What The Heck is Concord?
September 3, 2024
Written by Jamie Galea
Concord, the next big game from Playstation and the debut title from Firewalk Studios, is a game that’s fascinated me over the last few months. Ever since the games reveal earlier in the year, where a third of a State of Play was dedicated to it and didn’t go over well with the vast majority of people. The game ran two betas which left a lot of people indifferent to the game overall. Being able to check it out and seeing just what Concord actually is and trying to figure out why this game has generated such a level of indifference. In short, I really wanted to know what this game’s deal was, and it’s been fascinating discovering just what this game is.
(EDIT: Within hours of this going live, Playstation announced that the game is going offline from Sep 6, 2024. They’re promising refunds for anyone who bought the game digitally across PS5, Steam and Epic. There’s no word if they’re planning to retool the game for F2P or attempting to relaunch it like Multiversus. Ignore the follow paragraph where I mention it’s worth diving in now if you’re curious, and enjoy the rest of the piece as a look back at what the game was – Jamie)
Let’s get this out of the way now. If you’re even thinking of playing Concord, the best time is right now. Mostly because of how new it is in the grand scheme of things, so there’s always that natural curiosity factor. The game hasn’t been tracking well on Steam as far as player count, though the majority of people I’ve come across online are on Playstation. Not sure if that says anything, but it’s worth noting. Yes it’s $60 and if you’re on Playstation, it requires an active Playstation Plus sub, but if you’re wanting to dive in, now’s as good a time as ever while there’s an active player base still figuring the game out.
I didn’t spend a tonne of time in the beta, but I’m enjoying my time with the full release. If you’re unaware, the idea is that it’s a 5v5 hero shooter. Firewalk are ex-Bungie developers, so the pace and movement is comparable to that Crucible in Destiny, but characters lack ultimates and have their own set kit and role to play. For instance, the three characters I’m diving between are Teo, Jabali and Star Child. While Star Child is designed to get up real close and start doing a heap of damage, Teo & Jabali are both rangers, which means they’re all rounders, and both rock what could be described as assault rifles, but offer some surprising mechanical differences.
The closest analogue to Teo would be Soldier 76 from Overwatch, except in lieu of being able to heal himself and comrades, he has smoke grenades. Jabali, on the other hand, has two orbs that form his kit – one to heal comrades and the other that tracks and damages enemies. The catch is that in order to get more charges on the life orbs, you either need to eliminate opponents or hit people with the damage orb. To cap things off, Teo (and most characters) have a double jump to get around, Jabali has a triple jump, albeit with a smaller height.
And that’s the thing with pretty much every character in the game! The game does a pretty good job of making each character and kit feel unique, forcing a different playstyle per character. I found hanging back with Jabali and focusing on support, occasionally popping up with support fire and his attack orb, to be pretty viable and a fun way to play. There’s systems in place to incentivise switching characters for buffs, but truthfully, I’ve never really needed or wanted to ever swap out.
Probably the most striking thing about Concord, as far as its live service plans go, is its approach to story, worldbuilding and character. The game opens with five members of the Northstar being accepted into the Freegunners, a sort of counter movement against the oppressors known as The Guild. Every week, you’re greeted with a new vignette starring the crew of the Northstar with the aim that these vignettes aim to tell something of a grand story with the aim of slowly introducing who these characters are. The catch here is that these vignettes are told using characters you can play as, instead of focusing on other characters related to the plot that you can’t play as.
In theory, it’s not necessarily an awful idea. Live service games that often tell stories take the easy, yet understandable, way out by focusing the story around the NPCs, you’re just there for the ride because you’re an avatar with no voice. When you’re playing Destiny for the plot, you’re seeing the exploits of Zavala or Crow or Mara Sov or whatever, with your character who’s doing most of the work is there in the background. I’ve never liked that approach, but I absolutely understand why that approach is taken.
I just don’t think Concord’s execution of this idea really works. The humour and presentation isn’t to my taste, but that’s ultimately subjective and I can’t fault it for that. The bigger and far more crucial issue is its characters, or rather, how lacking in personality they all seem to be. I can tell you some, not all, of their names. I can tell you something vaguely about most of them. Hell, I could probably tell you how some of them work mechanically. Just about the only thing that stands out is what they wear, and I don’t think they’d be able to pass a silhouette test.
The game doesn’t really want to tell you any backstory or anything about these characters going into the game. There’s no official site that tells me anything meaningful about the characters, no Wiki where there’s been a collection of pre-release stuff for the fans, hell I’d be surprised if there’s any YouTubers focusing on Concord content. There’s a few animated teasers which have a stronger artstyle than the game, but that’s it. Just about the only thing the game makes extremely prominent about these characters are their pronouns. Which is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but it’s hard to really make a connection if there’s nothing to really go with.
There’s no doubt that over the next few weeks Firewalk are hopefully planning to evolve these characters and add to them over time, but it doesn’t make for a great first impression. I also find it extremely weird that the way these stories are currently written, that we’ve known these characters for years and thus we don’t need to know anything about them. It’s bizarre, and I’m hoping that gets rectified soonish.
As for lore though, this game has it in spades. As you’re watching the weekly cutscene or even diving into matches, the game will frequently pop up a notification saying you’ve unlocked a relevant entry in the Galactic Guide, a codex and galactic map you can dive into to learn more about the universe that Concord is set in. It’s stupidly detailed and very comprehensive, so if you’re ever wanting to know more about the universe of Concord, the game has you set there. There’s even some experience points for reading through each lore nugget – what that’s for, I sincerely could not tell you.
The question I’m left with is the one most people almost assuredly have is what’s next for this game, and can it succeed in such a market? I haven’t an issue with the game part of it, because right now it feels fairly solid and competent. It’s not to everyone’s tastes, and thankfully there’s plenty of healthy competition out there. It’s everything else that I really worry about. The game lacks any real personality, with some of the least memorable characters in the genre. If you love lore though, the game has that in spades, and I don’t think that’s anything to be really worried about.
I don’t want to write the game off as dead on arrival, because I think every game deserves a chance to survive and attempt to flourish and find itself, but the first impression that it makes is not a strong one. There’s always the hope that it’ll evolve over time, and hopefully it gets to that point somewhere in the future, and I hope it’s soon.
Right now, Concord needs a hook, and a really strong one too, and I don’t think detailed lore is going to be that.
This piece was written thanks to a code sent over by the publisher. Follow Jamie on all the social media over at @jamiemgalea
