I used to be on trip final week, so I acquired to expertise the reveal of Sony’s new multiplayer FPS like everybody else: forgetting a State of Play stream was occurring, tuning in quarter-hour late, then rewinding to the start due to the magic of contemporary stay streaming.
Sony solely had two massive video games of its personal to showcase—not sudden, since “slowly” appears the everlasting tempo of big-budget recreation improvement—however I used to be shocked that whereas everybody round me was hooting and hollering about Astro Bot, I used to be the one one who needed to see extra Harmony. I preserve seeing variations of the identical three reactions to Firewalk’s debut recreation: That it is an Overwatch clone, or one other dead-on-arrival service recreation, or a multiplayer recreation that must be singleplayer.
That is not what I noticed. The cynicism round service video games is earned, however after I take a look at Harmony, I see heroes that I do not acknowledge from different video games, intricately designed weapons I need to shoot, and a format of FPS that we hardly ever get outdoors Name of Responsibility nowadays. We have barely gotten a glimpse at Harmony thus far, however I’ve some ideas concerning the reveal:
The ex-Bungie people at Firewalk know a factor or two about shooters
There is a cause Harmony’s cosmic mysticism and floaty characters ring a bell: Firewalk was based by Bungie vets who labored on Halo and Future. Pedigree solely goes thus far once we’re speaking a few newly-formed crew, however I consider design director Josh Hamrick (who was additionally a gameplay designer on Halo: Attain and each Destinys) when he says Firewalk is specializing in “constructing a powerful gameplay basis of tight core motion, tight, visceral taking pictures, and expressive talents.”
Harmony’s heroes remind me of Overwatch, however Firewalk is clearly making an enviornment shooter
It is pure to see a plucky crew of characters with various heights and one-word names and assume Firewalk is making Sony Overwatch, however my intestine says that impression will not maintain up as soon as we have really performed it. All the pieces I noticed in that gameplay trailer—round maps, haphazard actions, three-to-four shot kills—suggests Harmony is an enviornment shooter. Within the trailer and in a PlayStation Weblog put up, Firewalk describes each round-based modes and modes with respawns.
In different phrases, Harmony would not look like a “shooter MOBA” within the Overwatch model, with its extended group fights, strict position adherence, and linear maps. We should always anticipate one thing nearer to Name of Responsibility or Future’s Crucible—a mixture of conventional FPS modes each informal and aggressive. It is a core cause Harmony has my consideration. Firewalk seemingly understands that there is not any extra room for battle royales, extraction shooters, or Overwatch clones (we’ll see how Marvel Rivals works out), however there may be a gap for enviornment shooters to make a minor comeback.
The early success of XDefiant, Ubisoft’s free-to-play Name of Responsibility different, is indicative that persons are within the temper for informal shooters once more. I am positively amongst them.
That massive vacuum robotic provides me hope that Harmony’s heroes will really really feel completely different
If there’s one facet of Harmony that I hope does really feel like Overwatch, it is package design. The best approach to kill my buzz for a hero shooter is to provide me heroes that largely play the identical (sorry Apex Legends, Valorant, and XDefiant). It is encouraging that Firewalk needs to embrace the “asymmetry” of its Harmony heroes.
“We’re influenced lots by preventing video games and even technique video games within the attention-grabbing means the asymmetry of their characters makes each matchup really feel actually completely different,” stated lead gameplay designer Claude Jerome.
“Leaning into the asymmetry of the characters, actually pushing the chance house of two completely different characters colliding, it is all about creating alternatives for improvisation,” stated lead character designer Jon Weisnewski. “That is the place we are able to get out of the best way and let gamers discover their very own magic.”
It is good speak, and it is backed up by moments within the trailer. 1-OFF, the yellow cylindrical robotic from the cinematic, actually towers over each different hero on the map. He clunks across the enviornment like a beacon, putting bounce pads and serving as cell cowl for teammates, and his solely “gun” is a vacuum. I need to strive it out so badly.
Harmony has an enormous day one roster
Harmony is launching with 16 Freegunners (what it is calling heroes). That is a fairly sturdy begin, touchdown on the upper finish different hero shooters: Apex Legends launched with eight, Overwatch with 21, XDefiant 5, Rainbow Six Siege 20, and Valorant 10. I’ve some buddies who discover it overwhelming after they should be taught a dozen-plus characters proper out of the gate, however as somebody who will get bored after I do not change heroes each few rounds, I benefit from the choices.
Harmony is not free-to-play (that we all know of), and that is very thrilling
Did you discover that at no level within the Harmony reveal did Sony say “free-to-play?” I needed to watch it again once more to ensure, but it surely feels like Harmony will likely be a uncommon paid multiplayer recreation. That is doubtlessly nice information. Paying for Harmony from the bounce would hopefully imply Firewalk will not be inclined to nickel and dime gamers with glitzy battle move adverts and $40 pores and skin bundles at each flip.
The standardization of free-to-play (together with quaint greed) has led to video games which can be greatest described as storefronts that occur to have videogames connected to them. It should not be misplaced on Sony that Helldivers 2 (a $40 recreation) earned plenty of goodwill by prioritizing free updates and making its premium pores and skin retailer an afterthought. Its 12 million gross sales suggests that folks need to pay for multiplayer video games if it means they’re really getting a whole recreation.
If Sony learns the precise classes from Helldivers 2, I would like to see a couple of issues from Harmony:
- A worth between $30-$40
- Each character unlockable at an inexpensive tempo for no more money
- No randomized cosmetics
- A distant retailer tab
- Development bushes that by no means expire (battle passes)
That fancy cinematic trailer backfired laborious
Looking back, the Harmony reveal was by no means going to set followers ablaze, beginning with that fancy cinematic trailer. Firewalk was most likely going for a Blizzard-style cinematic that tells a self-contained story and units the stage for Harmony’s world, however that is not what followers thought they had been watching. The a whole lot of 1000’s of people that tune into Sony streams had been ready for its subsequent singleplayer open-world journey, and what they noticed in Harmony was a trailer for a recreation they don’t seem to be getting.
Harmony’s week-by-week storytelling sounds formidable (in a nasty means)
Firewalk’s has a novel plan to inform tales inside the PvP confines of Harmony. Each week, Firewalk will launch “temporary cinematic vignettes” that “function ongoing narrative arcs that develop the characters’ tales, relationships, and unpack the broader Harmony galaxy.” Sounds cool, however laborious to tug off. Producing 52 cinematics a 12 months is a giant activity for an ongoing recreation the place schedules can shift, and in the event that they’re as brief as one or two minutes, will followers care?
Is “hero shooter fatigue” actual?
Earlier than we dismiss Harmony as a shooter conceived in an period that is lengthy handed, I would problem simply how “over” hero shooters we actually are. Apex Legends and Rainbow Six Siege are constantly within the high 10 most-played video games on Steam. Valorant has hundreds of thousands of gamers, and even Overwatch 2 nonetheless attracts a crowd.
All of those video games handle to coexist with out rubbing shoulders, and that is as a result of, regardless of sharing a personality design methodology, they’re completely completely different flavors of FPS. Apex Legends and Overwatch 2 each have heroes who flip invisible, create bubble shields, and mark enemies by partitions, however we do not contemplate one a clone of the opposite. That is the lens I am viewing Harmony by, at the very least for now. It is making use of heroes to a taste of shooter we do not get typically, and I actually need to play that beta in July to see the way it shakes out.