Concord gets an early seal of approval from hero shooter rival Overwatch, amid open beta praise for "solid gunplay" and some amazing sci-fi art

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Concord had a strong first weekend

Concord
(Image credit: Firewalk Studios)

Sony's upcoming hero shooter, Concord, got its first public showing over the weekend, with an early access beta available to select players ahead of a full-fledged open beta later this week. And despite having some stiff competition to overcome, the PS5's sci-fi FPS got some pretty positive reactions.

Perhaps the most telling of those is from Overwatch senior animator Kyle Disanjh, who says that the rival hero shooter is "a great surprise so far," with "distinct" characters and "fast and kinetic" combat. Overwatch's position in the hero shooter market is in no doubt, so a nod from one of its developers is pretty good news for Concord. Disanjh wasn't, however, the only dev with something nice to say, as Insomniac lead engine programmer Elan Ruskin took time to highlight the soulful character change animations.

Plenty of other people have had their hands on the game over the weekend, too. Second Wind's Nick Calandra mentions "solid gunplay," and diverse heroes, suggesting that PlayStation could have "another multiplayer winner on their hands." Elsewhere, Kinda Funny's Parris Lilly and Blessing Adeoye Jr. were also impressed. Lilly said that there's room for "some tweaks to TTK and weapon balancing," but Concord "has a chance in the already competitive and crowded PvP scene." Adeoye Jr., meanwhile, simply said that "Concord is actually fantastic. Exactly what I wanted it to be."

And it's not all gunplay. Journalist Stephen Totilo has highlighted that Concord looks pretty good too, highlighting cosmic-themed loading screen art that's both extremely pretty and that speaks to some entertainingly fleshed-out science fiction worlds.

Concord's early access beta is over, but there's another open Concord beta kicking off on July 18 and running until July 21, which should give you a chance to check out the hero shooter if you missed out this time around.

Concord is just the start of a hero shooter revival that I still don't entirely understand.

Ali Jones
Ali Jones
Managing Editor, News

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.