Looting and shooting in the Concord galaxy
By Paul Hunter
Sony has made a big push for live service games in recent years, having purchased Bungie (and by extension, Destiny 2) back in 2022, and then released Helldivers 2 by Arrowhead Game Studios earlier this year. Their next live service title, Concord by the newly purchased Firewalk Studios, is about to hit the market and this weekend we got our first hands-on with the Early Access Beta.
Concord's Early Access Beta was originally exclusive for those who pre-ordered the game, but presumably, to drum up more interest it was announced that everyone with a PlayStation Plus membership can download and play the Beta. I've been playing the Beta all weekend long, raking up over seven hours of game time already, and so far I'm...mostly impressed. Let's get into it.
The Concord Beta is a meaty offering, allowing players to check out all 16 Freegunners, four maps, and four game modes.
The first mode is called Takedown, or TDM for short, and is your basic eliminate rivals mode where the first team to 30 kills wins, or if the ten-minute time limit expires whichever team has the most eliminations is the victor. The second mode is Trophy Hunt and is essentially Kill Confirmed where you need to eliminate opponents and then collect their bounty card to earn a point. You can also pick up your eliminated team member's bounty card to deny your opponent those points. Both of these modes fall under the Brawl playlist.
Next, there's a mode called Cargo Run, which is a competitive mode with no respawns and requires your team to pick up cargo in the centre of the battle arena, then plant it in a zone and defend it for around 30 seconds. The final mode in the Beta is called Clash Point, and it's your classic zone capture and defence mode but the catch is there is also no respawns. Both of these no-respawn modes are part of the Rivalry playlist. The "Play" screen shows two other playlists unavailable in the Beta, with one called Takeover and is a capture and defend list, while the other playlist currently just says 'unavailable'.
Having spent many hours playing the Brawl and Rivalry playlist, I found the former to be a lot more engaging and entertaining since respawns are allowed, which means you're always in the game. Cargo Run and Clash Point feel unbalanced at this stage because in nearly every match players would outright ignore the objectives and simply kill the other team to win. I played at least a dozen Cargo Run matches where I was the only player (out of 10 players) to grab the loot and plant in my team's zone, and I just babysat the loot and won the match while the other players were battling it out.
Clash Point was an equally strange experience because Concord heavily leans into its 'team-based' gameplay making it extremely hard to win unbalanced fights, with 1v2 being near impossible to survive, and even 2v3 being a tough challenge. So when playing Clash Point, if your team loses a couple of players out of the gate, you have little hope of victory given the no respawns. One of the reasons it's so hard to win unbalanced fights is the time to kill (TTK) in Concord is very high, meaning you have to soak enemies with attacks to kill them and when you're outnumbered you simply don't have the DPS to win.
While I wasn't too enthused about the Rivarly playlist, I did find a lot of enjoyment in the Brawl playlist where respawns are enabled. I thought the arenas were well designed with nice line of sight corridors and tight choke points that kept the action fast and fluid. Visually, the arenas also look great, particularly the Star Chamber with it's glowing orange meteorite in the middle that creates nice opportunities for one-on-one battles. I also really liked the Freewater map that has twisty corridors on the outskirts and an open central courtyard in the middle where most of the mayhem happens.
Taking a look at the roster of 16 freegunners, there's a good variety of hardened tanks, stealthy tacticians, medics, snipers and nimble DPS shooters. My personal favourites are Daw, a medic who can deploy healing pads and an impenetrable dome, Emari, a massive tank with a Gatling gun and a protective energy shield, and Jabali, who can deploy a seeking healing orb to aid teammates and also unleash a hunter orb that damages opponents. Judging by the matches I've playing this weekend, the most popular characters seem to be Roka (who has a devastating missile launcher), Duchess (who can deploy wall barriers), Lennox (who can self-heal) and Teo (who can unleash smoke and cluster grenades).
Gameplay in Concord is very floaty, which may turn off some players, but as a fan of Halo, I'm fine with competitive games that control like this. There's a huge difference in movement speed and maneuverability between characters to keep in mind. For example, tanks like Emari are very slow and can also do one small jump. Meanwhile, Jabali moves much faster and can triple jump—allowing him to access areas that tanks like Emari cannot. Other characters like Haymar can float, Roka can hover and IT-Z can even teleport short distances. It takes a while to get a feel for each character since they move so differently, which is why it's too bad the Beta doesn't include a Training mode that allows you to learn characters away from the battlefield.
The Concord Beta opens up with a new cutscene showing our Freegunners in their ship and plotting their next heist. The acting, voice acting and visuals all come together quite nicely, so much so that part of me wishes there was a story campaign I could sink my teeth into.
The game has all the components you'd expect from a live services game including Daily, Weekly and Seasonal challenges, all awarding XP that levels up your profile. You also gain XP for each character you played as post-match, and levelling up can reward you with new cosmetics like outfits, accessories, weapon skins, attachable charms, victory and defeat poses, and drop-in animations. Thus far, the rewards I've got were on the dull side, mostly colour palette swaps for outfits or weapons, so I'm hoping the final retail release has a better variety.
You can also edit your "Business Card" i.e. the cards players see before each match, where you can customize your icon, background theme, add a motto, and attach a few of your favourite stats like how many eliminations you have or how many matches you've won.
One final area of the Beta, and one I've only dabbled in, is the Crew Builder menu that lets you customize which freegunners you'll have access to during the character selection. One benefit of this is you can create different crews for each playlist, but perhaps more importantly, you can gain crew bonuses based on your team's configuration. Examples are getting a faster dodge cooldown, increasing the healing received or increased mobility. For players that really want to explore the meta and always have the optimal crew for the job, the Crew Builder is a must.
Developer: Firewalk Studios
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Hero Shooter
Modes: Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
Sony has made a big push for live service games in recent years, having purchased Bungie (and by extension, Destiny 2) back in 2022, and then released Helldivers 2 by Arrowhead Game Studios earlier this year. Their next live service title, Concord by the newly purchased Firewalk Studios, is about to hit the market and this weekend we got our first hands-on with the Early Access Beta.
Concord's Early Access Beta was originally exclusive for those who pre-ordered the game, but presumably, to drum up more interest it was announced that everyone with a PlayStation Plus membership can download and play the Beta. I've been playing the Beta all weekend long, raking up over seven hours of game time already, and so far I'm...mostly impressed. Let's get into it.
The Concord Beta is a meaty offering, allowing players to check out all 16 Freegunners, four maps, and four game modes.
The first mode is called Takedown, or TDM for short, and is your basic eliminate rivals mode where the first team to 30 kills wins, or if the ten-minute time limit expires whichever team has the most eliminations is the victor. The second mode is Trophy Hunt and is essentially Kill Confirmed where you need to eliminate opponents and then collect their bounty card to earn a point. You can also pick up your eliminated team member's bounty card to deny your opponent those points. Both of these modes fall under the Brawl playlist.
Next, there's a mode called Cargo Run, which is a competitive mode with no respawns and requires your team to pick up cargo in the centre of the battle arena, then plant it in a zone and defend it for around 30 seconds. The final mode in the Beta is called Clash Point, and it's your classic zone capture and defence mode but the catch is there is also no respawns. Both of these no-respawn modes are part of the Rivalry playlist. The "Play" screen shows two other playlists unavailable in the Beta, with one called Takeover and is a capture and defend list, while the other playlist currently just says 'unavailable'.
Having spent many hours playing the Brawl and Rivalry playlist, I found the former to be a lot more engaging and entertaining since respawns are allowed, which means you're always in the game. Cargo Run and Clash Point feel unbalanced at this stage because in nearly every match players would outright ignore the objectives and simply kill the other team to win. I played at least a dozen Cargo Run matches where I was the only player (out of 10 players) to grab the loot and plant in my team's zone, and I just babysat the loot and won the match while the other players were battling it out.
Clash Point was an equally strange experience because Concord heavily leans into its 'team-based' gameplay making it extremely hard to win unbalanced fights, with 1v2 being near impossible to survive, and even 2v3 being a tough challenge. So when playing Clash Point, if your team loses a couple of players out of the gate, you have little hope of victory given the no respawns. One of the reasons it's so hard to win unbalanced fights is the time to kill (TTK) in Concord is very high, meaning you have to soak enemies with attacks to kill them and when you're outnumbered you simply don't have the DPS to win.
While I wasn't too enthused about the Rivarly playlist, I did find a lot of enjoyment in the Brawl playlist where respawns are enabled. I thought the arenas were well designed with nice line of sight corridors and tight choke points that kept the action fast and fluid. Visually, the arenas also look great, particularly the Star Chamber with it's glowing orange meteorite in the middle that creates nice opportunities for one-on-one battles. I also really liked the Freewater map that has twisty corridors on the outskirts and an open central courtyard in the middle where most of the mayhem happens.
Taking a look at the roster of 16 freegunners, there's a good variety of hardened tanks, stealthy tacticians, medics, snipers and nimble DPS shooters. My personal favourites are Daw, a medic who can deploy healing pads and an impenetrable dome, Emari, a massive tank with a Gatling gun and a protective energy shield, and Jabali, who can deploy a seeking healing orb to aid teammates and also unleash a hunter orb that damages opponents. Judging by the matches I've playing this weekend, the most popular characters seem to be Roka (who has a devastating missile launcher), Duchess (who can deploy wall barriers), Lennox (who can self-heal) and Teo (who can unleash smoke and cluster grenades).
Gameplay in Concord is very floaty, which may turn off some players, but as a fan of Halo, I'm fine with competitive games that control like this. There's a huge difference in movement speed and maneuverability between characters to keep in mind. For example, tanks like Emari are very slow and can also do one small jump. Meanwhile, Jabali moves much faster and can triple jump—allowing him to access areas that tanks like Emari cannot. Other characters like Haymar can float, Roka can hover and IT-Z can even teleport short distances. It takes a while to get a feel for each character since they move so differently, which is why it's too bad the Beta doesn't include a Training mode that allows you to learn characters away from the battlefield.
The Concord Beta opens up with a new cutscene showing our Freegunners in their ship and plotting their next heist. The acting, voice acting and visuals all come together quite nicely, so much so that part of me wishes there was a story campaign I could sink my teeth into.
The game has all the components you'd expect from a live services game including Daily, Weekly and Seasonal challenges, all awarding XP that levels up your profile. You also gain XP for each character you played as post-match, and levelling up can reward you with new cosmetics like outfits, accessories, weapon skins, attachable charms, victory and defeat poses, and drop-in animations. Thus far, the rewards I've got were on the dull side, mostly colour palette swaps for outfits or weapons, so I'm hoping the final retail release has a better variety.
You can also edit your "Business Card" i.e. the cards players see before each match, where you can customize your icon, background theme, add a motto, and attach a few of your favourite stats like how many eliminations you have or how many matches you've won.
One final area of the Beta, and one I've only dabbled in, is the Crew Builder menu that lets you customize which freegunners you'll have access to during the character selection. One benefit of this is you can create different crews for each playlist, but perhaps more importantly, you can gain crew bonuses based on your team's configuration. Examples are getting a faster dodge cooldown, increasing the healing received or increased mobility. For players that really want to explore the meta and always have the optimal crew for the job, the Crew Builder is a must.
Final Thoughts
Concord is a lot of fun to play and I'm having a blast in the Beta. It's already a very polished experience, with a solid framerate, smooth action and tight controls. There's a great roster of characters with someone for everyone, and the standard deathmatch and kill confirmed modes are tons of fun. I do wonder if the game's appeal will be broad enough given how competitive the hero shooter category is (with games like Overwatch 2 and Valorant), so here's hoping that the launch is a success and Sony and Firewalk support the game with enticing post-launch content.
Concord details
Platform: PS5, PCDeveloper: Firewalk Studios
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Hero Shooter
Modes: Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
A key was provided by the publisher.