It’s hard to be optimistic about Concord’s chances of success after a disastrous debut earlier this year, with the beta, while fun, struggling to attract enough players’ attention, and early access numbers worrying to say the least. .
In fact, this review wasn’t ready last week, as nearly everyone who’s played the game has failed to find a match for its turn-based mode, which is unlocked after reaching a certain player level. That’s how tough it is out there. But hey, besides the number of players, harmony Is it really fun and compelling as a competitive online shooter? Well, sort of. This is its biggest problem. Sometimes, everything works out and the result may just be having the energy you need to grow and evolve, but moments of true joy are all too rare.
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Let’s address the elephant in the room first: Concord reportedly took eight years to fully develop, which sounds ridiculous to me. Even at its best, Concorde isn’t very big considering the lofty (and apparently unnecessary) production values on display. At launch, there are 16 characters, 12 maps, and 6 modes (in three completely separate playlists). On top of that, the “single-player” experience is limited to a practice range, a general tutorial, and five very basic time trials, all built using the same assets as in the main multiplayer experience.
This statement conflicts with the game we got, which is no more substantial than the handful of free-to-play games we’ve seen over the years. There’s also the matter of all the effort, time, and money we put into fleshing out all the characters, lore, and intricacies of the Concord universe. The beautifully detailed Guide to the Galaxy is updated regularly as you play; if this were a single-player adventure (or at least an ambitious co-op game), it’s chock-full of content and text that sci-fi pathos would appreciate wall. My personal theory? In a way, Concord is something else entirely, ultimately scaled down to a by-the-numbers PvP shooter. The determined plan to produce high-quality cutscenes every week only reinforces this idea.
Regardless, Concord is competent enough as a hero shooter. While I’m not as high on its formula as I was in beta, the game clearly went through a lot of iteration and internal testing (eight years!). Each character is clearly defined at a playable level, and the concepts stack up for everyone. Team-wide passive skills are an interesting twist, and I hope it plays a bigger role in team-building (Marvel rivals are doing something more ambitious with similar ideas).
However, I also agree with the sentiment that some characters who are supposed to be more agile often feel bulkier or heavier than they should, which is a shame because the gunplay is so solid in every way. I also believe that playing games feels better with a DualSense controller; the first-party PS5/PC versions of PlayStation are really good at getting the most out of their hardware, and the Concord is no exception. The tactile feedback is nice but not overly so, and I found myself sticking with it rather than immediately disabling it like I did with the recent Call of Duty entry.
The decision to exclude ultimate abilities entirely was a bold one that added a more tactical, “teamwork” feel to the game, but it also led to the problem of snowballing into being too powerful unless the enemy team started to falter on their own. This is especially egregious in a TDM-like mode, where some characters are downright terrible choices, and without early game performance it’s nearly impossible to bounce back, even with solid team building.
The map, while visually stunning for the most part, is a mixed bag. Some feel well suited to 5v5 scale battles and have arena-like layouts that work well, while others feel like remnants of old co-op maps repurposed as PvP scenarios that are too large, resulting in wandering allies and enemies Wandering aimlessly. Given its development time, Concord still often feels disjointed despite all the polish it’s gone through.
Perhaps the real coup de grace comes from the characters themselves, who play well enough but for the most part have no visual appeal at all, which is a tall order in 2024 if you want to sell a hero shooter in 2024 task), this would be a huge problem. This has nothing to do with any of the garbage spewed by the worst person we know. 90% of the (admittedly colorful) cast lacks a distinct visual design and feels like the result of an overly focused testing of the game. Ultimately, most Freelancers end up looking like aliens and humans who walked into a cheap outer space thrift store and walked out wearing whatever clothes they had. Sure, their Galaxy Guide background info is cool, but most people won’t care.
All that motion capture money and real lighting doesn’t matter when you’re in the game. You won’t even notice them. You’ll notice the bland character designs, though. They clearly put a lot of work and effort into it, but it feels like the whole thing was weighed down by outside input and market research based on the last relevant information in 2019.
The PS5’s performance and graphics are also a pain in the ass. 4K/60 seems to be the only target, which is an odd decision considering the nature of its competitive shooter. Targeting 120 FPS in 2K (or even upscaled 1080p) seems like a reasonable choice, but we’re now stuck with an online game trying too hard to look realistic instead of being as smooth as possible (the FPS drop does occur in certain situations). In addition to switching to free mode, I’m also really looking forward to the performance mode coming soon.
All of these little flaws start to pile up the more you play Concord. There’s a good game underneath all the rubbish and confusing business decisions (like not releasing in PS Plus Extra), but why would you put up with all this frustration when the game doesn’t have a clear identity and there are better options out there right now Is it free to use?
Sure, Concord’s premium model versus the nightmarish FPS full of passes and paid skins sounds great on paper, but the packaging has to be enticing enough to warrant a purchase, and simply put, the juice isn’t there. Part of me hopes it finds an audience and improves, but this looks like another Suicide Squad situation.
Concord is available now on PS5 and PC. This review was written using code provided by the publisher for the PS5 version of the game.
