Concord PS5 Previews Seem Torn on Sony’s New Shooter

A smattering of hands-on Concord previews have just dropped, giving us more information on Sony’s upcoming PS5 shooter. The game’s full reveal at the latest State of Play didn’t go down particularly well, with plenty of criticism aimed at its quip-heavy characters and familiar Overwatch-style gameplay.

Negative first impressions can be difficult to build upon, but we’ve been saying for a while now that Concord just needs to prove that it’s a fun and engaging video game. Get that right, and positive word of mouth should follow, potentially repairing the damage that’s been done.

With that in mind, these press previews make for an interesting read. Overall, those who got to play the game at a recent event say that Concord definitely has potential as a competitive shooter — but there are apparently some concerns that surround the core experience.

Let’s start with the good stuff. Previewers generally seem to like the game’s personality, and some are quite taken with the title’s colourful cast of alien characters. And, as alluded, the gunplay is supposed to be nice and satisfying. The gameplay flow’s another positive point, as the previews highlight fun hero-specific abilities and teamwork opportunities.

But some aren’t totally sold on Concord’s melding of live service structure and character-driven storylines. What’s more, concerns are raised over the title’s longevity. A five-on-five shooter that strives to be competitive simply must hit a homerun as soon as it possibly can within the current market — but it’s obviously hard to judge something like that until the game’s publicly available.

You can peruse a selection of these previews below.

“While I enjoyed my time in the limited hands-on preview overall, I have several concerns for the longevity of Concord and what it has to offer […] the problem in Concord, at least in this preview version, is that it takes little pieces from games like Halo and Destiny and mixes them together in a formula that doesn’t quite come together for me as of yet.”

“Admittedly, this reveal left me feeling blasé; it looked fine, but not necessarily something I hadn’t seen before. However, after playing the game for a few hours during a recent preview event, I’m excited for more of the action. It feels like a mix of Destiny and Overwatch, but I am wary of the team’s emphasis on lore and storytelling and if it will pay off in a multiplayer-only format.”

“I don’t know if it’ll be a Helldivers 2-level phenomenon, but if that’s the multiplayer hit of the year, Concord could at least be the multiplayer hit of the summer […] One thing about Concord that hasn’t clicked for me are the characters’ personalities. The developers emphasized that despite their fantastical, sci-fi backgrounds, these are just regular people. A bit too regular, maybe. It’s like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy but instead of neurotic eccentrics, we have a guy who likes hot sauce and sentient robots who developed normal personalities.”

“Recently, VGC had the chance to spend three hours with Conord ahead of its beta release, and while it might not do much for players who’ve entirely written off hero shooters, its storytelling ambition is truly impressive, and could potentially influence the way live service titles tell stories going forward.”

Are you looking forward to Concord? What do you make of these previews? Wait for the beta and forge your own opinion in the comments section below.