Overwatch 2 was officially announced at Blizzon 2019 after weeks of speculation and leaks about the game. But what is Overwatch 2? Some are still confused about what the game is and how it differs from the original. So as a day one Overwatch player, I decided to breakdown what exactly will be coming in Overwatch 2 and also share some of my personal thoughts about it.
What Is Overwatch 2?
Overwatch 2 is of course the successor to Overwatch, but many in the community feel that it’s more of a glorified expansion. This is because the PVP component of Overwatch 2 will be exactly the same as the first Overwatch.
The biggest deal with Overwatch 2 is that it will finally introduce a full-scale story mode for the game. The story will feature a ton of missions centered around select Overwatch heroes and players will be able to upgrade heroes and earn new abilities. As well as combining abilities to defeat powerful foes. It’s a similar formula to some of Blizzard’s other popular online games, like Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft. The story mode will be fully co-op, allowing you to play through the entire experience with your friends.
There’s also a Hero mode, which is similar to the story mode except it allows you to play missions with any of the 30+ heroes. There will also be more difficult versions of the missions and various modifiers to customize the experience further. These missions are designed to be replayable many times, similar to Strikes in the Destiny games.
Overwatch 2 will introduce a new PVP mode called Push, in which both teams must steal control of a giant robot and have it push an objective to the opposite side of the map. The team who pushes their objective the furthest will win, and throughout the match, each team will need to fight continuously to control the robot. The best thing about Push is that this mode will be included for those who stick with the first Overwatch too.
Again, the PVP component will be a shared experience for both Overwatch 1 and Overwatch 2 players. So original Overwatch players who don’t upgrade will still be able to play against those playing via Overwatch 2, and it’s the same the opposite way around.
Thoughts on Overwatch 2 from a Day One Overwatch Player
As a loyal Overwatch player, the PVP competitive aspect of the game is the most important thing to me. It has built careers for many players, it has established new esports franchises and it has helped develop new friendships all over the world. There’s just something special about the competitive Overwatch scene, and I’m happy to hear that Blizzard is not making any major changes to the PVP just yet.
I was worried that the entire mechanics of the PVP would change with Overwatch 2, as this would mean all of the professional and casual players would need to learn the new mechanics and essentially start from scratch. Keeping the PVP the same was the smartest decision Blizzard could have made; but you could argue that this should have just been handled as an expansion. Calling it Overwatch 2 seems like a marketing decision.
Another great decision from Blizzard is that they’re letting players carry over all of their skins and collectables for the first game. This was an important move, because with all the hours I had to grind and all the extra money I had to spend on earning some of the rarer skins, I would have been one salty potato if they told me none of the cosmetics were transferable.
What’s great about having these PVE modes, is that it provides another means for Overwatch fans to enjoy their favorite heroes, without the added pressure of having a match to win. Those who have played Overwatch longterm know that you often have to sacrifice using your main hero, either because the team composition doesn’t need that hero, or because your team mates will ask you to play a different hero that they feel is more viable for the situation. With PVE modes, you can simply stick to your main heroes and master them the way you want to. While also leveling them up and altering their skill-set.
The biggest question I have about Overwatch 2 is with regards to the visuals. From the trailers and gameplay videos, we can see that they’ve tweaked the artstyle of the game slightly. Character models on the heroes have also been tweaked. So I’m wondering if these tweaks are completely exclusive to the PVE portion of Overwatch 2, or whether the PVP mode will also be given a makeover to make it consistent with the upgrade in visuals.
There is currently no word on when we’ll get our hands on Overwatch 2, but I would put my money on there being some kind of beta in the first half of 2020. Perhaps the game will also release sometime the same year.
What are your thoughts on Overwatch 2? Let us know in the comments!
