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Sony's online multiplayer shooter, Concord, is currently going through an open beta, allowing the public to check out the game prior to launch in August. Playable on both PS5 and PC, the team-based, 5v5 FPS is giving players the opportunity to put it through its paces. We're super curious to know, then — what do you think?
Concord was announced in 2023; it's the debut game from Washington-based Firewalk Studios, a team with veterans of Destiny, Call of Duty, and more on-staff. While the initial CG teaser was little more than a mood-setter, Sony finally lifted the lid on the game earlier this year, debuting gameplay footage and introducing us to this new sci-fi world with a colourful cinematic trailer.
While the game itself has always looked pretty good in terms of gameplay, Concord has been compared unfavourably with other team-based hero shooters. Many have also been critical of its tone, which appears to be heavily influenced by the quip-a-minute dialogue of Marvel movies, especially Guardians of the Galaxy.
A little more recently, some hands-on impressions from the press have been largely more positive, praising Concord's varied and fun characters, satisfying shooting, and ambitious storytelling. While many have remained skeptical, this beta is the game's first opportunity to really show what it has to offer.
A lot of it will come down to how it feels to play, of course, so if you've been playing the Concord beta, we'd love to know what you make of it so far. Vote in our poll, then get into the details in the comments section below.
What do you think of the Concord beta? (2,136 votes)
- It's brilliant
- It's good
- It's okay
- It's kinda bad
- It's terrible
- I'm not playing it
Comments 83
I didn't play it but I will talk negative about it because that's the world we live in
Didn't play/10 would definitely recommend 😜
@Czar_Khastik The modern era in a nutshell right there.
I put an hour into the Beta and I really tried to like it. Gunplay is not as satisfying as I thought it would be, just way below the levels of Destiny 2, which I thought would have been met with so many people that worked on that at Firewalk. No, this game isn’t for me at all. If this had been a story driven game with multiplayer bolted on, I would have been all in. Sadly I’m all out. I don’t think it will be too long before Sony doubles down on their bread and butter story games, because if this is what comes out of Sonys First Party studios when it comes to live service, there are going to be a lot of fails.
I just played for about 45 minutes or so, so these are obviously very, very, very early impressions and I need to play more to form my full opinion.
I think the production values are incredible. While I personally don't really care for many of the character designs or even the Guardians of the Galaxy-style writing, the cutscenes are amazing and the in-game visuals are really good too.
I like how every character feels very unique, but some are EXTREMELY slow. Like, unplayable they're so slow. Perhaps they'll work better in other modes?
It's early days but I did start to get a taste for how the abilities dovetail and how you could really collaborate with your teammates to amplify each individual character. Obviously, it'd take many, many hours play to truly understand this.
I like the music a lot, although matches feel quite static as there's no audio during those.
It's not the pacey kind of arcade shooter I personally want to play I don't think, but it doesn't seem bad by any stretch. I think the slow pace will turn a lot of players off, though.
@AfroMario the perfect definition of mid . i haven’t played it yet though
Played 2 games and that'll do for me honestly seems like it'll flop and be dead within a year.
I've enjoyed what I've played so far so il definitely be picking it up on release. It's not the best live service game around but by far not the worst either, I've enjoyed it more than Valorant i can say that for sure.
Haven't had the chance to try it yet but I'm looking forward to giving it a go.
@Czar_Khastik That will go for half the comments today, Sony's live service push was doomed to fail before it even started. Well, until HellDivers 2 shut people up for a while.
Could be better than its "original" version like how Crash Team Racing was better than MK. Could not be. For me it seems too static with a lot of weapon variety and powerups like Overwatch. Just not my kind of thing.
I prefer more fluent action paced gameplay like Titanfall/ Apex or something more stealthy/ like Factions.
Sony of course goes for the easy, uninspired, copycat strategy while shelving Factions 2. Beyond pathetic. Modern factory made gaming yay
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@UltimateOtaku91 @get2sammyb Agreed with both.
The only counter I would offer Sammy is the slow pace is what draws me to it.
Sure lots of hardcore gamers won't like it, but I suck at rapid PvP shooters and the slower pace here makes me feels like I'm actually in with a shout during a match.
And man, the music is so cool.
So far it's looking like a very well put together 7/10 for me. That said, I'm not sure if I'll be buying it yet. I'll see what those single player time trial modes are like in the full launch before I commit.
@Specky “ Could be better than its "original" version”
what do you mean by this ?
I'm more curious to see how many people are playing this instead of impressions. This game just really strikes me as a F2P game.
I may try the open beta on PC cause why not.
@UltimateOtaku91 Even then people are already dunking on the player count... the game sold 12M copies at $40 a pop and people are acting like its a failure.
Just played a bit more. I love playing healer in games, so I gave Jabbali a try. I had so much fun with this character, I really like how his healing orb has a kind of heat-seeker attribute to it.
I think the gameplay gets a lot more fun when you stop treating it like Call of Duty and work with your teammates.
@Zenos How is that more likely than it just being a derivative game in a crowded space?
Overall I’m enjoying it. I have put about 90 mins in and definitely have a few favourite characters and some which feel pointless.
Aside from gameplay I feel genuinely sorry for the sad acts who have decided they hate something entirely on the basis that it is “woke”…they complain about media being inclusive so as not to offend minorities, failing entirely to see the irony that they, themselves are offended by this. I can’t possibly understand how something, which can be entirely ignored by you, but might make someone else feel slightly more comfortable in their skin can be a bad thing. The only saving grace is that the next generation is way more accepting than this one so the bigots will at least be outnumbered if not die out completely within the next 100 years. Im tempted to pre order solely to support general decency over being a narrow minded POS.
@get2sammyb Yeah the games I've won so far were ones where we grouped up and had an healer, quite a lot of games though where people run off looking for the most kills. People need to treat this game more like Overwatch with strategy and keeping close to team mates, even in Trophy Hunt and Takdown modes. Been playing mainly as it-Z myself, easy to escape some losing gun fights with her.
Prefer valaront to this played both of them. I think they have made a mistake not it being free I think it's dead on arrival with price like that
Tried the beta, just does not do it for me. The slow pace doesn’t actually feel tactical, it feels dull. Just doesn’t feel like a 2024 game. This is the PS5 generation in a nutshell, vaguely better graphics but the actual underpinning systems of these games aren’t improving fast enough.
@IamJT it is fair to judge the player count as the goal of a live service game is longevity and not initial sales. Sony will definitely take the big sales numbers but I think they want this to be a longterm money maker and that is looking a lot more questionable than it was a month or two ago.
It’s unappealing I’d say, nothing inherently bad about it, just that there are like 20 games that are basically the same (or better) and for free.
The gameplay itself feels slow, I don’t like the UI but performance and graphics-wise looks rock solid.
I sense another live service hero shooter flop. This feels so dated in 2024.
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I’m enjoying the game so far the game definitely have potential gameplay feel like destiny if it was a hero shooter.
If crossplay off because a lot of my team mates have been trash that my only problem I’m having with this game so far.
If the steam numbers are any indication of things to come this is going to be a massive failure. Albeit it will be more clear during the truly open beta next week. Right now about 1000 pc players in game.
Why was this greenlit when you consider all that's been canceled.
The decision to not make a hero Shooter free to Play when the rest of them are is just insane. It feels A lot like playstation's hardware/peripheral strategy. Grab as much purchase cash as possible early on with the promise of continued support, only to abandon meaningful support a short time later.
It will be interesting to see the player counts next week for sure, but choosing such a saturated live service genre just feels like an extremely bad decision even on a business level. Way too late to the party.
@Specky overwatch doesn't have any power ups
Was on a bad streak with one of my friends just now. We were playing terribly in a few games.
5-30 or something nuts like that was a highlight score.
We were so bad I was going to cancel my pre-order.
Then I picked Star Child for the first time, he picked Duchess, and we just vibed with it.
We played one more round and won our first game with those characters, sticking to each other like glue.
It could be a fun game to play for an hour or two on a Friday night. I'm leaning towards keeping the pre-order now.
It’s decent. Lots of interesting weapons for sure, but also a little barebones maybe?
I don’t think I’m going back to it to be honest. Not because it was bad, but just because there’s so many other options that’s just as good if not better.
This game was never for me, but I hope it’s good for others who are into multiplayer games.
Welp played 2 matches. Haymar felt way too slow. I thought I chose some beefy tank for a second. The grandma has a cool kit but feels like she barely does any damage and also too slow
The intro cutscene was pure marvel cringe. But I actually enjoyed the one about the homage stuff. The character designs are abysmal. I've never seen a more awful cast of characters except maybe that destruction all stars game or whatever its called. Why are western devs so scared of designing Hoyo tier characters 😂
Another generic hero shooter
I find it quite perplexing and hilarious how dumb the VG industry is. Since Overwatch the only hero shooter that has succeeded that isn't OW is Apex Legends and that's games success is less because of the hero shooter stuff and more because it offers a different take on the Battle Royale. All the others have failed and every game that has tried to convert itself to a hero shooter has reverted back. Why has Sony and this Dev made a game that we all know will flop based on years and years of evidence saying it will? Overwatch 2 is pretty much dead now compared to where it was and hero shooters just aren't popular anymore.
Not played much yet to form much of an opinion. But something I think this beta really needed was a training mode, outside of the customisation screen you wouldn't know what abilities each Freegunner has if you just jumped straight in.
I agree that the pace is a bit slow though it makes a change from the twitch shooters.
The presentation is really slick and I like most of the character designs and the cutscenes were high quality, which is promising for the weekly story scenes their planning on release.
But if the game ends up failing to take off I hope Sony and Firewalk don't give up on the IP, they can go on and make a SP spin off game.
I don't plan on playing it. I don't like over watch. But o got this game does really well and has a good audience and community. The more good games that exist, the better.
Best game on the PS5
You mean the early access? Nah, I don't play the early access beta since I must pre-order, might try the open beta on PC.
I played a couple of hours worth this evening and I think it’s brilliant, the best shooter of its kind since Overwatch. Once you gel with a character and learn their move set it gets very satisfying bounding all over the place and nailing shots.
I wasn’t too fussed about it until I actually played it but I get it now. I really hope it does well as I’ll be picking it up for sure.
@Esperandast
They changed the pre-order requirement for this beta. It's now open to all PS+ members. Just so you know.
First descendant probably killed any momentum it had
@Korgon you’d technically still have to pay to play it though
@AdamNovice Was thinking the same. That little bit of backstory about the origins of the Freerunners had me craving a campaign mode. Would love to see something more from the ip.
I played for about an hour. Here's my thoughts so far...
A few questions I have;
1. Will there be microtransactions in the full game? I couldn't see a store at least. I could say this should be F2P, but honestly, I hate the F2P model as I find MTX to be abhorrent due to the insane prices. If you can get the full experience for just £34.99, I think that's good.
2. But do I think this game is worth spending money on? Maybe for some, but probably not for me. I prefer PvE to PvP games and this isn't my kind of shooter. I've yet to play an FPS I have enjoyed more than Titanfall 2. I prefer fast-paced games and this seem too slow for me.
3. Do I think this game will succeed? Probably not. It's not doing enough to stand out and feels too similar to other games, plus it's main rivals are F2P and that immediately gives it an uphill struggle.
@nomither6
Yes that's true but he specifically called out needing to pre-order the game. I was just saying that isn't the case anymore is all.
The graphics look good and the story while very GotG like probably would be interesting but feels like it will get wasted on a PvP game. All the devs for these games are coming up with some interesting concepts and characters but the market is just saturated and nothing has been able to dethrone COD and Fortnite.
I'm terrible at FPS but throwing all skill levels in together for the beta ain't it. Maybe they'll have a free weekend upon release and then I'll give it another go when I can get matched up with appropriately skilled players.
I like the idea of single player DLC. If Sony wants the IP to grow it’s a very good idea!
Played one game, lost… but I had fun. I’m not into MP games like this one but the fact they’ll grow the characters and release updates makes me confident it will stay for a year or two. Sony can’t push for live service and quit fast on one of their first game… I feel like it will be a Ubisoft story like Rainbow Six Siege.
It’s the perfect example of mediocre. Doesn’t do anything new. Well polished (even as a beta) but I see. Nothing here that will draw me into playing this on a regular basis. This certainly will not be a Helldivers 2 level hit.
From the sound of thing I expect this to be dumped onto PlayStation extra or premium sooner rather than later. Probably would be a good investment in the long run to not actually pay for it.
It should have been a story-driven, co-op supporting FPS about rival crews pulling off heists and all sorts of espionage/intrigue/backstabbing/double-crossing space pirate *****.
This should have been the multiplayer suite tacked on to THAT game.
As it stands, this is an incredibly basic multiplayer arena shooter that is literally bringing nothing to the market that hasn't been seen before or done to death already. Literally not one original thing. At all.
Plus, it makes a LOAD of stupid design decisions that make it actively aggravating to play (like no lobbies, re-selecting your character every death, no back-fill in-match, the whole crew and variant system).
It's bonkers that they think they'll get $40 for this. It is terribly bare bones even with a few modes unavailable.
I'll play a few more matches this weekend and next, but... nah. This ain't it.
It’s an entry level arena shooter… it may become free to play at worst but I feel people are frustrated because Sony didn’t announce any single player game in a while…
Get over it.
It's a 5v5 hero shooter, if there is one thing I don't like it is being restricted of a class or weapon because someone else is using it. So a hard pass and the character designs are butt ugly
Not every game needs to be an homerun if you build an IP.
its just so meh its been done so many times before im trying to find anything it does thats original or interesting
Didn't play it and never plan to do it. Just please don't give it to PS Plus monthly picks Sony, thank you.
@AfroMario So anywhere between "perfect" and "unplayable"? That's enlightening!
Videos look groovy but I don't play these games. Hope this live service does better than others but it won't be getting my pennies.
I played for an hour and I'm still in shock that sony canceled Last of Us multiplayer game and not this one...
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Pretty fun game.. I'm not buying but I'd put time in if it was F2P
It's just plain uninteresting.
Movement of players is sluggish for my taste. I don't know where comparisons with Destiny are coming from since Destiny 2 in it's current state (not during launch of Vanilla game) is pretty fast paced.
I can't imagine having long term interest in this game. I'm not playing MP game for weekly cutscenes. And in terms of content this game is just blandest of the bland. And visual style is not interesting in the slightest and some characters are downright ugly looking.
@Glens0n crazy aint it at least last of us factions offered something different this is just same old same old
the Beta just confirmed concord is the magnolia of video games dull and inoffensive
As others have said, if this was a single player game with multiplayer added on, I would have been all in. I have no problem with them copying Guardians of the Galaxy given that I'm a big fan of it, so it likely would have been a pretty entertaining FPS for me.
I don't do anything with online gaming anymore, so this will be an obvious pass for me. I'm not going to crap on it like other people though because I see no reason to.
I play Apex Legends from time to time with a friend. I enjoyed this more than that, this has way more potential than I expected. I’m pleasantly surprised but not fully convinced yet
Not even trying the beta since I unsubbed from PS+. Initially linking the beta to preorders was a rookie mistake. The beta should have been planned as a PS+ perk all along to maximize feedback and prevent any impression that preorders are low, which we can now presume.
@Glens0n How many times does it need to be said, ND would have had to commit to it full time at the expense of their SP games.
@Czar_Khastik At least you are an honest miserable hater! Got to respect!
@nessisonett Whatever the smoking hair man says you listen because his hair has been on fire for years.
@Nepp67 I agree with you on the character designs. Just awful, imo. Both aesthetically ugly and incredibly derivative.
The game itself is not bad, though many characters move like slugs, but I'm not investing time or money into these characters. It's like the anti-Overwatch in that regard, a game that ended up being a hit on the basis of its character designs (and porn, to be fair, but that was also due to aesthetically pleasing designs).
Played a couple matches and so far, I’d say it’s a competent hero shooter. Like Overwatch before it, it’s an FPS that you can pick up and play and not need to be a sweat-lord to be able to enjoy it. My biggest frustration with mp fps games these days is that the barrier to entry is so high since so many people are so invested into the genre that it’s not really a genre for casuals. I say this as someone that WAS a hardcore Halo player through Halo 4, but the keyword to that is WAS. The last ten years or so, the genre has not been one I get particularly invested in, so, despite the fact that I used to love mp fps games, I’ve usually gotten frustrated that clearly they are typically designed for people that want to play the games more seriously than I do. And I get it, I totally do. My years of being am-pro level in Halo make me understand that craving to be the best. I’m the one that changed and started preferring less competitive games.
What I do like about Concord is that I was competent to start. There’s no dedicated meta or anything like that right now, which means that you can just pick up and play without going against people that have boiled things down to a science, and I appreciate that. It does remind me of Overwatch 1 because that one felt very similar, even after the meta developed.
However, it differs strongly in the vibe of the game and the characters. Overwatch had an exceptionally balanced roster. Concord does not. Some characters are essential to a team, others are practically useless in the current balancing of the roster. That may change following the beta, of course. As much as I love to steamroll in a match, I didn’t feel like I did that by skill or teamwork, but by picking the right set of characters, or rather, by not picking the junk characters.
The visuals and overall aesthetic is very polished, if slightly bland as a setting. The world definitely feels “done this before” in a not so positive way. I’m not a fan of Guardians of the Galaxy or Marvel or whatever, so I’m not as familiar with that stuff as others, but, still, I definitely feel the designs are derivative of sci-fi tropes I’ve seen elsewhere. That can be ok, of course, but we get so many games that feel static and flat these days and Concord feels like another one. Not sure why so many sci-fi stylized things have that quippy tone to them where they deliberately pair clowns with flat characters, but Concord is another one of those. And even so, it feels a little off on that too. Depending on where they go with the characters, I can see some people really appreciating the cast. The alien designs seem oddly a little off and b-movie, given the budget for this one, and it does seem to have a fairly inclusionary cast, which some people really enjoy. It could have its followers.
It seems the internet has chosen to disregard the game at large already too, so the game’s got an uphill battle. Other games that have snagged on “the internet” have historically struggled no matter the genre or the quality of their content. Having played what I’ve played, I don’t think Concord will be able to beat the internet, but I do think it’s possible it may start with a dedicated and niche fanbase that appreciates the entry level difficulty and has some interest in the characters. As nice as niche games are, given the budget on this one, I don’t think that’s what Sony wants out of this one.
It plays great. It looks great. I personally like the character designs even if they are a bit safe and derivative. I'm very tempted to pick it up and support the game, but alas, it is doubtlessly destined to fail. Between the angry virginal anti-woke brigade that will attempt to boycott and the plethora of other games people are diehard fans of, this probably won't move the needle enough to change many minds.
But, I have played the beta for an hour or two and can honestly say I really really enjoy it.
I loathe and morally reject the free to play business model, and the price point for this is bang on. The quality of a game you pay for initially will always be higher than free to play, and this game proves it.
Here's to hoping it does well.
It appears to be very well polished, but team based shooters aren’t my genre. Pass for me, but I can see people enjoying it.
I haven't played it but it just seems so generic. It just looks like Overwatch or Valorant with literally nothing new or interesting. Like what's the hook to get people to try it or switch games?
It's not terrible, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I could just be playing Overwatch 2 instead.
@DennisReynolds
What constitutes a modern play style or set of mechanics? Any good examples?
If you say gotcha games, I'll slowly back out of the room without my back turned on ya.
It seems like this should be free to play. I haven't played it but I'm not seeing a reason to pay $40 to play this.
I'm seriously surprised by the quality. I played maybe 5 hours yesterday and will probably continue today
Will it have a chance in the market? Probably not? As free2play? Maybe?
Destiny crucible is more fun than this and thats free
Character design is awful IMO (Guardians of the Galaxy cheap rip-off), but gameplay is quite nice.
@AdamNovice I know and i get it. I am still finding sad that Sony ask Bungie to test the MP mode of TLOU and Bungie did not find it good enough. And what can we say about concord...
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