Concord costs too much while offering too little new in a crowded genre

It's become a little bit of a 'dirty word', but I love a good game as a service. I've spent a fair amount of time in Warframe, what feels like a lifetime in Destiny, and often find myself dipping into the likes of Apex Legends and Overwatch 2 from season to season.

On paper, Concord should be right up my metaphorical street - an arena shooter with plenty of playable characters and attempting to offer an in-game narrative throughline rather than dumping story beats on YouTube. And yet, I'm worried it won't find an audience despite being a lot of fun to play.

Price of entry

Those other titles I mentioned in my intro all have one thing in common...you can jump in for free. The same goes for VALORANT, Fortnite, and Warzone, too. While only some of those come close to matching Concord's hero shooter DNA, I worry Firewalk Studios' title doesn't do enough to tear itself away from the pack to justify putting down a sizeable entry fee to play.

I play the likes of Overwatch 2 with friends relatively regularly, and we fell into it because, amid Blizzard's numerous missteps with the sequel, it was much easier to take a chance when there's no price tag attached.

The same can be said of the same group's time with VALORANT or Apex Legends, but I'm not sure I can convince my friends on either PlayStation 5 or PC to drop £45 on a game that we might end up playing for a single weekend.

Squad up

That's not a criticism of Concord's core gameplay, either. While I'd have liked some more exciting modes and a little more personality in its maps, it's a very fun arena shooter with a whole host of wide-ranging weapons and abilities.

Star-Child is basically Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy, but with a shotgun, It-Z's teleportation mechanic is great fun for sneaking behind opponents, while Teo is a basic Soldier 76-type character that's easy to learn.

I found myself sticking to Lennox for the most part. He looks a lot like Yondu from the Marvel franchise, but his combination of a hand cannon and dodge reload ability, as well as a double jump, make him feel almost the same as a Hunter from Destiny.

Add in Haymar's hover and air dodge, Warlock-style, and the tankier side of the roster with the likes of 1-Off, and you've really got pretty much all three Destiny classes covered. Given how good Destiny's gunplay and ability mix is, that's intended as high praise indeed.

Firewalk Studios could be onto something here, I just hope it gets the chance to expand it further - the gaming landscape is littered with the ruins of games that struggled to find an audience, but very few get a second chance.

Tell me a story

As part of the beta, players saw one of the story vignettes that the Firewalk team wants to roll out weekly. Despite being shot, it was impressively animated and almost certainly expensive to make. It also felt well written and marked the first time the game has leaned away from the ragtag group of the Guardians trope to try and offer something ever so slightly heartfelt.

While it's unlikely every player will sit through every cutscene when logging in en route to their next Concord match, if Firewalk can capture the attention of even a chunk of them, then there's every chance it could retain an audience looking for a goofy sci-fi story.

Final Thoughts

With the likes of Marvel Rivals on the horizon (and free to play), Concord feels in an awkward spot. Drop the price and players may feel it's an admission that there's not enough to have justified the outlay in the first place.

Keep it the same, and Sony risks resigning its first new games as a service to the list of cult classics that didn't find an audience.

Previewed on PS5. Beta access provided by the publisher.