It’s been a few years now since we heard from PlayStation about wanting to drive towards more cross-platform multiplayer and live-service experiences. While it seems like the strategic direction of PlayStation (and Xbox for that matter) is in a constant state of evolution, the team at Firewalk Studios, acquired by PlayStation last year, had been working on a competitive multiplayer shooter for years already. Enter Concord, Firewalk’s take on the competitive, hero-based, arena shooter.
After a couple of betas, Concord launched into advanced access last week. I spent quite a few hours in the betas previously, and, now, I’ve spent a couple dozen more with the full game since the servers went live. As someone who spends a lot of time with competitive shooters of all shapes and sizes, I have a lot of thoughts. Let’s dive in.
Freegunning…as a Team
As there are so many shooters on the market, let me first be clear about what Concord actually is. At launch, Concord features 16 characters, known as Freegunners, who represent the crew of a ship named the Northstar. Each of the Freegunners is unique, with different weapons, abilities, movement speeds, and health. Their core weapons and abilities are static, however, meaning there are no weapon pickups, swaps, or modifications. This design is primarily because Concord is directly aimed at being a team-coordinated shooter. It’s foundational to the entire experience.
I can’t stress that last point enough. Regardless of the game mode, coordinating your attacks and abilities with your teammates is imperative to win. Of course, this means the reverse is also true: understanding your opposition’s abilities, movement, and weaponry is critical to countering and playing effectively. Being able to select a new character after every death solidifies this further, providing endless opportunities for countering and turning the tide of the battle at any point.
It’s this design that I truly appreciate about Concord, and it’s the main aspect that gives it depth beyond so many of the “point-and-shoot” FPS games that saturate the market. The learning curve is stiffer than those games, but once you get over that hump and start to piece it all together, it provides remarkable outplay ability, both individually and in coordinating with your team. Continually aiming for that highlight reel play kept me coming back match after match, particularly when playing with friends. It’s been a while since I’ve played a shooter that made me say “just one more” this frequently.
The Rules of Engagement
This team-based, competitive focus is then spread across 6 game modes and 12 maps (at launch). Map design is arena-focused: simplistic in its layouts, but with enough complexity to allow for a wide range of engagements. Long sight-lines are complimented by choke points, short-cuts, multiple flank routes, and generous verticality. While I wouldn’t call them extremely memorable, they are well-designed, and allow for countless ways to engage when combined with the character abilities.
Fundamentally, the action takes place across 3 playlists today: Brawl, Overrun, and Rivalry. Each of the playlists then has two modes that you queue for randomly. The six modes will generally be familiar to anyone who plays shooters, with many of the modes functioning exactly like other popular games in the genre.
Brawl is your standard shooter playlist featuring Takedown, your standard Team Deathmatch, and Trophy Hunt, Concord‘s take on Kill Confirmed where you have to pick up the trophy after killing an enemy. Overrun is your zone-based playlist, featuring Area Control, a 3-zone capturing mode similar to Domination, and Signal Chase, which is essentially a rotating King of the Hill.
My favorite playlist, however, is Rivalry, which acts as the round-based, competitive mode within Concord. In the Rivalry playlist, there are no respawns, and when you win a round, you are not allowed to use the same Freegunner again (save for Variants, which I’ll touch on shortly). As the matches require winning four rounds to win the best-of-seven, it forces you and your teammates to be strategic in your character selections to accomplish specific tasks and counter enemy playstyles.
Rivalry features Cargo Run and Clash Point. In each of the modes, you can either win the round by eliminating all five members of the other team or by completing an objective. In Clash Point, that’s capturing a zone, and in Cargo Run, that means picking up the single, centrally-located cargo and delivering it to one of two points.
Rivalry is where the depth of Concord really shines as the need to utilize a wide-range of characters, abilities, and map strategies is imperative when playing against a competent team. The tug-of-war that can occur over seven rounds is intense, and allows for you to be the hero or the one your friends will want to kick from the party after the match.
While the playlists are serviceable today, I’d like to see more creative modes across all the playlists in time as they are anything but unique today. Given the ability combinations and flair of the universe, it would be cool to see game modes that play into those aspects. This is especially true of Rivalry, where the rules are excellent but modes underwhelming.
Finally, there a few single player additions as well. These include a Training mode and Firing Range for those who want to experiment with new characters. There’s also a Time Trial mode for each character with online leaderboards. This mode functions similar to ones we’ve seen in games like Titanfall 2 where you work your way through an obstacle course while taking down enemies as fast as you can. It’s nothing revolutionary by any stretch, but a nice addition regardless.
You Had Me? You Never Had Me!
Character abilities, map-design, playlists and game modes…they don’t mean anything if the foundational mechanics aren’t sound. And yes, I’ve been building up to answering the fundamental question of, “But how does Concord play!?” And, fortunately, I have good news because the answer is: brilliantly.
As a character-based FPS, Concord has some of best shooting mechanics in the industry. Every weapon feels unique and yet entirely purposeful when you play to their strong suits. Aiming, hip-firing, nailing headshots, it all feels supremely polished. The same is true of the character abilities, which are responsive, unique, and most of all, strategic. The combination is an addicting tonic of fun that I’ve been consuming since my first match. And if I’m being honest, it was unexpected. While I was always going to try Concord, seeing the original gameplay didn’t inspire me. It wasn’t until I got some matches under my belt that it all clicked.
Further expanding upon the competitive aspect of Concord are Variants. Each Freegunner has a passive ability, and, over time, you unlock additional variants of the characters that have different passives. Selecting between them can play to your strengths as a player, but the different classes and variants come into play in team play and the Rivalry mode as well, where passive bonuses compound through the rounds. This team-building aspect becomes more important at the higher levels of play and adds yet another layer of strategy to each match.
It’s very clear there’s pedigree within Firewalk as what makes Concord special is almost an indefinable quality. It is incredibly fun to engage with, and I simply never tire of spawning, assessing a situation, and outplaying to the best of my ability, only to then do that repeatedly, with different characters, for hours on end. When you combine the gunplay with the abilities and very good arena-based map design, you have every necessary building block of a top-tier shooter. Those aspects are where Concord shines brighter than most, and they are why I’ve enjoyed my time with it so much.
Lacking Character
Of course, as a character-based shooter and a new IP that has plans for a grand universe, Concord also needs to endear players to the Freegunners. This is where I feel it’s lacking the most. While it makes passive attempts to do so, ultimately they don’t fulfill the need. And I’m concerned that, without that engagement from players, Concord will quickly get lost in the shuffle.
Upon beginning the game, you are treated to an initial cut-scene that introduces a few of the core characters. The plan is to expand these cut-scenes, and thus the story-telling, over time with new arrivals weekly and with each season. However, with Season 1 not beginning until October, it simply feels like the gap is too wide between launch and expanding upon the universe meaningfully. Within the game you are treated to player cards for each character with unique progression and unlockables, but most of the universe-building is done through the Galactic Guide.
The Galactic Guide is a very unique addition to Concord which illustrates the trade routes of the Freegunners, lore on the map locations, and, of course, the home worlds and backstories to each of the Freegunners themselves. For those that want to engage with the Concord universe, it’s a nice touch and well-implemented. However, simple player cards don’t bring the characters to life. I can’t help but feel they would have been far better served by creating an animated video for each character with some backstory. As it stands, it feels rather lifeless and compounds the issue of the characters lacking anything to truly engage with.
It’s a shame, as there’s clearly been a lot of time invested into making the characters feel full of life within the game. Character animations are superb, and the detail to which each character is fleshed-out is impressive. Switching between characters actually feels like you’re playing someone entirely new, not merely switching an ability or a gun-type. In that sense, Firewalk has accomplished something that’s no easy task. However, if you can’t get the playerbase to care about the characters, all of it is for naught.
Being interested in the characters or their designs is a very personal thing, and it’s likely the aspect of Concord I care about the least as I place the shooting mechanics and design sensibilities on a pedestal. But it’s easy to see Firewalk will have to do more for players who want to invest in the universe and Freegunners. I was attempting to write this review without mentioning Overwatch, but it’s the character aspect that I feel is the most pertinent comparison. Blizzard enabled players to care about the characters. They brought them to life. Firewalk will need to do something similar.
The Long Road Ahead
Firewalk and PlayStation decided to launch Concord as a premium, paid title in a genre dominated by free-to-play games. What this means is that, in return, you receive a rather nice package on day one, along with the promise of a continued return on your investment. At launch, it features the 16 Freegunners, 12 maps, 6 modes, and both character and profile-wide progression paths. It also features crossplay and cross-progression across PS5 and PC.
While the rewards are rather generic, featuring character specific and profile-wide leveling with separate unlockables is welcome and reminiscent of your standard battle pass in most modern games. Furthermore, the team at Firewalk has provided an early roadmap for seasons 1 and 2, and noted that all future Freegunners, modes, maps and seasons will be free. The only additional paid options will be an in-game store for premium cosmetics, which will be launching in the near future.
Leveling progression is managed through the “Job Board,” which has a mix of daily, weekly, and seasonal challenges to complete. And, in a nice change of pace, daily jobs replenish endlessly (at least so I believe) so you always have small goals and challenges to work towards for bonus experience. Challenges are also how you unlock Variants with what looks to be a new opportunity every week.
Shooting for the Stars
Concord has been an interesting game to review. In some ways, I question the initial reveal, the lack of attention paid on the Freegunners as meaningful characters, and the premium price in a genre saturated by free-to-play titles.
However, while the overall package is a little light, and it needs more endearing content relating to the Freegunners, Concord has become one of my go-to shooters due to top-tier gunplay, mechanics, and team play. See you in space.
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