Summary
Concordis having a pretty rough time at the minute. Released just a week ago,Concordhas an incredibly disappointing peak player count on Steam, and is seemingly losing players by the day. But despite that, developer Firewalk has already confirmed its plans for two post-launch seasons.
Set to hit PlayStation’s hero shooter in October 2024 and January 2025 respectively,ConcordSeason 1 and Season 2will each bring a new playable Freegunner to the game. With a broad Sci-Fi setting, there’s no shortage of possibilities for these new Freegunners' abilities and visual designs, but above all else, there are certain gameplay gaps in the roster thatConcord’s next Freegunners need to fill.
What Concord’s Next Freegunner Should Prioritize
Concord Needs More Healers
PlayStation’s new hero shooter is in desperate need of some more healers. In its current state,Concordhas just two Freegunners who could be considered healers: Jabali and Daw. And given the type of fast-paced gameplay that many ofConcord’s game modesencourage, Jabali and Daw’s healing abilities aren’t often that effective.
Along with a dome shield, Daw is equipped with healing pads. These healing pads function similarly toSolider 76’s Biotic Field fromOverwatch, requiring teammates to stand in the pad’s circular area of effect to gain health over time. A big issue with Daw’s healing pad, however, is that it doesn’t really fit withConcord’s gameplay flow. In most matches ofConcord– especially in its Brawl and Rivalry playlists – teams are encouraged to split off at the start of the match and hunt down enemies in smaller groups of two or three. Daw’s healing pad works antithetically to this flow, requiring players to wait in one spot while they slowly regain health away from the action.
Jabali’s orbs are a little more effective – attaching to an ally for a short duration and healing those around them – but they still require the team to stick closely together to benefit from the orb’s area of effect. Another issue of bothJabali and Daw’s healingis that they simply don’t heal teammates fast enough, making players even less likely to hang back and use Daw’s stationary pads or wait for Jabali to throw his orb.
Concordneeds to verify its next Freegunner is a healer first and foremost. Both of their abilities should be support-based, with at least one offering a more efficient method of healing than Daw’s pads and Jabali’s orbs.
Concord Could Use a More Mobile Tank
For its secondpost-launch Freegunner,Concordcould use a more mobile tank hero. While 1-OFF, Star Child, and Emari are all solid Freegunners, they all share an incredibly slow movement speed. Granted, tanks in hero shooters should always move slower than the rest of the roster, but these Freegunners take that tradition a step too far. It also doesn’t help that these tanks' health pools aren’t large enough to offset their drastically lower movement speed.
While a much simpler way to fix this would be to increase these Freegunners' movement speeds, it would still be good to see a more mobile tank hero come toConcordin the future. This new Freegunner wouldn’t even need to move faster than the rest of the game’s tanks but just feature some kind of movement ability that propels them forward for a brief duration, like Reinhardt’s Charge inOverwatch, allowing them to get into the action a bit faster.
Concord
WHERE TO PLAY
Assemble your crew of Freegunner space outlaws and team up online with friends for thrilling 5v5 PVP modes across the galaxy in Concord.Concord is a new team-based first-person shooter for PS5® and PC*. Handpick your personal roster of Freegunners from the crew of the Northstar – a group of outlaws and adventurers working as guns-for-hire.ASSEMBLE YOUR CREWFrom powerful mystics to skilled gunslingers and helpful healers, each Freegunner brings their own unique skills, personality, and abilities that cater to a wide-range of playstyles.Create your own custom squads of Freegunners with Crew Builder to bring an arsenal of different role types to the match or focus on your favourite characters to master their gameplay and unlock unique modifiers, cosmetics, background lore, and more – you decide when to play your characters and how you impact the match.PLAY. PROGRESS. PERSONALIZE.Earn and unlock a wide range of character customization items and learn more about the characters, worlds, and factions in the Concord Galaxy with the Galactic Guide.You’ll also be able to progress toward and unlock Freegunner Variants—versions of each of the 16 Freegunners with added Combat Trait modifiers to their base abilities. As you learn and master the characters, Combat Traits empower you to tailor each character to your playstyle.
