release next month. Although doubtful it would resonate, I’ve come away seriously impressed by PlayStation’s latest foray in their much-critiqued live service strategy.
Of course Concord comes hot off the heels of the blockbuster success that was interesting cast of characters.
At face value, Concord appears a mere amalgamation of Valorant. I’d argue instead it cherry picks the best aspects of these games, creating something that feels bigger than the sum of its parts. The floaty shooter mechanics characteristic of Destiny lend themselves well to the map design and introduce verticality to each gunfight. Many of the heroes — or “Freegunners” as they’re labelled in Concord — have familiar perks and abilities to Valorant, demanding frequent use of them to control the battlefield with a time-to-kill nearer to Overwatch.
I thoroughly enjoyed the several hours I spent over the course of the weekend with the game. Ducking in and out of hot zones to heal in a moment of reprieve creates tense one-on-ones whilst open central locations lead to frantic team-against-team clashes. Coordination with your team is essential; lone wolves will get mopped up comfortably with rare exception.
Unlike other games in the genre, in which you typically “main” a single character, the game rewards actively changing up your hero. Playing as a character in a match then applies its perk to any other character you later select. Start as Jabari with reduced recoil and that same perk will carry over to each other Freegunner you later chose in the same match. Likewise, then play as a character that reloads upon dodging, and that perk will also be added to any and all future picks. It’s a neat system that rewards switching up your character and experimenting with different combinations.
Given the game encourages you to cycle through characters, the head-to-heads are always changing, affecting your strategy as a team. Adjusting for what your opponents do and which portion of the map attracts the most fighting factors into your decision making. In one match, a Roka (the airborne, rocket launcher-wielding Freegunner) racked up 24 of the 30 required kills in a match, yet we pivoted and still clutched a win fending them off with the shield-carrying Emari.
You quickly unlock the ability to customise your crew of 12, assembling a different roster with variants of the same character should you have collected them. Lennox was the first character for whom I unlocked a variant, with different perks on each. I could play as Lennox twice in one match, but still add different perks to my pool for the duration of the game. It’s a system not well explained by the game, which is devoid of any playable tutorials at this stage.
The hero characters themselves are all quite unique, with the typical range of offensive, defensive and healer archetypes. There’s 16 in total, an almost overwhelming amount at first. You get your head around them reasonably quickly, but a training area to experiment, or at least a reminder of their abilities on the pause screen, would be a welcome addition. As too would be an in-game scoreboard, although it was a little refreshing not to be worrying to much about my stats mid-match.
Playing through your crew in the one match keeps each game feeling fresh despite the limited maps and modes available in the beta. In the beta there’s just a playlist of team deathmatch and kill confirmed (or Trophy Hunt as they call it), and another with search and destroy and hardpoint-style modes. The later two offer no respawns, and prevent you from selecting the same character again having won a round, making for some competitive games.
The maps themselves are again very emblematic of the kind you would encounter in Destiny’s Crucible or Overwatch and Valorant, with a variety of different sci-fi stylings giving each a unique look. They each have different focal points, but otherwise maintain a consistent three-lane design with plenty of flanking opportunities. There’s often a little verticality involved too, all heightening the need to work as a team covering all angles. Opponents can be quickly dispatched with a coordinated pincer movement flanking both sides.
My gripes with the game come mostly down to the spawns as they currently exist, and the movement of some of the characters. Sticking with your team is vital, which is difficult if you’re killed and spawn on the opposite end of the map from your allies. As a tank, you move incredibly slowly, making you an easy target to get picked off if you teammates are wiped at the wrong time and leave you exposed. Some adjustments to spawn and movement speed of the tanks wouldn’t go amiss.
Otherwise, the balance feels pretty solid right now. Whilst I’ve encountered Roka absolutely dominating a match, my squad managed to counter and contain them on numerous occasions. I’ve heard others complain about other characters which might actually indicate the balance is pretty reasonable. It would look to me that, played right, each Freegunner can be useful.
Performance wise, the game is also pretty slick. Environments were sufficiently detailed and visual effects popped, all without any slowdown in the 60 FPS managed on the PlayStation 5. There was a handful of connection hiccups, my friends list refused to load, and some button presses on menus seemingly refused to , but that’s all very forgivable in a beta assuming its fixed up by launch.
I’m eager to see at launch how the world of the game is expanded upon. Perhaps even more ambitious than the likes of Overwatch and Apex Legends, the team at Firewalk has committed to weekly cutscenes expanding the story of the game. The two cutscenes present in the game look stunning and are well written, borrowing heavily from the tone of Guardians of the Galaxy, but didn’t do enough to grab me at this stage. Humour and set pieces may add some appeal in the short term, but the sooner we see some drama and character development injected into the narrative of the game, the more compelling it will be.
Disappointingly, there’s nothing setting up each match embedding it into the world other than text indicating you’re up against a rival crew. The same cutscene played on repeat loading into a match would get tedious I know, but I felt it was a missed opportunity to ground each session in the world.
The beta also didn’t give much sense of progression with a level cap at level 14. XP is awarded for completing daily and weekly missions, with some bigger event style challenges tied to more consequential rewards like character variants. Cosmetic unlocks are not tied necessarily to the characters you play as, making it perhaps quite a grind to get different skins and accessories for your favourites. It a common formula, but no less annoying.
All said and done, at this stage I’m left to wonder if I would recommend Concord at a $60 It’s hard to tell purely from the content available in the beta, but I’m optimistic I could come launch. More modes, deeper progression, a fleshed out story, adjustment of the spawns, tweaks to character mobility and a final polish all appear achievable. The game’s not far off the mark, and the end result would be a polished, feature rich experience worth the price and deserving of my time.
As for who I might recommend it to, Concord ought to have broad appeal. The game feels much more approachable for those that have dabbled in hero shooters but grew intimidated by the complexity of the meta. The core mechanics of hero shooters are still present, but cycling through characters makes for a changed pace I think most would enjoy. It’s well-rounded, nicely polished, with a generous assortment of unique but balanced characters.
But I’ve been here before. Of late, both The Finals and XDefiant absorbed a decent amount of my time before they were sidelined in favour for the latest hotness. There’s a step up in quality I think Concord brings in comparison to those two games, but only time will tell if it has a stickiness that sures them. We will have to wait to see but for the meantime, sign me up for more.
