Concord Reviews

“Concord had the bones of a fun multiplayer game, but it never got a chance to grow.”

Concord is the definition of a "fine" shooter. The gunplay is fun, but there is nothing here to set Concord apart from any other game on the market. Between its lackluster modes, characters, and price, it's no surprise that Concord was unable to differentiate itself enough to find a player base.

At this point, most people are aware of 2024’s biggest flop. A brand new PvP hero shooter at a time when hero shooters are falling out of favour. A game that launched with very little fanfare almost like it was swept under the rug. But is Concord actually any good?

I had a good time playing Concord. The gunplay feels good, and the match pacing made it easy to jump in and quickly play a couple of games before peacing out. That said, I’m not confident that “just fine” will be enough to survive in the brutal landscape of live-service games in 2024. Concord suffers from a lack of innovation and identity, and I’m curious to see how Firewalk Studios and PlayStation will navigate the path forward.

Concord is a polished, entertaining multiplayer shooter, but one that doesn’t quite succeed in carving out a space in an already crowded genre.

Concord provides a highly enjoyable and satisfying FPS experience, but needs more time in the oven if it wants to succeed in the highly competitive hero shooter and live-service market.

Concord's third-rate heroes aren't up to the competition.

A competent Overwatch clone but one so apparently allergic to new ideas it’s depressing to see it so thoroughly waste its technical triumphs and well-designed characters.

Concord offers a unique experience that distinguishes it from other hero shooter games.

Concord isn’t the disaster many predicted it would be at its debut back in May. The simple truth is that Firewalk Studios have created a competent and fun multiplayer shooter. In Concord, you get the same level of polish and gunplay you’d expect from a Halo or Destiny, but with a hero shooter twist. The sixteen Freegunners are all well thought out and fun to play, and the Crew Builder mechanic, while overly convoluted, injects strategy into the multiplayer chaos. It’s also a gorgeous multiplayer game.

It’s hard to have any nuanced discussion about Concord without talk quickly becoming volatile. It’s either unreasonable ‘concerns’ such as characters having pronouns (as any living being does), a constant barrage of reminders from both concerned well-meaning people and naysayers about the dwindling player count or general live-service video game fatigue. None of the focus is on the important question: Is Concord a good hero-shooter video game? Does it feel good to play?

Winning a round with a hero locks them out for future use, but building a custom crew with repeat heroes can get around this obstacle. 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 could be nice for those who like strategizing without sweating.

Concord is not the disaster the discourse around it would lead you to believe. This online first-person shooter – a debut effort from Sony studio Firewalk – has outrageous production values, a fair business model, and a genuinely entertaining gameplay loop. Its biggest issue is its lack of identity: there’s no denying the developer has been heavily inspired by Guardians of the Galaxy, and while the title does genuinely try to blaze its own trail, that’ll largely be its downfall.