With only a week and alter left till Harmony hits the bottom working, the workforce behind the first-person hero shooter has introduced its plans for the PlayStation 5 console unique’s future. A roadmap confirms no less than three seasons of post-launch updates, in addition to a microtransaction retailer coming in October.
“The bottom sport is a basis for us to construct upon over time, by way of techniques that may increase the universe, introduce new methods to play and grasp every character, offer you a whole bunch of distinctive rewards to earn and unlock, and narratives to unfold week after week, alongside seasonal updates that may introduce new characters, new maps and worlds, new modes, new tales, new options, and extra,” sport director Ryan Gillis wrote on the PlayStation Weblog on Tuesday.
Season 1 kicks off in October and can add a brand new playable character, map, Freegunner variants, high quality of life updates, new rewards, further cinematic vignettes, and most significantly an in-game merchandise store. That’s the place gamers will be capable to spend further cash over the $40 boxed worth to “complement the a whole bunch of rewards earnable by way of development.” Gillis stresses that none of this stuff will impression gameplay, although it stays to be seen how a lot cooler the stuff within the retailer appears than what you may unlock simply by enjoying.
Season 2 will go reside at first of 2025 in January. That’s when Harmony will get its 18th playable character, one other new map, a brand new sport mode, and different updates, rewards, and story cinematics. Season 3 will observe in April, however the studio’s not revealing what’s deliberate for it simply but. And naturally, even in-between seasons, the sport will proceed getting its mini-story drops at first of every new week. There’s no battle go and all of the seasonal content material is free.
It’s an formidable slate of content material for a live-service shooter only a few folks imagine in proper now. The beta, whereas showcasing stable gunplay and matches that had been enjoyable sufficient, didn’t really feel prefer it had the spark mandatory to breakthrough in a aggressive panorama dominated by massively widespread current free-to-play video games like Valorant, Apex Legends, and Fortnite. It appears like it doesn’t matter what occurs, Sony and Firewalk Studios are dedicated to delivering on Harmony’s first 12 months.
After that, as we’ve seen with different video games, together with 2024’s Suicide Squad, Harmony’s future will in all probability be much less sure. If it may possibly discover a foothold within the present PC and console gaming panorama, although, it would in all probability be because of its Crew Builder mechanic. There’s an entire layer of Harmony that lets gamers customise the crews they take into matches with variants of characters which have distinctive stats, together with buffs that get utilized to the remainder of the workforce as soon as that character has been utilized in a specific match for the primary time.
It’s an attention-grabbing concept that didn’t actually floor within the beta however may set Harmony aside. We’ll know as soon as the complete sport comes out on August 20 for deluxe version homeowners and August 23 for everybody else.
