MoistCr1TiKal Slams The Latest "Flop" FPS
Charlie White, also known as MoistCr1TiKal and his YouTube channel moniker penguinz0, is regarded for his blunt and humorous reaction videos and enthusiasm for gaming-related content. YouTube denizens have long respected him as a voice of reason on the often chaotic site, and his game reviews are some of the most influential on the platform.
On August 23 2024, Firewalk Studios' highly-anticipated space-themed shooter Concord released on Steam to underwhelming response — and MoistCr1TiKal has blessed the internet with an utterly scathing review boasting over 1 million views. Let's dive into a recap of Concord's unfortunate flop era and examine Charlie's thoughts from his video.
What is the "crazy flop" FPS Concord?
Concord is a 5v5 first-person hero shooter created by indie developer Firewalk Studios. Players play as a variety of space-themed characters called 'Freegunners' in a unique extraterrestrial environment. In the game, the intergalactic mercenary Freegunners battle other squads of Freegunners to compete for bounty rewards and prestige.
Concord is created for play on PlayStation 5 and PC. It was available as a beta for pre-orders earlier in the year and released officially on Steam on August 23 2024. The base game costs $39.99 and the Digital Deluxe edition costs $59.99.
What did MoistCr1TiKal say about Concord?
MoistCr1TiKal didn't hold back when criticizing Concord in his August 24 2024 video titled "This Is A Crazy Flop". In the video, posted on his penguinz0 YouTube channel, Charlie referred to the game as "a disaster in the video game realm [...] a flop called Concord." He lamented the title's incredibly slow gameplay and movement speed while sharing his own humorous footage from the public beta. Charlie states "everything in the game is abominably slow [...] it's like you're playing a Zach Snyder film where everything is in this nauseating perpetual slow motion hypnotic state." Perhaps the best summary of Charlie's thoughts on Concord is this immaculate line: "it's this amalgamation of all of the worst parts of every hero shooter that's come before it, but set to 0.5x speed."
Charlie does note that the game's small player base has left mostly positive reviews on its steam page and "seem to enjoy playing it." He cautions his viewers that the game is "just not very fun ... but it's also not unplayable or awful." MoistCr1TiKal ends the video with a brutal finishing blow, saying "this is the most predictable flop I've ever seen... there's no dimension in the multiverse where this title is successful. [...] It's a flop that's hard not to laugh at."
How and why did Concord flop?
Concord's opening day on Steam was disastrous — the game had under 700 players upon launch. As MoistCr1TiKal puts it, "that's less than some bingo halls get with 80-year-old octogenarians going in there and playing bingo." As of August 25 2024, the game's all-time peak player count is only 697 according to SteamDB charts.
In the "This Is A Crazy Flop" video, Charlie compares Concord's peak player count to various other titles and finds that it has less peak players than infamous flops Redfall and Babylon's Fall. In addition, Concord has only 354 reviews on Steam. As of August 25 2024, reviews average a 74% 'Positive' score. In comparison, Counter-Strike 2 has an 88% 'Very Positive' score with over 8,270,000 review.
Why did Concord face such a disappointing launch? MoistCr1TiKal's proposed reasons include a "wildly oversaturated" hero shooter market as well as a "delusional" $39.99 base cost. The competition is stiff: Steam's Action FPS genre includes over 5,357 titles. Charlie aptly pointed out that most competing first-person shooter games including Counter-Strike 2 and VALORANT are free-to-play, making them much more accessible for the everyday player.
While Concord's launch reception is unfortunate, it will serve as a cautionary tale for developers in the future.
GABBY DESENA