The reaction to Concord wasnāt great during Sonyās State of Play earlier this year. But after playing a few hours of the sci-fi FPS on PS5, Iām sold on Concordās mix of hero-shooter action and tight Call of Duty-like gameplay. The only question is: Will people be willing to spend $40 for a multiplayer-only shooter in the year 2024?
Pre-order Concord:Ā Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop
Over the weekend, a bunch of people got to play ConcordāPlayStationās upcoming 5v5 hero shooterāfor the first time via a new beta. Usually, multiplayer betas are fun marketing demos to get people even more excited for your big new game a few weeks or months before launch. But for Concord, which arrives in August on PS5 and PC, the situation feels very different.
When Concord was first unveiled in May, its trailer was negatively compared to Guardians of the Galaxy,Ā while the confirmation that it was a PVP-only game did little to get people excited. So, the stakes were higher than normal for this first online beta. This is Concordās first real ( and maybe only) chance to win people over and change the conversation around the FPS before launch. And while Iām not sure everyone will be convinced that Concord is good, Iām happy to say that, yes, itās a damn fine shooter.
Overwatch + Destiny with a sprinkle of Call of Duty is the easiest and laziest way to describe Concord to other people who play games. But itās accurate. Concordāwhich is set in a brand-new sci-fi universe filled with aliens, mercenaries, and 5v5 arenasāfeatures a large roster of colorful and distinct characters who all play differently ala Overwatch. It also has slightly floaty (in a good way) movement and lots of wild abilities and powers, just like Destiny. And finally, sprinting, shooting, and map design feel very Call of Duty (also in a good way).
So many heroes to choose from…
In the beta I mostly played two game modes: Team Deathmatch and a mode which was basically Call of Dutyās āKill Confirmedā where you kill people, pick up their tags, and try not to die or the enemy will grab your tags.
The first thing that struck me about Concord as I played these two modes was just how nice it felt to move around and shoot other players. Concordās action is extremely snappy and smooth, so I always felt in control no matter who I was playing or what I was doing. It made hopping over obstacles to get a better angle or enemies or running away to fight another day a lot of fun.
The next thing I fell in love with about Concord was how all of its various characters or Freegunners felt different. I donāt really remember their namesāduring combat, Iād shout out nicknames like āMonkey Manā and āSpy Robotā to my brotherābut they all provided a unique experience. If I wanted to be a slow, big, hard-to-kill tank I could choose the giant yellow robot with a vacuum canon that sucks up bullets. If I wanted to be a fast and nimble damage dealer I could pick the alien-elf lady with her SMG and zip around the map like a maniac.
Sure, plenty of hero shooters offer their own stable of characters with unique skills and roles, but here it feels like Concord wants its Freegunners be more distinct to the point that I assume some people will call the game unbalanced or unfair. (āWhy can that character mantle and run around but I canāt?ā) The thing is, this ended up making the game a lot more fun as it forced teammates to work together and Concordās smartly designed UI and gameplay meant that I was constantly doing cool shit with randosālike trapping enemy players behind a magic wall while someone wiped them out with a grenade.
My personal favorite was Daw, a medic with an assault rifle, unlimited healing pads, and a powerful bubble shield. During matches, Iād often cover an area with health padsāwhich stick around when you dieāturning a spot in the map into āHeal City.ā However, Daw can be countered, like all the characters in Concord, by shooting the healing pads and prioritizing the medic gunner in fights.
One thing that did feel off in Concord was some of the maps. They were a bit too big or empty for the 5v5 fights that make up the sci-fi shooterās foundation. Iām not sure if this can be fixed before launch or if players will get better at traversing the maps over time and make them feel less sparse, but for now, it feels like each map I played could have lost a few of its hallways and rooms and been better off for it.
Now, with all those positive words out of the way (and one complaint about maps) itās time to talk about the elephant in the spaceship: Concordās $40 price tag.
Concord is a hard sell in 2024
As good as Concord is, Iām not sure this kind of game can work in 2024. There are so many good free-to-play PVP games out there right now that arenāt exclusive to PS5 and PC. Why would someone spend $40 to play a new one? Iām not sure.
Even worse, Concord doesnāt includeāat least not at launchāany kind of PvE horde mode or co-op campaign. Itās unlikely to ship with a map maker or Fortnite-like creative mode, either. It just offers a 5V5 PVP shooter experience and…thatās it. Iām just not sure how many people are going to pay a premium for that when they can get similar experiences in other games for free.
Sure, those other games contain tons of microtransactions and often lock new characters behind grinds, something Concordās devs promise wonāt be the case in the upcoming sci-fi shooter. All new maps, game modes, and characters will be included for free in future updates. Thatās great! But I worry Concord wonāt get many future updates if it doesnāt develop a large playerbase.
And while I get that Sony is trying to pull off another Helldivers 2 with Concordācharging a premium and not cramming in annoying in-app purchasesāIām not convinced it will work as well this time around. Hopefully, Iām wrong. Because if I am, then Concord will live on for many years and Iāll get to keep playing it and having a great time. If not well, at least we had some fun in the beta.
Concord launches on PS5 and PC on August 23. Players can check out its second beta weekend, which is open to all, and starts on July 19 and ends on July 22.
Pre-order Concord:Ā Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop
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