FBC: Firebreak starts off slow, but once players complete the onboarding experience and start playing on harder difficulties, things become much more hectic. The game does difficulty a little differently from what most gamers are used to, and if you're looking for a challenge, then Firebreak has plenty to offer.
There are several facets to the difficulty in FBC: Firebreak, and while some settings are obvious, others are not. This guide will go over the three main factors that decide the overall game's difficulty, including some important things players may want to know about how things work.
FBC: Firebreak Hands-On Preview
The Best War Games gets hands-on with Remedy Entertainment's upcoming cooperative first-person shooter FBC: Firebreak.
How Does Difficulty Work in FBC: Firebreak?
The game has three different options that determine the overall difficulty of a job:
- Clearance Level dictates how many areas players need to clear
- Threat determines how many and how often enemies spawn
- Corruption controls how many Cursed Objects spawn during a job
Clearance Level
Essentially, your selected Clearance Level determines how long your mission is going to take. More rooms mean more objectives, and that also means more enemies to fight. Each area takes anywhere between 5-10 minutes to clear depending on how efficient the team is, so you can expect a Clearance 3 run to last for over 30 minutes or more.
Running missions on Clearance 1 is the best way to earn XP in FBC: Firebreak, as they don't take long to complete, and a single room is usually easy to solo. Clearance 1 missions are also good for farming Lost Assets, but if you want to get as many of those as possible in a single run, then Clearance 3 is the way to go.
Threat
Threat increases enemy density. Higher Threat levels spawn more Hiss more frequently, leading to more chaotic runs. Lost Assets and Research Samples also seem to spawn more often in high Threat level jobs, though this is hard to confirm considering how both of those collectible items spawn randomly.
Threat also determines how many respawns players get, shrinking the overall room for error. Bringing upgraded weapons is highly recommended, as Hiss hordes can easily overwhelm teams who don't have enough firepower.
Corruption
Corruption is an optional modifier that determines how many Corrupted Objects spawn during a mission. Corrupted items modify the game in bizzare ways — one object might make enemies move faster, while others might mess with gravity or make entire mission areas unbearably cold.
While playing a mission with Corruption enabled, players will be able to get Research Samples that are specific to the level they're playing. These spawn randomly throughout each mission area, and they're also dropped by Corrupted Objects when destroyed. The higher the Corruption level, the more Research Samples players can find in total.
Corruption can only be enabled on Clearance 3 missions.
FBC: Firebreak
- Released
- June 17, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence, Blood
- Developer(s)
- Remedy Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Remedy Entertainment
- Engine
- Northlight Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Number of Players
- 1-3
- PC Release Date
- June 17, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- June 17, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- June 17, 2025
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
