In its announcement, the developer stated it will “discover choices, together with these that can higher attain our gamers,” which suggests Concord, a multiplayer-only title that launched at a baffling $40 price ticket, may return in a free-to-play type in some unspecified time in the future. Whatever the destiny of the sport could also be, Concord is now one of many greatest flops within the historical past of the medium. And whereas nobody fairly predicted such a untimely demise for the sport, everybody noticed the wreck it was going to be from a mile away.
But is Concord so dangerous a sport that it ought to should pack it up in two weeks, just like the blink-and-miss theatrical run of a movie that ought to have been direct-to-digital? Is it actually so horrible that 33 folks — thirty-three! — are taking part in it proper now on Steam, only a day earlier than the sport is taken down. No, it actually just isn’t. In reality, it is a serviceable first-person hero-shooter, very a lot within the vein of Overwatch, despite the fact that it would not distinguish itself in any significant method. But the blame of its demise would not lie on the ft of builders as a lot because it does with the individuals who mandated the monetary technique of its launch, who presided over its protracted, costly improvement and who could not foresee the writing on the wall for a $40 live-service shooter with no Battlepass system in a sea of entrenched free-to-play titles that do every thing that Concord does, however higher.
Sony is Taking Concord Offline, Issuing Refunds After Poor Sales
Concord is okay. And maybe that is the issue — it is simply high quality. It is like Overwatch, besides it is eight years late. No actual story or marketing campaign, not like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League; only a PvP hero-shooter with each atom of its physique — from its artwork type and its gameplay loop to the capturing and working and its corridors-and-courtyards type arenas — a barely off-colour and uninspired imitation of stuff you’ve seen in video games earlier than. It is, nonetheless, removed from being damaged or unplayable. Heck, it may possibly even be enjoyable for those who leap into matches with your folks. But the worth on supply right here is actually not well worth the asking worth, particularly not in 2024 when gamers have so many free-to-play choices that deliver far more to the desk.
Concord begins with an extended cutscene that serves as a feeble however customary try to supply some narrative framework to the sport earlier than you drop into on-line matches. The vibe may be very a lot ‘we have now Guardians of the Galaxy at house.’ We’re launched to a bunch of aggressively vibrant characters — Freegunners — on the lookout for their subsequent job within the galaxy. There’s some cringe banter and jokes that fall flat, however that is high quality. There’s solely a restricted variety of personalities to assign to members of a crew of misfits and all of them have been exhausted in movies and video games which have come earlier than. You have the goofy man who can flip up as a frontrunner; you have got a chilly however with a heart-of-gold sort loner woman; the massive oaf who has everybody’s again; the good and severe one who will get it accomplished, the bot that is surprisingly human — unsurprisingly; you get the drift.
The characters are by-product, however that is not as necessary in a PvP looter-shooter that has no single-player marketing campaign and a narrative to inform. It’s the character designs which are egregious. In first look, a lot of them seem to be the outcomes of an AI picture generator that has crunched the aesthetics of Guardians of the Galaxy, Starfield, Overwatch and some different hero-based shooters right into a single roster of run-of-the-mill heroes. Other designs really feel purely lazy or too near their inspirations. Lennox, for instance, appears to be like uncannily like Yondu from Guardians, however he behaves like Star Lord. Then there’s Star Child, who looks like Drax blended with just a few heavies from Overwatch. 1-0FF is a robotic that appears like Bastion from Overwatch had a toddler with a trash can. And Teo jogs my memory of Rick Flag from Suicide Squad.
Remind you of somebody from the Guardians of the Galaxy?
Photo Credit: Firewalk Studios/ Screenshot – Manas Mitul
To be clear, these aren’t blatant copies with slight modifications that knowingly wink at their inspirations — it isn’t Palworld and Pokémon. But the character designs are simply not that imaginative. Firewalk might have gone loopy and crafted a artistic roster of heroes that appear and feel novel. Instead, Concord’s characters do not even stand out that a lot from each other. Here’s what I’m speaking about: three out of whole 16 characters within the roster are simply folks in commonplace NASA-style spacesuits with some variations. Roka wears a body-hugging spacesuit and a spherical helmet with an opaque visor, so as to’t see her face. Daveers’ spacesuit has somewhat extra element, with instruments and attachments, and their helmet is boxy with a clear visor. And Emari, a tank class hero, wears an enormous, roomy spacesuit with a backpack and a visor-less helmet. Surely, Firewalk might have introduced somewhat extra distinct aptitude to the sport’s heroes.
To its credit score, Concord makes an attempt to construct a story round its PvP playground, very like Overwatch. The sport drops cinematics intermittently to ship a narrative for its Freegunners and supply a framework for his or her actions. As a part of a crew, you journey across the galaxy, taking jobs and challenges and constructing a repute for your self. As your repute — primarily a stand-in on your stage — grows, you get entry to extra sport modes and crew customisation choices. Concord drops extra lore by a Galactic Guide, a visible map of the galaxy your crew operates in. The information options flavour textual content on each planet within the sport, detailing the maps the place you participate in PvP matches on-line. It’s a neat strategy to ship context, nevertheless it feels somewhat indifferent to precise gameplay. The Galactic Guide feels prefer it belongs in a single-player sport like Mass Effect. The narrative setup of travelling to totally different planets to participate in capturing matches would not actually work both — not like Helldivers 2, the place the galactic conflict in opposition to the bugs being fought throughout totally different planets is deeply tied to the PvE payoff.
The Galactic Guide is a neat strategy to ship flavour textual content, however feels indifferent from gameplay
Photo Credit: Firewalk Studios/ Screenshot – Manas Mitul
Concord, nonetheless, does excel on the principal factor: its PvP matches. The capturing gameplay is enjoyable, partaking and gives loads of distinctive choices. The matches are kinetic and tactical, requiring you to actually work as a workforce and play good. Heroes in Concord normally include major and secondary weapons, two distinct skills tied to the 2 bumpers on the controller, a motion talent, a passive skill and a fight trait. The skills are both on a timer or recharged by particular in-game actions.
And quite a lot of the hero skills are fairly distinct and creative, even when they remind you of abilities seen in Overwatch and Valorant. For instance, 1-00F’s skills are based mostly on the manipulation of air; the cleansing robotic carries an industrial vacuum as his major weapon, which does not deal harm, however sucks up enemy traps, deployments and projectiles. He may deploy an air barrier that deflects all projectiles with the faucet of the L1 button on the DualSense controller. Haymar’s abilities, then again, are fire-based; she’s armed with a flameshot bow and might hurl a wall of fireside at enemies. And Kyps is a stealthy operator who carries a silenced pistol and deploys persistent surveillance traps that reveal enemies when triggered. Her motion skill is a fast dodge that prompts invisibility for a brief length.
Heroes in Concord are divided amongst six lessons: Anchors are primarily tankier heroes who maintain the fort down; Breachers take the initiative in battle and break into enemy defenses; Haunts are cell and depend on stunning the enemy; Rangers are the usual do-it-all assault class; Tacticians deploy skills that hand their groups a bonus within the battlefield; and Wardens are snipers that dictate choke factors from lengthy vary. While there are just a few within the roster who’re staples of the hero-shooter style, Concord principally does a good job of creating each hero deliver one thing distinctive to the battlefield.
Hero skills are distinct, however lack a punch
Photo Credit: Firewalk Studios/ Sony
While you may play solo within the apply vary or participate in coaching and time trails, the meat of the motion lies within the 5v5 PvP modes. These are fairly commonplace — workforce deathmatch, seize and management, cargo escort and so forth. The PvP modes are unfold throughout three playlists — Brawl, Overrun, and Rivalry. Brawl comes with TDM and Trophy Hunt, which principally works as Kill Confirmed from Call of Duty. Overrun consists of Area Control and Signal Chase, the place you seize and defend set or transferring zones. And Rivalry options Cargo Run and Clash Point, however with no respawns. PvP clashes are fast and slick, gunplay is enjoyable and responsive, and the weapons themselves are uniquely designed. Some hero skills, nonetheless, do really feel underwhelming and the shortage of an Ultimate skill leaves the fight a bit shallow and lacking a punch.
Finding matches in Concord, nonetheless, was understandably troublesome. There had been barely any gamers within the sport, even within the ultimate hours earlier than its demise. Less than 100 folks had been taking part in it on Steam on its final day. Matchmmaking was particularly troublesome in Overrun and Rivalry playlists, with most gamers merely flocking to the workforce deathmatch mode. And whenever you did get right into a match in Rivalry, you’d discover gamers leaping off cliffs and killing themselves to farm XP and seize the Platinum trophy earlier than the sport went offline. The entire state of affairs is unlucky and unhappy, even when it is hilarious. Concord’s predicament solely goes to underline the dysfunctional state of the video video games trade and the unsustainable stresses of sport improvement.
Concord comes with a slick graphical presentation, however the visible decisions and the artwork type really feel by-product — a mix of Overwatch-style cartoon aesthetics with the trademark PlayStation realism. Plenty of color, design and musical cues jogged my memory of Starfield and No Man’s Sky. The sport appears to be like good, and most maps are visually putting. Firewalk has tried to infuse every map with distinctive visible components that assist them stand out in their very own proper. But there is a pervading sense of familiarity throughout the arenas. The maps do not actually shock you and are stuffed with acquainted corridors, choke factors and sight traces you’ve got seen in on-line shooters earlier than. This is not truthful criticism — all on-line shooters are lower from the identical fabric in some methods. But it would not assist Concord’s trigger both, particularly when the sport was gasping for air in a crowded room. Performance on PS5, nonetheless, was strong and constant, as you’d count on from an internet shooter.
Helldivers 2 Review: Democracy Done Right
Concord tries to deliver distinctive visible components to its maps
Photo Credit: Firewalk Studios/ Screenshot – Manas Mitul
All of it put collectively, Concord is not compelling sufficient to make it shine sturdy sufficient in a galaxy of PvP shooters — particularly at that $40 worth. Despite the core gameplay being enjoyable, it gives little that is not accessible totally free elsewhere to hook customers. But it additionally did not deserve its destiny. It’s actually nowhere close to as dangerous that it wanted to be euthanised after a two-week run. The accountability for its disastrous launch lies not with the builders, however with the company determination makers who ignored all of the warning indicators and despatched the sport out to die. Concord had a disastrous open beta, with simply over 2,000 gamers making an attempt it out on Steam. To put that into context, Deadlock, Valve’s new hero-shooter, had over 90,000 customers taking part in its invite-only closed beta on Steam! Barely anybody wished to play Concord when it was free — why did Sony suppose it will get an viewers when it got here with a worth?
And as Sony is studying proper now, the ‘video games as a service’ mannequin is an unpredictable area. Players are embedded deep into their most well-liked on-line video games and it is onerous to lure them to attempt one thing new. Helldivers 2, Sony’s large reside service hit that launched on PC and PS5 earlier this yr, is the right instance. Its PvE playground supplied a wildly enjoyable and ridiculously collaborative expertise you can share with different gamers on-line — all of it delivered in a satiric Starship Troopers-style navy propaganda bundle. The PlayStation dad or mum’s newest reside service try, nonetheless, blends with the competitors, with no ace up its sleeve to draw gamers.
Concord is enjoyable and serviceable and a far cry from damaged, cash-grab titles like The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and The Day Before. But it is asking for an upfront cost for an expertise most individuals paid for, performed and loved eight years in the past when Overwatch launched. Heck, even Overwatch 2 launched as a free-to-play title final yr and nonetheless discovered itself standing on the stage in entrance of a troublesome crowd. It’s then baffling that Sony thought a hero-shooter in 2024 might be launched with upfront pricing. Concord ought to have been free-to-play, launched on PS Plus — I hope it does make a comeback in that type in some unspecified time in the future. Its launch ought to have been pushed again after the dismal open beta. Instead, Sony let it stroll out to its grave.
Pros
- Fun, partaking PvP gameplay
- Distinct hero skills
- Visual presentation
Cons
- $40 price ticket
- Uninspired character designs
- Lack of final skill
- Detached narrative
- Too just like different video games within the style
Rating (out of 10): 6
Concord launched on PS5 and PC (through Steam and Epic Games Store) on the worth of Rs. 2,499. The sport was taken offline from all storefronts as we speak (September 6) and is not accessible to buy.
