Multiplayer devs should take a close look at Concord's Crew Builder system

Firewalk Games' first-person shooter Concord, the first of what Sony hopes will be a string of successful live service online games, entered into a closed beta period over the weekend of July 13. Whether or not the game will be a swinging success for the company that just shut down or pushed back a number of live service projects isn't clear yet, but for now players and developers can finally take a peak at what Firewalk has cooked up.

The studio's team of first-person shooter veterans has certainly cooked up a sleek and snappy gameplay loop that plays great on PlayStation 5, but it's one feature buried in the menus for the beta that most caught my eye: the squad building mechanic called "Crew Builder."

The Crew Builder tool sparks instant imagination. It's a great way for the online shooter to accomplish two goals: to think about characters and how they optimize for different game modes, and to switch characters (called "Freegunners" in Concord) while playing instead of sticking with their favorite ones.

Concord's Crew Builder wants players to keep swapping characters

In the Crew Builder, players assemble a 12-person "Crew" out of the game's 16 characters (more will arrive after launch). This roster becomes the group that players can choose from when selecting characters in each match.

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Players can select up to three variant versions of characters they own—early in the beta I unlocked two versions of the quippy, green-skinned gunslinger Lennox, each with a different passive ability. When building a Crew, I had the option to include each version so I could swap between them as a match demanded.

Players are only tasked with choosing five unique characters out of their twelve. If you run the math, that means players can't just pick four characters to lean on—they'll always have at least five, and will need to consider which variants really earn their spots.

The system feels like a combination of character selection in a tactical game like XCOM 2, combined with the deckbuilding logic of collectible card games.

Giving players the ability to control the character creator is already a fresh choice. Live service shooters like Apex Legends haven't been able to rely on such a feature in the past, because every new character in the game costs some amount of real-world or in-game currency. By restricting the number, it invites players to think about their favorite characters, and how they fit into each game mode.

Image via Firewalk Studios/PlayStation.

On its own that's a pretty strong way to add some spice to classic character selection. But there's more—the system encourages players to switch characters mid-match too.

It does so with a system called "Crew Bonuses." The mixture of different characters in each Crew generates a different set of passive bonuses (like increased weapon range, reload speed, and healing received) that are added to your Crew as the match progresses. To earn those bonuses, players need to jump between character classes as they play.

There's a subtle bit of rubberbanding in there—if a team is getting rolled by a squad sticking to one group of characters, the team that scrambles to find a solid group of counterpicks will roll back into combat with boosted stats their opponents won't have.

This system is impressive because it puts pressure on the classic multiplayer archetype of the player who only wants to play one type of class. Because only one player can play each character at a time on a team, there's a risk that one stubborn players may not switch up strategies even if they aren't doing well. Or worse—they may lash out at other players who've already selected their favorite Freegunner.

With this system, players are more likely to jump between characters and free up space, passing the metaphorical toys around the also-metaphorical playpen. If players want to die on the hill of sticking with a single Freegunner, that's still an option—but it could put them at a disadvantage against a coordinated enemy squad strategically shuffling characters to power up their units.

It's a smart design decision that doesn't necessarily take a playstyle away from the user, but also nudges and winks at them to try something new.

Of course, no system is perfect—so here's what Firewalk (and other developers) could do to make it better

The Crew Builder could use a few improvements

This is likely to change between the beta and the final release, but figuring out how to use the Crew Builder—let alone optimize it—was a difficult task. The game includes no tutorials at the moment, and I had to fumble around for many moments to understand the impact of my squad-building choices.

The current challenge with understanding the Crew Builder's impact seems to be a user interface issue. When picking the Crew, the menus don't loudly telegraph what precise Crew Bonuses have triggered after you've added characters to the mix. You can find these Bonuses in the character profiles and they're listed in the Crew roster after it's done, but for new players it's a third-or-fourth priority when you're still trying to understand how abilities work (seriously I still have no idea how to play trash robot 1-Off).

That issue carries forward into individual matches. While testing the Crew Builder, I kept waiting for a popup of some kind to notify me I'd unlocked a Bonus. The only way I could tell I'd earned any was to squint at my television at the squad list below, where you can see the tiny symbols underneath the cards with our player handles.

Image via Firewalk Studios/PlayStation.

My next problem was that I didn't know precisely what I'd unlocked. A patient player strategizing around the Crew Builder would know what traits were affiliated with what symbols, but in the mid-match rush of gunfire I had no idea what Bonuses I'd activated.

Finally—and this is a personal preference—the bonuses really don't feel "special" right now. I'm a big fan of the Baldur's Gate 3 design philosophy that prioritizes the player's perception of power changes over incremental stat shifts that are "not cool."

This may be where Firewalk Games and I disagree on the Crew Builder's function, as I can see a need to keep these bonuses subtle for competitive play—but that's okay! Hopefully designers at other studios can grab what makes it work and put their own spin on it.

Flaws aside, the Crew Builder is a great template to inject deckbuilding mechanics into multiplayer games. It's a fun activity to do between matches and encourages debate among players about the best Crews to run. It also adds balance levers for developers to pull on, and create new layers of depth when shipping new classes or updates.

I don't know if I'll be playing a lot of Concord after it launches (I'm too busy painting miniatures lately), but I'll be thinking about the Crew Builder for a while to come.