Concord, Firewalk Studio’s ill-fated dwell service shooter (which introduced it was closing its doorways lower than a month after its launch) will reportedly nonetheless get its episode of Prime Video’s Secret Level—which, given the turbulence of the business we have been reporting on this previous yr, appears grimly acceptable.
For the uninitiated—Secret Level is an anthology collection that’ll be following 15 completely different video games, one episode a chunk, telling their tales in a celebration of videogame tradition as an entire. The IPs listed embrace Armoured Core, Dungeons & Dragons, Sifu, The Outer Worlds, Warhammer 40,000 and, in fact, Concord.
That’s a undeniable fact that PC Gamer’s personal Tyler Colp acutely realised within the quick aftermath, with a proportionate wince. Now, as IGN’s reported, talking to a “supply near manufacturing”: Concord’s episode will virtually undoubtedly nonetheless be featured within the anthology.
I haven’t got any specific stake in Concord as a sport, per se—I did not actually have time for an additional dwell service in my life, being strung as I’m between Deadlock, Final Fantasy 14, and World of Warcraft. But that is sort of the level, is not it? I imply this with each kindness to the arduous work that went into Concord, and my standard diploma of frustration to see a lot arduous work wasted, nevertheless it appears like an terrible lot of cash is getting poured into an already cutthroat style.
That’s to not say Concord was a maligned darling—our personal assessment wasn’t significantly variety to it—however I do not suppose anyone needs to see a sport with even a glimmer of potential shut down lower than an MMO patch cycle after its launch.
Still, there’s part of me that is glad this episode remains to be probably airing. For one, it signifies that the individuals who put work into Concord’s character designs, world, and story nonetheless get some enduring proof that they did that work—effectively, Amazon may at all times pull Secret Level within the far-flung future, however that is one other side of our digital-only hellscape I haven’t got the existential bandwidth to get into.
Moreover, it makes Secret Level extra fascinating as a chunk of media. If it is alleged to be celebrating video games (in an business already marked with the gravestones of video games like Anthem) then Concord being given an episode, launching, and shutting down earlier than that episode may even air virtually stops Secret Level’s train from being saccharine in its personal, unintentional method.
That’s possibly just a little cynical. I do not suppose Secret Level is inherently unhealthy, or that its episodes’ll simply be a company pat on the again. There’s each likelihood that it will have some nice tales in it, and I’m excited to see a few of my favorite settings instructed in fascinating and distinctive methods—it is simply, you realize, arduous to show my mind off and objectively benefit from the spectacle. Because of the horrors.
At the very least, I’m glad viewers within the know will not be capable of sit by way of the whole lot of Secret Level, marvelling at how cool the mechs of Armoured Core look, and keep blissfully unaware of the truth that this video games business has wastage—as in video games vanishing as a result of there is not any authorized requirement to maintain them out there, or historic layoffs and studio closures inflicting disillusionment amongst its expertise. Concord’s place on this lineup is an unavoidable reminder that we lose entry to video games (which, good or unhealthy, must be preserved not directly) simply as quick as we get them.
That being stated, it is not as if Concord is gonna keep buried, essentially, however nonetheless. It’s probably that, when Secret Level comes out, one in all its episodes will likely be headstone in an in any other case celebratory victory lap—and I’m undecided we deserved anything.
