Summary
Concordwas destined to flop. It’s another hero shooter in a genre dominated by Overwatch, Valorant, and Apex Legends, already dwarfed by another newcomer in Marvel Rivals, and its debut trailer’s cringy, Whedonesque dialogue did it no favours.
And yet, having played a reasonable amount of Concord over the last few days, that almost inevitable flop feels less and less deserved. Concord is the victim of a bad first impression, and it needs the time to breathe and come into its own that I don’t think anyone is going to afford it.
The sad thing is that, purely from a mechanical perspective, Concord is fun as hell. The closest comparison I could make wouldn’t be to Overwatch or Marvel Rivals – it’d be to Destiny 2. Instead of being a group of people with guns, the cast is full of idiosyncratic gameplay styles, like Roka’s acrobatic rocket launching or Kyps’ surveillance abilities. Support and area control are just as important as pure firepower, and learning each hero feels like a journey in its own regard.
Is it perfect? No. Characters require more dedication than I’d like, there are few ways to properly learn how they work, and I’ve already found myself sticking to just one or two instead of sampling the full roster. Games are over far too quickly too, meaning most of your time is spent in matchmaking menus. But once you’re mid-game and getting into those firefights, Concord feels fantastic.
One time, I used Roka’s jetpack stomp on one opponent to kill them, and then took out another in mid-air with my rocket launcher. I felt like a god.
But being a ‘pretty good’ shooter isn’t enough to get me to bat for Concord of all things this hard. Instead, it’s the world that has got me on board. It’s managed to convince me it’s more than a mindless void of Marvel tropes, and the only way from here is up.
Weekly Story Updates Could Be What Saves Concord
That cinematic trailer shown off at State of Play a few months ago reallywas unforgiveable. It set up the game as clearly aping Guardians of the Galaxy, down to its Yondu-looking Lennox and totally-not-Drax Star child. The dialogue was full of snark, as we watched these outer space misfits goof around and bicker for five obnoxious minutes.
That trailer completely misrepresented Concord’s tone. Each week, Firewalk Games has said it’ll be expanding the story of the Freegunners with new cinematics, and from the very first one I’m already hooked.
Though it is still clearly trying to be Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU-slathered, quip-driven dialogue has given way to much more three-dimensional characters. Lennox, the bristly not-Yondu, isn’t just a careless slacker like Starlord or the billion Starlord ripoffs that followed him. He shows real leadership skills and reverence for the profession of Freegunners, going so far as to lead a moment of quiet contemplation for those who sacrificed themselves for their cause.
Haymar, the mysterious woman with ‘tude, still gets to be the cynical punk, but has tender connections with her peers – especially the big, cheese-wheel-looking robot 1-0FF. Their little hug once finally being accepted to the Freegunners does more for her character than a hundred cool lines on killing an enemy ever could.
It’s pure exposition, but this cinematic subverted all my expectations. I went into Concord expecting to be annoyed at the Marvel-ness of it all, and instead I was immediately given characters I want to get to know more about as I log in each week.
I don’t want to watch the big, bombastic heists and gunfights – I’d rather play them myself. Instead, these are a great chance to expand and flesh out characters who’d otherwise be faceless, contextless game pieces. I want to know what Roka’s deal is, or see how Daw got into freegunning. I want to see Lennox navigate becoming a Freegunner more, and go from a clumsy but heartfelt lead to something greater. And with the promise that we’ll get a new story each week, I’m willing to put up with the wonky character designs for now if there’s hope we’ll see more sides to them later on.
Don’t Follow The Crowd, Give Concord A Try
It’s a shame, because Concord has become the current target for gaming derision. That dodgy trailer turned off one wave of people, and the character designs turned off everyone else. Now, every comment section and YouTube dislike bar is filled with how much Concord sucks, just because the collective wisdom of the masses has decided it does before even getting a chance to play it.
Concord has potential. It could flounder and never grow beyond what it is right now, in which case it deserves what it gets and it’ll be the next Lawbreakers a year from now. But it shouldn’t be written off just yet, not when there’s a clear path to it improving, or perhaps even completely overhauling itself. It’s come so far from its cinematic trailer just two months ago, and convinced me it’s more than leftover slop from the MCU chum bucket.
If we cared about good games and not just parroting what random influencers said during the reveal, Concord’s clever character moments and unique hero shooting should have earned it some time to work out the kinks.
Concord
WHERE TO PLAY
Concord is an upcoming FPS from Firewalk Studios, part of the PlayStation Studios family. A PvP multiplayer title, it is slated for launch on both PS5 and PC in 2024.
