‘Helldivers 2’ Was a Hit for Sony. Can ‘Concord,’ Its Next Hero Shooter, Live Up?
Back when it launched in February, I was sure Helldivers 2, Sony’s first big punt at a multiplayer live-service game, was doomed. Little interest ahead of its release, and the lack of marketing from Sony made it seem like it was set to be a pretty mediocre experience that PlayStation wanted to release and forget about. However, much to everyone’s surprise, it ended up being an immensely fun co-op game and a huge success, quickly selling more than 12 million copies.
The Starship Troopers-esque tone captivated almost everyone because of the antics you could pull off with your friends. Whether it was running away after a huge explosion alongside your team or accidentally throwing a grenade under your friend’s feet and blowing them to bits, it felt unlike anything available on the market today. Six months later, Sony is back with their second attempt to break into the multiplayer market: Concord. It’s a more formulaic, traditional multiplayer experience that feels like its lacking the unique selling point Helldivers 2 had.
More from Rolling Stone
Concord, which comes out on Aug. 20, is a 5v5 multiplayer hero shooter. Set in an original, fictional galaxy, you can choose from a group of 16 Freegunners (heroes) at launch (more to come after release) as you drop onto various planets competing in short five- to 10-minute matches and aim to come out on top.
Ostensibly, the style of gameplay, game modes, and even Freegunner abilities are most akin to other multiplayer titles like Overwatch and Valorant, or even the upcoming Marvel Rivals. There are healer characters, tank-like characters who can soak up damage, and your usual array of game modes like Team Deathmatch (Takedown) and Kill Confirmed (Trophy Hunt), as well as some one-life round-based options, just to name a few.
However, instead of feeling like a copy of any one of them, Concord comes off like a melting pot of ideas from all of those other multiplayer games and even other franchises — for better or for worse.
On the surface, that concoction of ideas lacks a lot of originality. It feels as if most of the character archetypes of these Freegunners can be seen somewhere else. The burly Star Child is a carbon copy of Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy, and Lennox, a gun-wielding scoundrel, feels like a blend of Yondu’s visual design from Guardians and Cassidy’s gameplay from Overwatch 2. For a game set in a neon sci-fi universe, some other Freegunners just lack any visual flair. Teo is basically just a regular soldier with a bulletproof vest, and Emari is a big woman in armor with a minigun.
There really isn’t much here that feels new and exciting, besides one or two unique character designs like the bug-shooting alien Lark. But despite this, after 20 hours with the open beta over the last few weeks, I think Concord has a solid, thought-out gameplay foundation that has a lot to like and, most importantly, build off of.
This comes down to the low skill required for a lot of the Freegunners. Despite having roles they fall into, like healing and supporting teammates or placing defenses, there isn’t much required to hold your own in a match. Everyone’s toolkit and ability set are fairly simple to get your head around, but they all have an incredibly high potential to be used to devastating effects.
Jabali has an orb that can heal allies or deal a chunk of damage to enemies, alongside an assault rifle. Roka can hover in the air thanks to a jetpack, shoot enemies with a rocket launcher, and slam down onto the ground from up high. While simple on the surface, the depth of each character’s movement, weapon, and abilities and how they can be synergized together and with teammates is where Concord really began to click for me.
After finding a Freegunner or two with a playstyle I liked, I began to experiment with them and really try to understand their toolkit. The first Freegunner I chose was Roka, as I really enjoyed the damage her rocket launcher dealt off the bat. Initially, I started by sticking to the ground and didn’t feel like I was being too effective in matches, struggling to rack up kills, and getting easily caught in the crossfire between the two teams.
However, before long, I started to stick to the air and adopted the playstyle of what I can best describe as a fly, darting around and trying to overwhelm my opponents. Jetpacking around in the air, hovering in place, barely ever touching the ground, and firing from above allowed me to rack up kills so fast I was giddy.
Combining that with the game’s dodge (allowing me to move in and out of the fight with ease), and her slam (which could finish off opponents), I found myself having some of the most fun I have had in a multiplayer game this year, adopting this chaotic playstyle that the character is built around.
I then moved onto Haymar, a crossbow-wielding warlock who can float around in the air, throw down walls of fire, and shoot an explosive ball from her crossbow to deal significant damage. I quickly found the best playstyle to dominate matches as Haymar involved floating around in the air directly above opponents, dodging behind cover, firing her crossbow with precise, well-placed shots, and combining that damage with her walls of fire which can throw out in an instant.
I slowly began to repeat the cycle of learning each character in the game, exploiting their toolkit, and having tons of fun playing almost everyone I have been able to check out so far.
That sense of depth and the reward for really learning how to play a character well is where Concord really clicks, especially as the gunplay, movement, sound, and visuals are all top-notch with stunning production values. That is a feeling I haven’t found in any other shooter in recent years, and that is why I kept returning to the game every day during the open beta weekends.
And, already, I started to see how the Freegunners’ abilities can work together between different players to form potent team compositions that can completely destroy an underprepared Freegunner crew. With more Freegunners, more maps, and more modes post-release, I am only expecting that depth in the gameplay to grow.
Despite solid gameplay and a lot to love after some time investment, Concord is a really hard sell. It is a new IP no one knows, trying to make an impact with a set of characters that feel like copies or redesigns of characters seen elsewhere.
It lacks original ideas, unlike upcoming shooters Fragpunk and Exoborne, which are both offering interesting twists on the genre. It is entering an overcrowded FPS market where players demand constant content, without the development forces of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise or Blizzard’s Overwatch team. Add on the fact that it costs $40 and isn’t free to play, and it becomes hard to offer many reasons why Concord should be the game you invest your time into.
If Firewalk and Sony are content to let Concord exist, get new updates, and drop new Freegunners without trying to stay on the unsustainable content treadmill, then I think it could easily find a small but loyal audience. It’s a lot of fun to just hop in for a game or two and dominate with a character you love, but unlike Helldivers 2, the experience Concord offers can be found almost anywhere else.
Best of Rolling Stone