Flash Point: Fire Rescue heats up on Steam

PC/Mac/Linux •

Remember when Kurt Russell dipped that hot wire into everyone’s blood sample in The Thing and Palmer’s blood squeals and jumps out of the petrie dish? That was pretty great. Okay, so that has nothing to do with Flash Point: Fire Rescue but I was trying to remember anything about Backdraft for my intro and couldn’t, so I went to the first Kurt Russell movie I could think of instead. How different can movies be when the main character is Kurt Russell’s hair?

Anyway, the cooperative board game Flash Point: Fire Rescue is now available on Steam. Or something. Sorry, I’m still thinking about Kurt’s curly locks.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a cooperative game in which players each play a member of the fire/rescue team, charging headfirst into a burning deathtrap and saving as many civilians as possible. You might also want to ensure the structure doesn’t collapse on your noggin. Players must save at least 7 of the 10 trapped survivors by performing actions such as putting out flames, carrying people, moving vehicles, or using their individual special abilities.

We got the call, a building is burning and there are people trapped inside. Fire is spreading and time is running out. We’ve had reports of explosions and the whole thing can come crashing down at any moment. You know the job: get those survivors out of there.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue is a turned-based strategy game that places you in command of a squad of specially trained firefighters with the sole aim to rescue survivors form a raging structural fire.

Your team will need to make the most of each turn using limited action points and specialized abilities to explore the environment, tame the volatile fire and rescue the survivors before the building is reduced to rubble.

There, they said it better than I did.

The digital version has both the basic and experienced games, with the basic being easy enough to understand for the whole family and experienced adding a ton of thematic elements that make things more realistic and more difficult.

• Turn-Based Tactics: Coordinate your team as they identify and treat survivors, get distracted by false alarms, hold back the flames, dispose of hazardous materials and do their best to avoid explosions.
• Efficient Specialists: Each member of your squad brings a unique blend of skills that you will need to carefully apply as you adapt to the ever changing scenarios.
• Pick-up-and-Play: Quick to learn with a Family Game mode that reduces the games options for an easy introduction for beginners before they test their tactics in the Experienced Game modes.
• Local Coop: Enlist family and friends to join the squad and pull the survivors back from the brink.

I know we all prefer online multiplayer (even in our coop games that work just dandy solo–you know who you are) and you might have already stopped reading when you saw the “local coop” bullet point above. Fear not online adventurers! Developer RetroEpic has said that online multiplayer is in the works and should be released not too far down the road.

The launch is only the beginning, we have a number of updates lined up for Flash Point: Fire Rescue. Here’s what we’re currently working on:

• Fig Backer Update Development was partly funded through the generous support of the backer community at Fig.co. The Fig Backer Update will include content submitted by the backers as part of their rewards. This content includes new locations, a new specialist and some features specially requested by the community. [In Development]
• Fire Academy Challenge Update Understanding the strengths and limitations of your specialists is key to a successful rescue. The Fire Academy Challenges are designed to test your understanding of each member of your squad and how they work together. [In Development]
• House Rules Update One of the benefits of a table top game is that players can easily modify the rules and experiment with interesting combinations. In the House Rules Update we’re introducing options to mix up the rules of the game and up the challenge for yourself. [In Development]
• Online Multiplayer While the game already has local multiplayer available it’s not always possible to enlist a squad mate or two. Online multiplayer will enable you to find players when you’re not sharing a couch. [In Development]
• Future DLC The board game has a number of excellent expansions available. We will be bringing the specialists, locations and extra features to the digital version. The line up includes the Second Story, Honor and Duty and Extreme Danger expansions.

All of that sounds pretty great, but an iOS version is also supposedly in the pipeline. When that will make its grand appearance, only RetroEpic knows.

Flash Point: Fire Rescue is available right now for PC/Mac/Linux and will run you a crisp Andrew Jackson.

• Flash Point: Fire Rescue for PC/Mac/Linux via Steam, $20

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