Story Highlights
- Concord, Sony’s new hero shooter, is suffering from mediocre reception after its recent beta.
- Full of hollow gameplay, poor writing and characters, stale concepts, and vain “modernity,” it’s a mess.
- Another vain and bland live service people are fed up with now was bound to be hated.
Sony’s recent State of Play was….average at best (bar Astro Bot, which was the GOAT). One particular reveal dragged the entire event’s name through the mud for me, and that was none other than Concord, the new ridiculous hero shooter.
Ever since its reveal, I’ve been disappointed by Concord. It’s a waste of a project, and something much better could’ve been created in its stead. And now, people seem to agree with my initial impressions.
![YouTube video](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qNW71AQlzK8/hqdefault.jpg)
The Dwindling Concord Beta Numbers
For all the poor souls who misguidedly pre-ordered the game, Sony decided to disappoint them a little earlier by releasing a beta for them to play. It’s available on PS5 and PC right now for those who pre-ordered, as well as PS Plus members. You can give it a try yourself to hate it more accurately, just like I did.
![Concord is a mess | Source: PlayStation (Youtube)](https://cdn.exputer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Concord-is-a-mess.jpg)
It’s been quite sometime now since the beta began, and let’s just say it’s everything I expected it to be: a total mess that might’ve been good a decade or more ago. People who thought the same (and even those who found it good, god knows how) took to the forums to voice their anger.
Concord feels over-priced and unready (Beta impressions)
byu/Zhukov-74 inGames
As a result, Concord is thankfully a victim of an extremely dwindling player count. The verdict is already getting out little by little. The first round of “It’s Bad” started with the game averaging an all-time peak of a meager 1000. While it’s just an early access beta so it’s still early to say, but when it eventually flops like all others before it, you’ll hear me saying “I told you so.”
![These dwindling numbers bring me joy | Source: SteamDB](https://cdn.exputer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/These-dwindling-numbers-bring-me-joy.jpg)
Chasing Stale Trends
Do you know what the biggest flaw of Concord is? The game desires to don a worthless cape of “modernity” and chase trends in the most ridiculous ways.
When the trailer was first displayed in the State of Play, my honest reaction was “What the hell is this cheap Guardians of the Galaxy imitation?” With awkward dialogues, cringe-worthy scenarios, hollow characters, and the unbearably cheesy execution of the “hero saves the day” concept in a vain hero shooter, it looked like a hot mess right then and there.
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byu/Turbostrider27 from discussion
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To my horror, the nightmare just kept on escalating. Somehow, characters needed pronouns on their splash screens, as if the stupid modern touch wasn’t enough already. Moreover, the gameplay didn’t look the least bit innovative and captivating, all just generic hero shooter logic a decade too late.
![Was this necessary? | Source: PlayStation (YouTube)](https://cdn.exputer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Was-this-necessary-.jpg)
I just don’t understand the desire to needlessly follow trends. Concord is but one of the many projects that think it’s somehow the best thing to do these days. Just because Overwatch succeeded, doesn’t mean every other game will, too. The magic of the original Overwatch days is long gone. The concept’s success is a thing of the past. Now, it’s so overused and poorly executed that it leaves a bad aftertaste.
Why are we suddenly getting so many new Hero Shooters?
byu/Jessency ingaming
The Poison Called Live Service
If you think hero shooters are overused, I present to you, Live services. That’s right, the crown of the most needlessly overused and ridiculous concept these days still lies with Games as a Service.
I still sometimes imagine the games of the past, how they packed quality and creative content in a single package, with so much to discover and unlock with progress that you sat there watching in amazement. But then I’m slapped back to the cruel reality of modern games and how even single-player titles need microtransactions these days to wring out as much cash from you as possible.
Concord is no different. It has nothing distinct or entertaining to offer. Game modes are at best alright, nothing groundbreaking. The content variety is pretty limited. Character mobility is so stiff it makes you throw your controller away, gunplay could’ve been better, and god, the cringe-inducing dialogues and design choices constantly remind you of the hell you dove into.
Concord might have the UGLIEST Characters Designs I have ever seen.
byu/gpetrakas ingaming
The Death Of Concord Is But Inevitable
After all this, it’s with great sorrow that I say that all my fears have indeed come true. Concord is as much of a mess as I expected when I first laid eyes on it. The game isn’t out yet, but I can say with a good deal of confidence that its demise will be a matter of time.
Overwatch 2 left a bad aftertaste for original fans, and highlighted the exhausted nature of the concept’s current execution. With that in mind, there’s no way a game like Concord could’ve fared any better. Couple that with people’s extremely low tolerance for predatory live services and vain GaaS games, and the angry reception was bound to happen.
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byu/Zhukov-74 from discussion
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If nothing else, I’m glad to see people finally standing up in opposition to these worthless projects. Concord’s meager player count is a sigh of relief. It renews my faith in the community, and its will to counter these predatory, foolishness-filled titles.
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