Concord Early Beta preview: An exceptional game with a dim future

The Concord Early Beta helped us dive deep into PlayStation Studios’ upcoming first-person shooter title and understand how it separates itself from competitors like Call of Duty, Overwatch 2, and Fortnite. The existing big names inspire the game in the FPS genre, but it excels in certain areas. The big question, though, is whether players would want to spend the extra $40 on a new title with free alternatives like Fortnite and Overwatch 2 already offering enough, if not more, content.

We had a hands-on experience of the Concord Early Access Beta via Steam and PS5 keys from the developers and here are our first impressions.

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Concord characters and their abilities

Concord has 16 characters that originate from six classes:

• Anchor
• Breacher
• Haunt
• Ranger
• Tactician
• Warden

All classes feel different regarding their role in the team and playstyle. Most also stand out instantly, and you’d want to try them all out before picking a main. They don’t have the most fleshed-out storylines, but their personalities aren’t bland either.

The skills of Freegunners in the game are based on healing, mobility, combat, and defense. While this sounds like something we’ve already seen in Overwatch 2 and Apex Legends, there’s enough diversity, and at least for now, it doesn’t seem like the meta will be dominated by a small set of units.

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If you’ve already played Destiny, Apex Legends, and Overwatch, you may be familiar with the playstyles of many characters. Daw has a kit very similar to Apex Legends’ Gibraltar, while Haymar moves a lot like Destiny 2’s Warlock class.

How you perceive these similarities is largely subjective. We felt that the gameplay was polished for an FPS. The game modes are engaging too, but don’t expect anything that you haven’t seen in Overwatch or Call of Duty before. Cargo Run and Clash Point offer no respawn, which certainly shakes things up a little.

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While the combat is seamless most of the time, fans of fast movement won’t be too delighted with most of the characters. There’s a chance that mobility will get better with time, but in the Beta, a couple of maps felt too big for 5v5 gameplay.

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Is it fun to roam around on Concord maps?

The maps in Concord - Freewater, Water Hazard, Star Chamber, and Shock Risk - boast unique themes. You’ll be compelled to change tactics for every match to ensure success, and even the selection of Freegunners becomes very important. From the looks of it, the developers understand that a dynamic meta is important for the longevity of a game in this genre.

Concord maps are fun to explore (Image via Firewalk Studios)

All maps take the roster of Freegunners seriously. Proper lanes, strategically placed health boosters, and open areas are common among them, and to say the least, Firewalk has nailed the basics in the department.

We do hope the performance to be better at full launch though, as texture and controls-related bugs were persistent during the Beta.

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Concord’s combat can get complex, but is that a good thing?

It is hard to speculate how the game would fare in the current landscape of FPS games. Do players want a more complex shooter or do they want the new ones to tone it down a notch?

Concord gameplay is one of the best part of the game (Image via Firewalk Studios)

The game, at least, tries to offer something new through mechanics like crew bonuses. Each class has a passive bonus and you can stack up on them by switching characters. In theory, this makes the combat and team-planning engaging. However, in practice, you’ll often miss out on making the most of it without a proper team.

The game also does not explain this to you, and it is unlikely that a casual player would decipher in-game mechanics by just playing. Yet again, this can be improved before the launch and the meta can be shifted in a way that encourages players to switch characters.

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The Crew Builder is a great attempt to promote team-play over individual performance. New variants of characters are also introduced as you level up and although the buffs aren’t too significant, they have a refreshing, direct impact on gameplay.

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Concord might be the right game at the wrong, or maybe the worst, time

The game, as a first-person multiplayer shooter, does everything correctly. It has unique characters, engaging maps, and entertaining gameplay. However, it also comes with a $40 price tag that is absent in Halo (if you have Game Pass), Fortnite, Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, Valorant, Warzone, Destiny 2, and many others.

To beat these already-established franchises, the game could have added extensive PvE modes and a campaign to attract a whole new bunch of players. What you have right now, though, is a polished multiplayer title that will make you remember your favorite FPS games without adding a lot of new things to the table.

As of July 2024, it is hard to back Concord as a tremendous success with Marvel Rivals hitting the stores soon too. However, the game undeniably looks promising in its current state, and over time, it could certainly serve as the cure for our FPS live-service fatigue.