We’re all painfully aware of that hackneyed Picasso quote about stealing from other creators. If you know what you’re doing, you copy; if you don’t know, you steal. And if you steal ideas, maneuvers, and setups from another game, could you steal from the best? That was, of course, Rare’s reasoning when they stole 68% of what made Super Mario 64 so good in Banjo Kazooie. The same thing happened when Turn 10 stole a lot from Gran Turismo with Forza Motorsport, and when Call of Duty took a lot of inspiration from Medal of Honor. This happens all the time, of course, and there’s no doubt that Sony-owned Firewalk Studio is out to make “its own Overwatch.” Concord is a copy of Overwatch. Straight. No beating around the bush. Let’s not beat around the bush or ignore the obvious. However, as I said, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Concord has been in development for nearly eight years and the people (around 150-160) behind it are mostly veterans of Destiny and Destiny 2 development, which is very noticeable, as is the Overwatch inspiration. It’s an arena-based “hero shooter” where two teams of five players each compete in crowded arenas to see which team can shoot the other better. There are 16 different characters to choose from, all with different skins, personalities, weapons, and special abilities. The most typical “heroes” are included here, meaning there’s a robot that acts almost exactly like Tracer, a girl who acts exactly like Pharah, a copy of Cassidy, Winston, 76, and Hanzo. They’re all here, and those of you who have spent time in Blizzard’s now legendary shooter will of course recognize many of them.
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Gameplay-wise, Concord is very reminiscent of Overwatch, with some elements taken directly from Destiny. You move slowly, run slowly, jump high (and slowly), and glide slowly along the ground if you so choose. Of course, several key people at Firewalk (which is mostly made up of Bungie veterans) worked on both Halo and Destiny, and that shows in how gravity affects the game’s pacing and movement patterns. As a lifelong Halo lover, I probably would have liked it more if they had also kept that particular, elusive, weird contrast of Halo with the slow movement and ultra-fast fire rate of the weapons, which is not the case with Concord. On the other hand, this game feels slow. Something I had issues with. Sure, there are faster characters who jump higher and run a little faster (Theo and Lennox are two examples), but compared to, say, Overwatch or Valorant, it still felt too slow, and I couldn’t shake that feeling for a while. my whole days at Concord.
However, the weapons feel good despite the slow pace of the game. It’s obvious that Bungie veterans have been working on the weapon arsenal, which offers a lot of variety and thus a good balance right out of the box here. During my time in Concord, I’ve stuck with the character Roka, who looks a lot like Pharah and fires missiles from a rocket crater, giving me some nice Unreal Tournament vibes, not to mention an Overwatch feel that I’ll always prefer. . I’ve also been playing a lot with the lizardman Lennox, whose pirate pistol is fun, along with the tank character Emari and her brutal minigun.
Of course there’s a leveling system here and something Firewalk calls “variants” that you unlock through time-based challenges rather than the context of your own level. These are basically “perks,” but since they’re locked behind a nearly incomprehensible system based on time and the speed at which you complete various tasks “in-game,” it feels very arbitrary. There are also cosmetic items, of course. New outfits for each character, but even those are guarded behind a system that only allows me, the player, to select one unlocked top at a time, even though I’ve basically unlocked the whole thing. A lot of these ideas seem to have been added just because Firewalk felt they needed to come up with something “of their own” rather than copying everything from Blizzard. A bit like trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, I’d say.
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The best thing about Concord for me is the graphics. Firewalk has made excellent use of the Unreal Engine 5 and there are few games in this category on PlayStation 5 that can match the sharpness, detail and clarity that characterise Concord’s graphics. I love the lighting effects, how well it flows and the bright, gorgeous colours. The design is so retrospatial that I really like it too. Firewalk has mixed Farscape with Roger Corman’s iconic trash film Star Wars to create a kind of fun, self-aware retro world among the stars, and when the loading sequence before each match is masked with a super quirky game where your team’s heroes fly around the Northstar spaceship and prepare for battle, it’s atmospherically perfect and does a great job of creating context in a multiplayer game where such things often feel like a waste of time.
Overall, I think the presentation and tone of the narrative are on point, unlike the much-maligned announcement trailer from just over six months ago. I like the behind-the-scenes look at the Freegunners, a group of retired mercenaries with a distinct Guardians of the Galaxy vibe that travels the galaxy aboard the ship Northstar, challenging other teams to make a living. I like the dialogue, I like the interior of the Northstar, and I like the voice actors, who act with just the right amount of sarcasm in a way that feels familiar and fun without being forced. The graphical presentation is also fantastic. From the home screen to the menus to all the little graphical elements that inform you about updates, custom features, and your level, everything is clear, cleverly structured, and super stylish. The retrospace feel is present throughout, and stylistically, the Concord is very well put together, with a homogenous and streamlined design feel.
What I don’t like so much, however, is the character design. With the exception of Lennox, Star Child, and Hayman, most of the characters lack identity and have the most boring design possible. It’s clear that Firewalk Studios went to great lengths to cram in as many forced inclusions as possible, missing the opportunity to add variety and personality to the character roster. Considering this is a Sony-funded hero shooter, it’s hard to understand why Firewalk didn’t use popular Sony characters like Ratchet, Jak, Helghast, Sly Cooper, and Clank instead of the rather sad cast of Concord.
In short, Concord is not a bad game. Not at all. It’s passable, until the end. The combat is fine in terms of entertainment value, the gameplay feel is fine, and the developers have done a good job of building a distinct hero pool based on the fact that Blizzard is behind it, however, it also lacks intrinsic value here and there. Having borrowed so much from Paladins, Overwatch, and even Lawbreakers and thus failing to establish its own identity, there’s no reason for me to keep playing when I can keep enjoying the originals instead. Also, the fact that Concord costs 35 dollars when all of its competitors are free is also hard to justify.
