PlayStation Plus Just Quietly Released the Most Divisive Hero Shooter of the Year

There’s no shortage of hero shooters in the world, but if you’re looking for a new one, now’s your chance to try the latest on PlayStation 5. After a gameplay debut at a recent State of Play showcase, Sony is offering is offering praised Concord for encouraging players to work as a team and allowing each Freegunner to play a flexible role in combat while still sticking to defined classes. And though its gameplay trailer didn’t show much you can’t see in plenty of other hero shooters, Concord’s distinct and customizable abilities reportedly give it a lot more personality than anyone initially expected.

Still, Concord has its work cut out for it. It’s not only entering the crowded space of competitive first-person shooters, but also jumping onto what feels like a trend on its way out. Hero shooters were once a hot commodity, but whether through oversaturation or just changing tastes, that’s no longer the case. These days, it seems impossible to predict which multiplayer titles are going to hit it big, with games like the co-op shooter Helldivers 2 reaching a level of success that absolutely no one saw coming.

We’re still over a month out from Concord’s August 23 launch, but this feels like a make-or-break weekend for the shooter. Trailers and previews can give players some idea of what to expect from a game, but with early opinions so divided, a lot more players need to go hands-on to judge whether it will have enough players to keep its community alive.

Concord releases on PlayStation 5 and PC on August 23. Its beta periods run from July 12 to 14 and July 18 to 21.