Overwatch has been dominating since 2016, and the buzz began when it was announced way back in 2014… However I was quite late to the game, only picking it up in 2017-ish. I’m sure many of you are familiar with Overwatch and its gameplay, but for those of you who aren’t here’s a quick summary:
Overwatch has an ever growing hero roster – Currently there are 31 heroes you can pick from and play. The heroes are decided into Tanks, DPS and Healers. You can play various rotating arcade modes alongside quick play and competitive play – Whilst the arcade modes can have any number of crazy physics and hero arrangements, quickplay and competitive play follows a strict role call system. Previously you could have any number of tanks, healers and DPS on a team, but in a bid to make gameplay more fair, Blizzard implemented the role queue system, and teams must now have two of each category, and players much pick which category they would like to play before entering a game. Blizzard has been consistently nerfing and buffing characters and adding new things to the game since release in the bid to make competitive play and the game in general more balanced. Each hero is unique to play and has different skills and abilities – Alongside these revisions, new heroes are added to the roster periodically.
Alongside new heroes, new maps are also added frequently, offering a new environment for the players to compete in. Gameplay can be either in a capture the objective or push the payload style, with two teams of 6 pitted against each other.
So what’s new in Overwatch 2? Well they will be adding a story mode to start with! Overwatch has been typically non-canonical in gameplay since release, considering that the heroes all come from different factions. With canon only being introduced in the form of voicelines between characters. Normally all of the Overwatch lore is delivered via comics or animated shorts, which I love, and hope they continue to do. However having a canonical ‘highly replayable’ story mode within the game is incredibly exciting for me.
Secondly lots of our favourite heroes will be gaining new and exciting abilities, alongside a new look and vamped up graphics. New modes are being added too, where you can mow your way through onslaught of computer controlled enemies. Something that is not entirely new to Overwatch (Junkenstein’s Revenge), but will be new as a permanent feature, and offers a new nice way to work as a team with other players. There’s another new game mode called Push that looks exciting, where players work to control a giant robot in order to meet the objective.
Older players don’t need to fret either, all their hard work in collecting skins for their heroes will be carried over into Overwatch 2. Furthermore those that don’t pick up Overwatch 2 and continue playing the original game will be able to play with Overwatch 2 players, receive the new maps (Not new game modes), and the cosmetic upgrades.
I personally think that this is the boost that Overwatch needs. With a lot of controversy surrounding Blizzard and the general interest in Overwatch starting to decline, I think this will encourage players to come back.
I’m really really excited for the new game, I hope it will bring new players in and old players back. I’m most excited for story mode! How about you?
Become a Patron!