Concorde review: Losing an uphill battle

Selling ConcordA task that might have been easy five years ago feels like rolling a boulder up a hill in 2024. Developed by new studio Firewalk and published by PlayStation Studios, Concord is a 5v5 hero shooter that riffs on Guardians of the Galaxy With a cassette-era take on a pulpy space setting. It’s a premise that could certainly work, but the prime cultural moment for anything fitting that bill has already passed, and an aggressive slate of upcoming hero shooters like Wonder rivals and valve’s Deadlock Promises a lot of competition.

When it comes to the hero shooter staples, Concord Covers all the bases. 16 characters divided into six different classes compete in several primary game modes – the team-based Deathmatch Brawl, a control points scenario called Overrun, and a competitive tactical option called Rivalry. Each one will randomly play as one of two versions that make minor tweaks to the formula, but nothing as radically different as a payload mode or free-for-all.

Familiar elements with minor twists that aren’t earth-shattering

Don’t expect anything game-changing from Concorde

It is difficult to discuss Concord without talking about OverwatchSo it’s best to get it out of the way early. Concord Feels like the Hero Shooter Titan to a degree that most competitors don’t, and perhaps even to a degree that Overwatch 2 does not. From the responsive gunplay to the movement and heft of the characters, it’s all more or less in line, and Its minimal interest in over-stimulation feels refreshingly aligned with the original Overwatch Experience.

Concord Gore fulfills the hero-swapping premise with an open queue and a flexible approach to roles in general that can help combat over-reliance on meta compositions. Rather than distinctions like DPS, tank, and support classes, Divisions focuses more on how characters poke enemies, from breachers like Star Child who can effectively lead charges to hounds like It-Z who stay on the move. The unusual part is how Concord Actively incentivizes hero-swapping with buffs that activate from participating in each roleAn interesting but weird appended mechanic that may be ignored by casual players.

Abilities follow in the line of games like Valorant By being a little more muted in nature and effect. A lot of characters simply throw things, be it knives, grenades or healing pads. It’s satisfying when abilities resolve into a successful gameplay sequence, especially thanks to a recharge mechanic that requires kills to regain many skills. Flashbanging an enemy like Haymar and combining them with walls of fire and flaming projectiles is deeply satisfying. Some skills, however, end up having only mild impact or even being completely irrelevant.

Balancing modes may harm a good gameplay cadence

Casual fashions are fun but kneecap by design restriction

Although ConcordS maps don’t usually corral players in one direction, working with a team is important. High time-to-kill and a lack of abilities that quickly deplete health bars mean that picking off enemy players who aren’t alone is a challenge without backup. Charging in the free like Emari (essentially a redux of Team Fortress 2S Heavy) can be fun, but standing behind a corner to charge high-damage teammates with her armor generator is an equally powerful decision.

Concord It’s not about constant showdowns, instead focusing on the ability to survive a confrontation and pick up the pieces before the next one. Healing pads and skills focus on graduated recharges rather than instant refills, and a number of expendable abilities are regained by picking up a drop after killing an enemy. For those who enjoy gameplay that fluctuates in intensity, this is an engaging cadenceAlthough actually finding healing while studying the maps can sometimes feel like a wild goose chase.

The biggest challenge for Concord lies in its attempt to place an equal emphasis on both casual FPS brawls and tactical shooter matches, two things that reward different abilities in uneven ways. At the moment, it feels like the game is balanced around rivalryWhich was altered after launch to give extra XP in order to fix queues that were previously struggling to fill. One of Rivalry’s two variants, Cargo Run, works like a bomb-planting extraction match. The other, Clash Point, simplifies things with one zone to control.

Winning a round with a hero locks them out for future use, but building a custom crew with repeat heroes can get around this drawback. Swapping, however, is incentivized by the buff-stacking system, which integrates more naturally in rivalry than in casual mode. With careful flanking and team showdowns that tend to be more guided than the directionless arenas of other modes, abilities are more consistently relevant, and playing a slower tank no longer feels like punishment. Rivalry is relatively tactical without venturing into hyper-competitive territory, and it can be fine for those who like strategizing without sweating.

A good-looking game with plenty of caveats

Excellent graphics and uninspiring design liter Concorde

Aesthetics are important to hero shooters, and Concord Can end up being fairly divisive in this realm. It’s certainly visually polished, with gorgeous lighting and textures even at medium settings. Some maps display these features well, while others feel bland. Character designs manage to avoid falling back on tropes for each hero, but few of them actually come across as particularly appealing, and the current cosmetics list is never interestingly transformative.

The cast of characters is backed up by an emphasis on lore, and Firewalk is promising weekly cutscenes to keep that at the forefront. Information about the setting is reflected in-game via a galactic guide, which makes for decent reading while waiting for cues. To make the story interesting, you’ll need to move beyond its currently generic, quippy nature, and it might still be better to focus ongoing development on the game itself.

There is one very baffling element of Concords graphics settings, which is the lack of fullscreen resolution options on PC. It’s a fairly demanding title, so someone with a solid but unexceptional graphics card and a 4K monitor might be better off running it at good settings at 1080p than at low at 4K. Achieving this in fullscreen can only be done by changing the display settings in the actual computer OS, a strange and frustrating requirement.

Final Thoughts & Review Score

3/5 – Solid, or good, according to Screen Rant’s review metric

The highest price of Concord It might make it a tough sell in 2024, but it’s certainly nice to play a live-action shooter that isn’t designed to ask for money at every turn. Everything in the game at the moment can at least be earned for free (with monetization presumably joining the game when the first season starts), although progression would feel better with some freedom of choice added in. The live-service element of the game will add heroes, maps, and more, and the focus on learning promises a continuing story to come.

Although Concord Is tough and polished at a basic level, it is faced with an uphill battle that it already seems to be losing. A shotgun blast approach that attempts to hit the basic notes of every hero shooter prerogative makes it harder for it to do one thing in a truly fresh wayAnd the casual modes would be more exciting with bigger abilities and maps with more interesting pressure points. The game systems click in Rivalry and get the job done in the other game modes, however Concord Lacks the spark necessary to ignite much of a flame.

Firewalk Studios presents Concorde, a first-person multiplayer sci-fi shared world shooter. The game was announced during the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase, with few details being developed about the product. The game is expected to make its debut sometime in 2024.

Systems

Released

August 23, 2024

developer(s)

Firewalk Studios

Publisher(s)

Sony Interactive Entertainment

Multiplayer

Online co-op, online multiplayer

motor

Unreal Engine 5

ESRB

H