Firewalk’s Concord was plagued by the online community from the start and in some aspects, the game does underperform yet underneath is a very tactical hero shooter with hidden mechanics that weren’t noticeable at first glance
Mix some Marvel visuals with classic Halo style shooting and Concord is what you get. It’s a 5v5 PVP that heavily relies on supporting your teammates to gain certain buffs and perform combos, one of the game’s hidden mechanics. The most surprising aspect of Concord is that it is a LIVE service game that has weekly lore updates through short opening clips where we get to know the 16 (expanding in October) characters. There are no paywalls for skins or any other unlocks nor are there any season passes. This is very refreshing in an era where every game hides content behind paywalls or DLC. Yet it hasn’t been able to convince enough players to join the galactic brawl of the Freegunners.
The characters are one of the hit-or-miss aspects of the game. You either love them or hate them. One thing is for sure, they are well rendered and lifelike and the same goes for the overall visuals of the game, it is a very crisp and beautiful game on PS5. I had no stutters or FPS drops whatsoever and once you play for a few hours the chaos of colors/effects and buffs will start to make sense. People often compare it to Overwatch but that series has a more “animated/cartoony” style that is easier to overlay and I feel like their UI has a less steep learning curve. I think Concord could benefit from some more prominent visual clues for status effects, active team buffs, and so on.
The levels are great and feel like you’re on some MCU-inspired planets and locations. The area of play is large enough for the OVERRUN game types since these are objective-based and will attract the opposing teams towards each other whereas the BRAWL game types are more classic TDM and I feel some maps feel to large and empty. It takes a while before finding enemies and that is a pity in these matches that are way too short.
The gameplay itself feels snappy and most characters feel fluent to play with. At first, you can be a bit disappointed in the gameplay as you only have access to a few charges of your secondary powers and you’ll quickly be limited to your seemingly weaker primary fire. You’ll quickly learn that every character has combos and hidden power refreshes that will set you apart from a newer Concord player. For example, Jabali has a healing orb that he can place either on himself or on teammates. His other power is a damaging orb. On of the hidden mechanics is that he immediately regains a healing orb when destroying enemy deployable. The same goes for Kyps, if you combo from invisibility and land damaging shots, combine it with her dodge you can stay turn back invisible way faster again making her a very competitive character. Every character has a secret meta that is worth exploring and will make the difference in 1V1 situations against players who do not use these hidden refreshes of powers.
Unfortunately, this hidden gameplay aspect is too hidden and will be missed by a lot of players trying out the game and feeling “powerless” against more experienced players. Even if the unlocks are purely cosmetic just like Overwatch or Halo. I feel the game is missing something. Working towards an ultimate ability would make you feel more impactful and would give me a more rewarding feeling. Even if that’s not possible in the future having longer matches would be nice. The matches are over so quickly that you don’t get a feel of the hero you’re playing. You can spend 6 to 7 minutes waiting for a match that will be over in 1-2 minutes if you’re unlucky. At the moment I’m spending more time in menus or waiting than actually playing. This is due to the low player count at the moment. I feel like it is getting worse. I have yet to find a single match for the competitive game mode RIVALRY. And after a week reviewing the game I should be able to find at least 1 match?! I feel like this is unacceptable.
The progression system is okay and apart from cosmetics you can also unlock “variants”. These are extra variants of characters that will add to the roster once you unlock them and will behave as a completely different hero through other passive abilities. A nice touch and since they are different heroes than their original you can equip them with completely different cosmetics as well to accentuate that they are a variant. Some of the cosmetics look nice and different but I feel most of the skins are merely “color variations” and only a few offer different clothing/hair etc. Some of the skins feel less of a reward than the already mid-base skins. I hope Firewalk can focus on creating more unique alternate skins for this game as the characters’ designs are what kept a lot of players from buying the game in the first place.
Sound wise this might be one of the better games. All the effects and abilities feel real and almost tactile in your ears. The score is spot on for this “retro space pirate” theme the game relies on. I feel like the score and sound effects are something the game should be commended on as it really shines with some good surround speakers or quality headphones. Absolutely great!
I truly believe the game’s core gameplay is solid enough but should be tweaked to make players feel like they have more of an impact in the matches. Also, the match time should be longer to bond a bit more with your chosen hero and truly learn the mechanics teamplay and combos offer. The biggest problem will be attracting and keeping in new players as the player base is so low it keeps us from playing certain game modes. Should Firewalk opt for F2P with paywell season passes? How should we reward the early gamers who actually bought the game? In October it will be hit or miss with the addition of new content. I hope for a hit as I do genuinely believe the core is solid but it needs expansion as fast as possible.
