of which are balanced out by it having up to 97 bullets to shoot with per clip.
- The "Rotary Cannon", which can be considered the same as the above Gun, but on steroids - with nearly twice its strengths and weaknesses. It can hold up to 150 bullets, and while already powerful as it is, it can be made even more so through the use of certain Spray Mod combinations.
Mushroom Man: Mold Walkers and Mold Turrets are this, being FBC personnel who ate some Mold after they succumbed to its alluring pheromones. The former are shambling husks who can transform both Firebreakers and Hiss alike into more of themselves, while the latter are stationary but quite invulnerable ranged Mold who can also turn those they target into more Walkers, if given time for their projectiles to hit.
Negative Space Wedgie: Once again, Astral Spikes. These moving, matter-wrecking blobs of hard sharp tiny cubes will down Firebreakers if they come into contact with them for any longer than a second or so. Thankfully, they're exclusive to "Ground Control", unless spawned in by the "Pickaxe" Corrupted Item.
Never Split the Party: Keeping all three members of a crew near each other is encouraged by the game. Not only is staying close to your crewmates the only way to quickly restore or enhance your Resonance Shield, if their Perks were brought up to be Resonant, then being in their vicinity also applies their Strong effects to you as well (and vice versa for your Perks).
- The Crew Perk, Influential, gives Firebreakers more wiggle room to move around in. It also boosts the maximum application range for the Strong effects of Resonant Perks.
Next Sunday A.D.: As with most Remedy games, Firebreak is set shortly after its release date. Control (2019) takes place in October 2019^noteThe game released in August 2019 as per the collectibles found in that game, and Firebreak takes place six years later, in 2025.
No Body Left Behind: The bodies of killed Hiss will vanish in a few moments after their deaths. Downed Firebreakers who were not revived in time or have accepted death will also have their bodies disappear.
- Averted by the deceased FBC personnel that can be found across "Paper Chase", although judging by the Sticky Notes seen stuck on them, it would seem that they're on their way to disappearing through post-mortem conversion into Shufflers.
- Also averted by the dead Bureau agents found in "Outbreak". They lack HRAs, and the Mold doesn't seem to be aiming to transform them too.
- Once again averted by the killed Firebreakers that can be found on Endless Shift Jobsites. The only difference is that there just seems to be no clear explanation as to why their bodies haven't already disappeared yet, despite their gear presumably having been scavenged by other surviving agents.
No Ontological Inertia: The "Pickaxe" Corrupted Item spawns in random Astral Spikes that roam Jobsites in order to hinder player progress. Neutralizing it will immediately make every Astral Spike it summoned disappear in an instant.
- Averted with the effects of the "Riot Helmet" and "Stapler" Corrupted Items. Neutralizing them will not remove the added armor and extra Health of the Hiss that spawned in while they were active, impressing upon a Firebreak crew the sheer need to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
No OSHA Compliance: Zig-Zagged all over the place. On one hand, the Oldest House does include railings and other safety measures within the building. On the other hand, they sometimes fall short, with all House Shift-affected areas lacking them completely.
Nominal Importance: All Powerful Enemy Hiss have a randomized name under their displayed Health bar, in stark contrast to their standard unnamed Mook counterparts who only have overhead Health bars.
Non-Damaging Status Infliction Attack:
- The Splash Kit's Ejector - besides putting out fires and washing off Harmful Conditions - can also be used to turn enemies Wet, which turns all kinds of Shock and Cold attacks extra effective against them than they otherwise would be.
- This is one of the reasons why hunting down Shufflers in "Paper Chase" is a risky endeavor, as they're notorious for their ability to rapidly cover up Firebreakers in Sticky Notes through all of their attacks - both up-close and from afar.
- Mold Walkers and Turrets do not directly harm Firebreakers and Hiss via their attacks, but the Mold build-up they can apply with them instead is what makes them a threat if not dealt with before they become too much of a hazard to ignore.
Noodle Incident: Whatever it was that caused Hank to be contained within a tank. It's implied that an Altered Item was involved, but the circumstances behind his encounter with it are left ambiguous.
Notice This:
- The Ping feature works like this, functioning as a way for players to alert their crewmates about something they've seen - such as broken or unpowered machinery, environmental hazards and more - by giving the item of interest an icon and an outline to have it be noticed more easily.
- Broken and unpowered machinery respectively have yellow and red lights on to indicate their inactive states, with sparks, water or fire coming out of them in the former's case.
- The Lost Assets and Traces you can pick up all glow different shades, and emit a specific noise when you're close by to indicate they're not just part of the scenery.
- As of the Rogue Protocol update, Hiss types who are being healed by a Cluster will have a jagged red aura around their heads tipping players off about it, while Firebreakers who are being healed by a shower or Humidifier will also have a bright prismatic shimmer show up around theirs for visually telling their crewmates.
Oh, Crap!: Most Firebreaker voice packs start to take on a panicked tone after their Resonance Shields are destroyed. Several of their lines while Downed or actively on Fire are also desperate begging for help, while being coated in Pink will have certain voice packs loudly react in horror at their misfortune.
- Some of them will also notably exclaim in fear or alarm upon pinging the more dangerous Hiss.
Ominous Walk: Well, it's more of an Ominous Power Walk, but Hiss Breakers do this on their way towards a Firebreaker. It's played straight with Hiss Troopers, owing to the combined weight of their heavy gear.
One-Hit Kill: Precision Guns excel at doing this towards the Hiss in general, with certain Precision Mods allowing them to go even further with it.
- The "Revolver" - while lighter but not as powerful compared to the other Guns of its type - allows keen-eyed Firebreakers to rapidly snap headshots off on the Hiss, on top of allowing them to easily reposition before they can get overwhelmed.
- The "Bolt-Action Rifle" is tailor-made to deliver these to the Hiss, so as long as their heads - or weak points - were shot at. It can also take out multiple weaker Hiss with body shots as well, due to the strong piercing effect of the Gun's rounds.
- The "Semi-Automatic Rifle" is more than capable of wiping out waves of Hiss by itself thanks to its incredible piercing power. In fact, one headshot from this Gun is usually enough to kill most Hiss types in the game, even on higher Threat Levels.
One-Steve Limit: The Muppets representing the three Firebreak agents in the "Surviving the Workplace" videos are named Alex, Alex and Dave.
Overheating: Using the Splash Kit's Ejector will fill up its heat gauge. Hitting its maximum limit through prolonged usage will force you to wait for it to cool down before you can start using it again.
Palette Swap: The unlockable cosmetics for armor sets are sorted into two categories: The armor sets themselves, and their subcategories which are called "Revisions". Revisions are essentially versions of the original armor sets with alternate paint jobs and/or additional accessories, whereas the Gun skins are either simple recolors or reskins with added details.
Percent-Based Values: Perk boosts work like this, with their values and increments depending on the kind of bonus they provide to a player. The more of one Perk is equipped, the more its strengths are felt.
Percussive Maintenance:
- Firebreakers using Fix Kits are equipped with a two-handed Wrench, primarily for patching up any damaged machinery they come across. They're repaired by being whacked with it in the exact same way that it's used as a blunt weapon. An Achievement for doing this enough times is literally called "Percussive Maintenance".
- In general, players can revive one another from any injury by quite aggressively slapping their fallen comrades on the back and brushing them off until they're good enough to get up and fight.
- If a Firebreaker is manually putting out burning oil spills, they will slap away at them until they're put out. Just try not to think about how they're able to do that to fires that can reach up to their chest.
Physical, Mystical, Technological: A Firebreaker's Loadout for their Gun, Perks and Crisis Kit is set up this way. The first is their main method of dealing with the Hiss. The second enhances their combat, support or utility abilities. The third gives them an additional role that focuses on an aspect of a Job.
Piñata Enemy:
- Hiss Troopers occasionally drop boxes of ammo upon their deaths. This can be a big help during Jobs where a Safe Room is too risky to open while a wave of Hiss is already on the way, as it spares Firebreakers from rushing into opened ones for more ammo before it hits.
- The rare Powerful Enemy Hiss you randomly fight can burst into pieces of Lost Assets and/or Traces once killed. As you're most likely in the middle of evacuating to the Elevator when you have to go and fight them, stopping to reap their dropped rewards is an inherent risk in itself.
- Corrupted Items will drop a guaranteed Trace upon being Neutralized. This gives Firebreakers another incentive to hunt them down, other than to stop their negative effects from continuing to hinder their crew and making their Shifts hard.
Pipe Pain: Hiss Breakers all spawn in wielding a battered length of piping for downing Firebreakers with. Caution must be maintained by players so they can avoid getting hit by their wide and heavy swings.
Point of No Continues: Players can join active Shifts up until their Job's completion, where at which point they're blocked from joining in during the evacuation back towards the Elevator. The evacuating players themselves are still allowed to die on said Shifts, assuming that they haven't run out of redeploys yet.
Possession Levitation: Hiss Agents are unfortunate FBC personnel who were overtaken by the Hiss, due to their lack of an HRA on their person just moments before the Hiss Invasion in Control began. Though harmless, they add to the eerie ambiance of Jobsites by levitating in place while reciting their new mantra.
Power Floats: The Hiss Charged, Clusters, Distorted, Elevated and Rangers float at least a foot above the ground. Meanwhile, some Corrupted Items will actively move around Jobsites this way while the rest will also sometimes float in place, albeit briefly.
Power Glows: Both variants of the Hiss Elevated will glow red to indicate that they're about to launch their projectiles or themselves at their targets. The Hiss Distorted will also bathe their surroundings in red when they scream at the Firebreakers they're after.
Power-Up: Defeating any Powerful Enemy Hiss in the Endless Shift gamemode will have them drop one - which persists until they're picked up - with each having a completely different effect than the last:
- Vacuum, a yellow pile of giant coins, instantly collects all Corruption in the area.
- Nuke, an orange starburst crystal, wipes out all weaker Hiss and heavily damages the stronger ones.
- Torch, a red uncut gem, sets all enemies ablaze.
- Snowflake, a white symmetrical snowflake, freezes all enemies.
- Healing Cell, a green glowing shard, heals (and revives) your entire crew.
Powerful Pick: The Hiss Sharpened wield one to attack Firebreakers with, and it is indeed powerful enough to make short work of their Resonance Shields and Health within a few hits. Considering how frail they are, it's rather telling that they're still not to be underestimated all because of this trope.
Precision F-Strike: Firebreakers who reach Critical Status will appropriately let out one of these, not just to express their panic and fear, but also to alert their crewmates of their condition. The Pencil Pusher voice pack uses Gosh Darn It to Heck! instead.
Pummeling the Corpse: The Hiss will continue to attack Downed Firebreakers if there's no one else in the vicinity for them to target. Thankfully, this does nothing to further injure Downed crewmates or have any negative effect on them whatsoever.
Purely Aesthetic Gender: While the body shapes of the playable Firebreakers are determined by their armor piece, their voice packs can have them sound like men or women. This has no effect on gameplay, other than to tell players whose Firebreaker is theirs during a hectic fight on a Shift.
Puzzle Boss: Sticky Ricky of "Paper Chase" is meant to be fought like this. Previous crews of Firebreakers have intentionally set up equipment in his arena that must be used to allow you and your crew to damage and stun him, respectively; a water system that will douse him Wet, and a generator system that will Shock and briefly render him helpless once Wet.
Quick Melee: Firebreakers have the ability to melee the Hiss with their Guns and tools, though it'll cost them a bit of their stamina per use. The Player Perks, Desperate Measures and Heavy Handed, can boost their melee damage to make doing so worthwhile.
- If you happen to get too close to a non-flying ranged Hiss type, they can also do this against you themselves. Surprisingly, getting hurt by their quick melee attacks is like getting hit by a truck.
Radio Voice: Firebreakers have headsets embedded within their helmet pieces for communicating with their crewmates over the radio, no matter how far they may be. Until they're physically close by again, a subtle staticky filter will be used on their voice lines.
Ragdoll Physics: A limited form of this can occur when most Hiss types are killed, causing them to drop, flop or fly away in the few moments that they have before their bodies disappear.
Random Event: While the spawn rates of Hiss waves are affected by the darkness of an area or upon the completion of an objective, they otherwise appear to happen by chance - though completing a Job will trigger waves to spawn in until the Shift is finished. Lastly, opening a Safe Room will also spawn in a wave unless the Enemies Perk, Low Profile, is used.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Most Hiss types fought in the game at least have red or black as part of their color scheme, with the Distorted taking this trope to its logical conclusion. The only exceptions are the two variants of Hiss Troopers, whose main colors are dark cobalt blue and lime yellow.
Red Is Violent: Brightly flashing spots of red light that's accompanied by shrieking marks the general location of where a wave of Hiss might spawn in to attack Firebreakers from during a Job. Players are recommended to plan and prepare accordingly in the scant few seconds they have before it arrives.
Regenerating Shield, Static Health: The sturdiness of Firebreakers is determined through this way, with their Resonance Shields allowing them to take hits that would normally down people and their Health being responsible for keeping them on their feet.
Right Way/Wrong Way Pair: Well, it's more like Right Way/Wrong Way Trio, but the principle is the same. In the "Surviving the Workplace" videos, the Alexes are the smart ones and Dave is the stupid one.
Road Runner PC: Firebreakers using the lighter Guns are fast enough to outrun all types of Hiss, including their crewmates who are using the heavier ones. In fact, the "Submachine Gun" is a popular player pick for allowing them to quickly move towards mission objectives or retreat from danger, while still being powerful enough to mow down waves of Hiss with.
- The Spray Mod, Stripper Clips, can also let them make use of its +25% movement boost to run even faster than normal.
  - Wielding a Black Rock Neutralizer while your Spray Gun is under the above Mod's effect also applies the boost to it as well, allowing for even speedier getaways from danger.
Roguelike: The Endless Shift gamemode introduced in the Rogue Protocol update is this, which pits a crew against increasingly powerful waves of Hiss to gather their Corruption from, allowing Firebreakers to buy Enhancements that boosts their capabilities to better survive them with. The goal is for a crew to last for as long as possible - the more Hiss waves they survive, the more lingering Enhancements they get which can greatly affect how they carry out up to two Jobs from the Containment gamemode.
Rule of Three:
- Firebreak originally began with Hank and two other people. From there, it more or less became a tradition unique to the Division, upheld by Hank in order to maximize the number of Firebreak crews the Division can afford to send on Shifts.
- Perks have three tiers to them that greatly boosts their initial effects when successively equipped. A single Perk is Weak, twice the Perk is Strong, and finally, thrice of the same Perk is Resonant.
- Jobs without the Quick Crisis Distortion have three zones that needs to be cleared up before a Firebreak crew is allowed to evacuate.
- Up to three Corrupted Items can show up to hinder a Firebreak crew during a Job with the Corrupted Distortion, the likelihood of which will increase the higher the Threat Level of the Job is.
- On occasion, the more dangerous types of Hiss can end up spawning in sets of three. While the Distorted are mercifully excluded, the Breakers and Troopers aren't, with the latter Hiss type still tending to spawn in pairs which can result in a poor hapless crew having to kill off six of them.
- Mold Spores in "Outbreak" appear as a fragile trio of glowing clumps, so dropping them down at or throwing them towards anywhere that isn't a Mold sample carrier or analyzer - as well as eating them - will reduce their number by one. A Mold Spore will be lost when all clumps are gone, so crews must be careful with handling them.
- Changes made to the Loadout system in the Breakpoint update now allows players to apply up to three different Mods to their Guns, giving crews access to extra firepower and new abilities.

S-Z

Sadistic Choice: The Safe Rooms - also known as Emergency Shelters - are one of two places that all Firebreakers can redeploy from besides the Elevator. They're often the only reliable source of Lost Assets and supplies on Jobsites too. Unfortunately, they're dangerous to open up - especially the deeper a crew goes into a Job - as doing so will summon a wave of Hiss, meaning careful teamwork and consideration must be had between players for handling such a threat so they can gather the resources inside them, and create a fallback point if they die during a Shift.
Sawed-Off Shotgun: The "Double-Barrel Shotgun" of course, which appears to be a Stoeger Coach Gun with a shortened stock. It's a lightweight Gun with a high rate of fire that belies the incredible firepower it's capable of, but it suffers from constant reloads due to its clip capacity of 2 shells - and from having a maximum ammo capacity of 62 shells in total.
Scenery Porn: Firebreak was developed using Remedy Entertainment's Northlight Engine, and it shows in the Brutalism of the Oldest House or in the weirdness of the game's Jobsites, all from a first-person view. There is always at least one zone of a Jobsite that allows for breathtaking sights a crew can take in and appreciate between lulls on the Job.
Self-Duplication: Another hazard to keep in mind when dealing with Shufflers is their ability to multiply. Your only warning that they're about to do so is when they'll abruptly double over, which is your cue to end them while they're splitting off a duplicate that's at full Health - although letting them do it can help you and your crew meet your Sticky Note quota faster.
Sentry Gun: The Fix Kit's Improvised Item, the Swivel Cannon, functions as one. It's essentially a fairly brittle cannon assembled from bits and pieces, but it's powerful enough to destroy the Hiss with ease. But in exchange, it has a slightly slower rate of fire and gets knocked back each time it shoots.
Shoot the Medic First: Popping Hiss Clusters should be the first thing a crew does whenever a wave of Hiss appears, as they essentially give out complete invulnerability to any and all nearby Hiss via their rapid rate of healing (excepting other Clusters). Taking too long to kill them can result in the other Hiss types overwhelming even a well-prepared crew.
Short-Range Shotgun: The Blast Guns are each powerful in their own right, but only when they're used on targets within their effective ranges. That said, the tight spread of their shots can quickly clear out crowds of Hiss and still hit distant targets even if the damage they deal while out of range is reduced.
- Averted with the "Pump-Action Shotgun", which is based on the Mossberg 500AT. Either by design or due to a bug, shooting while aiming down its sights will practically cause it to fire out a slug instead of buckshot - essentially enabling the Gun to retain its effectiveness over longer ranges.
Shotguns Are Just Better: Pairing any Blast Gun with the right type of Universal Mod allows Firebreakers to rapidly inflict their new special effects unto their targets, owing to the nature of their ammo. This makes them perfect for killing the tougher types of Hiss while up-close and personal, and especially for Neutralizing Corrupted Items via Black Rock Rounds.
Shout-Out:
- "Gnomed" is an Achievement that refers to this particular meme, which you get by being Downed by your very own "Garden Gnome".
- "Hitchcock Moment" is an Achievement for being Downed while in the middle of a shower.
- The artwork of the Firebreaker set seen when booting up the game has the words "Let the good times roll," stencilled onto their Crisis Kit.
- In one conversation, Hank asks Jerry to sing him "9 to 5" while he works.
- The name of the Effects Perk "Shake It Off" speaks for itself.
- The Job that ends with you launching a rocket into space is called "Ground Control".
Sickly Green Glow: Leech pearls glow green to reflect their highly radioactive properties. Both Firebreakers and Hiss alike who linger in their presence for too long will take on this quality themselves as a visual shorthand for their afflicted state, of which Firebreak officially refers to as the "Glow".
Sigil Spam: The Firebreak Division uses a unique logo (an upside-down yellow triangle with a line through the middle), which dot Safe Rooms and the correct path through a Job. It's also slapped onto most Firebreak gear. One of the first sprays a player gains access to includes a black version of it, and buying the Firestarter Classified Requisition pack will allow you to spray Firebreak's yellow logo itself.
Sinister Geometry: Hiss Clusters are ominous shiny spheres of red resonance that flit around on a whim. While they don't have any attacks of their own, their mere presence is enough to turn nearby Hiss types nigh unstoppable. Firebreakers will learn to dread their appearance and make it a point to pop any that they can see before it becomes too late for them.
Skill Scores and Perks: The new Endless Shift gamemode's Enhancements are this, consisting of a variety of flat or percentage-based boosts to certain aspects of a Firebreaker which helps them survive longer against the Hiss, along with some select Perks or Mods from the Containment gamemode. Unlike the latter, Enhancements can stack more than thrice to produce greater effects, with most designed to also synergize extremely well with each other.
Sniper Rifle:
- The "Bolt-Action Rifle" appears to be based on the Remington Model 700 BDL. While it does deal the most damage per shot out of all the Guns and will pierce through multiple Hiss with each trigger pull, its sore lack of a scope, low rate of fire and clip capacity of 5 rounds means that users must have exacting aim to make each shot count.
- The "Semi-Automatic Rifle" has 20 rounds per clip along with a powerful and very impressive armor-piercing capability - a single shot from this Gun will go through and kill multiple Hiss. Unlike the "Bolt-Action Rifle", it comes with a scope and can be modded to make it fire in bursts like a pseudo-Spray Gun, although it'll lose its sheer stability.
Socketed Equipment: As of the Breakpoint update, players can apply up to three different Mods to their Guns, which can drastically affect how well they fight the Hiss. Unlike most examples of this trope, they can be swapped out at no penalty, so feel free to find out what set of Mods will best suit your needs.
Sprint Meter: Firebreakers have a stamina bar which governs how long they can run for, as well as how many times they can jump or climb over obstacles and melee enemies before it gets emptied out.
- Their sprint speed is also determined by how light their gear is, which means that a careful balance of firepower and agility must be struck if they want to keep up with their crewmates.
Starter Equipment: Every Firebreaker starts out with the fundamental tools of the Crisis Kits, along with the "Double-Barrel Shotgun", the "Submachine Gun" and the "Revolver" as their available weapons. The Gunpowder Grenade is also their starting Grenade.
Static Stun Gun: The Jump Kit's Impactor can also be used this way against the Hiss, besides powering up machinery and jumping across Jobsites. Its range and ability to inflict Shock makes it a cool secondary weapon that can help keep the Hiss away from you.
Status Buff: The "Stapler" Corrupted Item grants extra Health to all enemies. While this doesn't sound too bad at first, it has multiple compounding effects which can ultimately make a Shift near-impossible to complete. Firebreakers must prioritize Neutralizing it if they don't want the Hiss overwhelming them.
Status Effect: Harmful Conditions serve as such in Firebreak. Being soaking Wet, caught on Fire, given a Shock, numbingly Cold and many more can affect both Firebreakers and the Hiss for the worst.
- Wet enhances a Firebreaker's resistance towards other Harmful Conditions, or removes them. For the Hiss, it noticeably slows them down while slightly increasing the damage they take. Wet also enhances the effects of Shock and Cold.
- Shock damages Firebreakers, while the Hiss are also hit with a Stun. Its severity affects how much of a Firebreaker's Health is lost and how long a Hiss type stays zapped for, with Wet boosting the effects of Shock to considerably lethal levels.
- Fire takes bites out of a Firebreaker's Health until it's extinguished. The same goes for the Hiss, but their movement and attack speeds are boosted to compensate for their guaranteed deaths. It also spreads from victims, ignites oil spills on the ground, and causes Pink to immediately explode.
- Sticky Notes causes your screen to be covered in them. When fully Papered up, your character will then be converted into a Shuffler, which you can't be revived from. Becoming Wet or catching Fire is the only way to prevent that from happening.
- Glow steadily reduces Health. While it's simple and straightforward, it's harder to get rid of unlike Fire - a trip towards a shower, sink or Humidifier is usually required if a Firebreaker doesn't want to get Downed by it, as it also lasts for some time.
- Pink causes afflicted Firebreakers and Hiss to explode when they're exposed to other explosions or Fire. Getting coated in it can be a death sentence, especially when one is not at full Health. Luckily, it can be washed off with any source of water before it becomes a problem.
- Cold reduces the movement and attack speeds of both Firebreakers and Hiss alike to a glacial pace, as well as removes Mold build-up. It hinders any attempt to run, which can easily spell doom for Firebreakers. Plus, a Wet-boosted Cold will have its effects applied at a much greater magnitude.
- Mold also steadily reduces Health. However, upon being Downed, a completely Moldy Firebreaker will transform into a Mold Walker - whereas any Hiss who gets Moldy will immediately turn into one. Thankfully, its build-up can be removed by going up to an active fan or cooler, both of which are generously scattered across "Outbreak".
Sticky Bomb: The Epoxy Grenade serves as one. It trades in the ability to damage or kill multiple Hiss for the ability to focus all that power towards a single target instead. It's perfect against the Hiss Troopers, due to their size and speed.
Story Breadcrumbs: Although Firebreak is set six years after the events of Control, some of what has happened since then is mostly learned about from the documents that are shown during the loading screens, and can be inferred from via the occasional incidental dialogues between Jerry and Hank as well as the voice lines from the playable Firebreakers.
Stuff Blowing Up:
- The "Scattergun" can launch explosives via its Secondary Fire. Tellingly, it's the only Gun in the game so far that lets players blow up the Hiss outside of using Grenades and Improvised Items.
- The Gunpowder Grenade has an understated yet powerful blast to it, which can kill all but the hardiest Hiss within its radius.
- The Jump Kit's Boombox explodes after being subjected to enough damage by the Hiss, or after its internal timer of three minutes has passed. Anyone nearby when it blows up will suffer from its demise, so you'd best steer clear of it.
- The "Gas Cylinder" Corrupted Item makes the corpses of enemies explode when they're killed. It's extremely risky, but it can be used as an effective crowd control method while it's active, since killing one Hiss can potentially cause a chain reaction of explosions. Also, it never gets old watching a wave of Hiss blow up like they were a series of fireworks going off.
- Corrupted Airborne Rangers will often throw out a Grenade in between shooting their guns. Getting caught in its blast radius will take huge chunks out of a Firebreaker's Resonance Shield or Health, which only reinforces the danger they pose.
- The Hiss Demolition Experts specialize in this, if their names didn't already give it away. Though they don't have a high rate of fire, their uncanny accuracy with their rocket rifles and the high explosive yield of their blasts makes them priority targets to take down, almost as soon as you can see their yellow helmets and brown uniforms.
Stun Lock:
- Aside from the ability to Neutralize Corrupted Items, the Black Rock Neutralizers found in ammo stations and the Safe Rooms can also stop the bigger Hiss in their tracks, allowing Firebreakers to deal with or run away from them.
- The Universal Mod, Black Rock Rounds, has a chance to inflict this on an enemy. It stuns long enough to hold even a Distorted in place, and makes killing Breakers and Troopers a relative walk in the park.
Temporary Online Content: Coinciding with the release of the game, a multi-week Twitch campaign was launched. Players who linked their accounts and watched a total of three hours of Firebreak content by July 8th, 2025 would receive the Threshold Revision of the Overseer armor set. This Revision is not accessible through any other way, making it a permanent loss for those who did not participate.
- Otherwise defied; the developers have stated their desire to avoid the fear of missing out, and so there are no timed events and any new future content will always be accessible to all players.
Time Skip: Firebreak is set six years directly after the events of Control (2019), from the perspective of - as Jerry puts it - an army of secretaries, assistants and middle managers being effective first responders to multiple crises within the FBC.
Title In: At the start of every Shift, just right after the Elevator doors open, the name of the Job a crew of Firebreakers are on will be displayed across their screens in bold white text along with a sound cue.
Trick Bomb:
- The Shock Grenade electrocutes your enemies to both damage and Stun them. It also powers up generators, heaters and coolers in a pinch, which is handy for when a crew is pressed for time.
- The Healing Grenade heals injured Firebreakers back to full Health. It also gets rid of some Harmful Conditions - or at least their build-ups - which are Fire, Sticky Notes, Glow and Pink.
- The Freeze Grenade turns its targets Frozen, even more so when they've been thoroughly soaked Wet beforehand. It also massively reduces Fire and Mold build-up, though it's at the cost of possibly remaining Cold or Frozen afterwards.
- The Black Rock Grenade will either hurt, kill or Stun its targets. It also has a chance to Neutralize Corrupted Items caught in its blast, although it's not as reliable as using a Black Rock Neutralizer.
Uncertain Doom: Firebreakers who don't get on the Elevator at the end of a Shift on time are treated as MIA by the game. But given that the Hiss spawn in waves and that crews only get deployed to Jobsites when there are issues on them, it's safe to assume that they're dead or have succumbed to the Hiss.
Unexplained Recovery: A downplayed variation of this trope occurs when a crew finishes an Endless Shift - after they all get Downed, Hank will send in another Firebreak crew to rescue them offscreen. But the thing is, some of the Jobsites have their way back to the Elevator sealed off, or are themselves set in their third zone. Not to mention that the Hiss who defeated them are very much likely to still be there.
Universal Ammunition: The boxes of ammo you can pick up to resupply your Gun with all appear as a small red box that contains 12-gauge shotgun shells. It doesn't matter if you aren't even using a Blast Gun - taking one will still give you ammo for your weapon. The same goes for the Grenades: Picking one up will convert it into the type of Grenade that you're using.
Video Game Caring Potential: Players can restore their crewmates' Health by throwing them a Healing Grenade or by setting down a Humidifier as a Splash Kit user to prevent them from getting Downed. They also have the option to wait for lagging crewmates before heading into the Elevator, as well as actively fight their way back to anyone Downed to get them on their feet before evacuating together.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: A player can turn out to be a Griefer who will try their best to cause a Job to fail, or at the least hinder or harass their unlucky crewmates every step of the way.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Of course, it goes without saying that being a Griefer isn't looked kindly upon. Hosting Firebreakers can kick one out of a Shift for the trouble they can cause, and they can also end up being blocked or reported on as well.
Video Game Sliding: As of the Breakpoint update, Firebreakers now have the ability to perform a slide while they sprint. It's incredibly useful for dodging projectiles from ranged Hiss and for ducking into cover from enemies, and doing it while you're close to being on Fire or feeling much too Cold will reduce their build-up a lot faster than usual.
- Jump Kit users, after performing an Impactor Jump, can sprint while in the air and then crouch at any point before hitting the ground to make use of a faster and longer slide that's unique to their Kit, with an optional normal jump nearing its end allowing them to extend the total distance it can cross. With some practice and the right Perks, a Jump Kit user can blitz through the whole length of a Jobsite in less than a minute.
Video Game Tutorial: Orientation is this, allowing players to familiarize themselves with most aspects of the game without being shoved into immediate danger from the get-go, all via Hank guiding them and explaining what they're doing.
Violation of Common Sense:
- In "Ground Control", the second zone of the Job has you looking for more leech pearls to fill up the shuttle with. But what the game doesn't tell you however, is that you can opt to throw them into the void instead, since doing that will somehow count towards completing the mission objective.
- One of the Counter-Strike kind: Switching to a tool that's lighter than your Gun will allow you to sprint faster than you normally would while wielding the latter. It's not as noticeable outside of using the "Machine Gun" however, as most Guns - barring the "Rotary Cannon" - are rather lightweight compared to the tools themselves.
- As a Jump Kit user, you can find yourself sliding up stairs or ramps via the method detailed in the trope above, despite logic otherwise dictating that you shouldn't be able to do that. Hell, you can even still do that with an ordinary slide too!
Was Once a Man:
- Nearly all of the Hiss types encountered in the game used to be fellow FBC agents. An incidental dialogue between Jerry and Hank has the former wonder if they can be saved from the Hiss, with the latter solemnly affirming that they can't.
  - Hiss Breakers are apparently Firebreakers who succumbed to their influence, with certain voice packs alluding to or outright stating it.
- Shufflers. They're the result of what happens when FBC agents get careless while eliminating Sticky Notes, as getting enough of them on their person will trigger their conversion into one.
- Mold Walkers and Turrets. They're the result of a person having consumed too much Mold or having been exposed to it for too long. The latter type has it rough, as their legs have fused with the ground, along with their insides being altered to allow them to shoot projectiles full of Mold at their targets. They can also do this to the Hiss themselves twice over, causing them to lose what little humanity remained in their hosts.
We Have Reserves:
- The Hiss are still a deadly threat despite six years of Firebreak whittling down their numbers during Jobs. It's implied that due to their nature as a resonance-based lifeform, they're able to make multiple copies of 'template' corrupted agents to use in combat against the Bureau.
- The Sticky Note population seems to be growing at a rapid rate that Firebreak can barely keep up with. After your crew deals with Sticky Ricky, Hank will sometimes emphasize that he's down, but not out - with the implication being that so as long as there's a single strip of altered yellow paper lying around, then the Sticky Notes will just keep coming back to cause Firebreak trouble.
We Need a Distraction:
- In "Frequency Shift", the third zone's emitter has you and your crew manually recalibrating it after fixing up its plates. During this period, waves of Hiss will constantly spawn in to try and stop you - so it's highly recommended to have at least one Firebreaker attend to it while the others actively take the fight towards them, with each Crisis Kit's Improvised Item also coming in clutch.
- Should the "Recovery" alternate mission objective replace a zone's usual goal, one of the better ways to complete it is to have a crewmate grab the Hiss's attention while the rest gathers what they need. Jump Kit users are recommended for this role, mainly because of their Improvised Item.
Weapon of X-Slaying: Aside from a Mod and a few certain Perks, Black Rock Neutralizers are one way of dealing with the Corrupted Items you can come across in Jobs, and are generally considered the best approach to quickly Neutralize them with - their sprays of ground Black Rock hits over a wider area, which can reliably tag the more erratic Corrupted Items like the "Stapler" and the "Crowbar".
Weird Currency:
- The collectable Lost Assets and Traces found scattered in Jobs serves as such for players - the former being mundane but no less important Parts, Intel and Samples that are stored in blue canisters, with the latter being the powdery physical manifestation of an out there material that's similar to the ones Jesse finds in Control.
  - Both are used for unlocking new gear, Perks and additional customization options. During Shifts, they're held until the Job is completed with the player carrying them (which are dropped if they die), but any collected items on a player in the Elevator by the time their Shift is over will be duplicated and shared across their crew^note.
- Endless Shift's Corruption is raw Hiss resonance that's dropped upon their deaths, appearing in the form of small red orbs which progressively get bigger the longer they're left alone to accumulate. Picking them up and spending them is the only way for Firebreak crews to last for as long as possible in the gamemode; meaning that players must balance their efforts between collecting them and surviving the Hiss before a wave ends.
What the Hell, Hero?: Certain documents from the Bureau displayed on loading screens between Jobs reveal there is some serious strife between the FBC's Departments after more than half a decade spent in lockdown. Many employees are angry at the idea of an independent Firebreak Initiative and at Hank's ongoing operations, while many are also critical of the upper management and their perceived failures in priorities, like lifting the lockdown.
What the Hell, Player?: Accidentally shooting at your crewmates or throwing out your Grenades just a bit too close to them will have their annoyed characters call yours out for your actions.
- Taking your sweet time with flipping the lever in the Elevator up long after it has arrived will have Hank yelling at you to get out of there already.
Workplace Horror: The surviving FBC personnel inside the Oldest House are essentially trapped within their own workplace until the lockdown is lifted. There are also hints via incidental dialogue and some in-game voice lines which suggests that everyone is treating their extended stay like it's another day at the office just to cope with that fact.
The World Is Always Doomed: This is the in-game justification for players being able to do Jobs at any time. The Firebreak crews are meant to get in, affix a temporary solution to a problem, and then get out. While this keeps the FBC up and running in the long-term, it also means their issues keep popping back up and thus have to be fixed again in the short-term.
Wrench Whack: The Fix Kit's Wrench, naturally. It's mainly used to repair broken down equipment, but there's nothing stopping a Firebreaker from caving in some Hiss skulls with it. However, each power swing costs a considerable chunk of stamina to perform.
Zerg Rush: As the gameplay is shifted to be faster paced than in Control, the Hiss are now more reliant on brute force and numbers. A Firebreak crew can face up to hundreds if not thousands of Hiss within a single Job, with the vast majority of them consisting of the Sharpened, Guards and chairbound Elevated.
Zip Mode: Zipline setups which can be found on most zones are used by Firebreakers to rapidly move mission-critical objects towards their intended destinations. They can also be ridden on from both ends, allowing for convenient Jobsite traversal. Interacting with the zipline while riding it will also reverse the direction a Firebreaker is going towards.

FBC: Firebreak

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FBC: Firebreak contains examples of the following tropes:

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Sticky Ricky

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Video Game / FBC: Firebreak 6 Following

FBC: Firebreak contains examples of the following tropes:

Video Example(s):

Sticky Ricky

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Sticky Ricky

FBC: Firebreak

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