Overwatch Only Use the Purple Never Use the Green Funny
Overwatch 2: Everything we know about the unconventional sequel
Overwatch 2 is finally a real game that people have played. Sort of. While the sequel's PvE mode has been banished into the future, we've had the opportunity to play the hero shooter's revamped PvP multiplayer. So far, it sure feels a lot like Overwatch.
The pieces of the Overwatch 2 puzzle are finally starting to fit together, with the sequel beginning to seem like more of a free-to-play seasonal revamp. At the same time, it's undergoing some fundamental changes its gameplay, and bringing along plenty of new heroes, maps, and modes besides. And, someday, those long-absent PvE missions.
Here's everything we've learned so far about Overwatch 2.
Overwatch 2 release date
When is Overwatch 2's release date?
Overwatch 2 enters early access on October 4, 2022, as announced during the Xbox Showcase in June 2022, and will be free to play. Importantly, that's PvP only, not PvE, which will presumably get its own date later.
Overwatch 2 betas: When you can play next
The next Overwatch 2 PvP beta test period begins on June 28th, 2022. To request beta access, you can opt-in on the beta website (opens in new tab). The opt-in form will be available until the next beta period begins, unless projected server capacity for the beta is filled early. While Blizzard will be selecting a small pool of initial beta players, their goal is to "provide access to ALL players that opt-in to the beta by no later than July 14." This second beta test period will include the new Junker Queen tank hero as well as a new map, in addition to balance retuning for existing heroes.
Overwatch 2 will have a seasonal free-to-play model
In its June 2022 reveal event, Blizzard unveiled a more complete picture of the business model for Overwatch 2. Overwatch 2 will be a free-to-play live service game, with seasonal updates every 9 weeks or so. Each season will have a battle pass, and seasonal updates will regularly add new maps and heroes for all players.
Overwatch 2's first season will begin with its release on October 4, 2022, bringing 3 new heroes, 6 new maps, a new gamemode, and a few dozen new skins and cosmetics.
Watch the Overwatch 2 Trailers
Here's the latest Overwatch 2 trailer
Along with the early access release date for Overwatch 2, the trailer from the Xbox showcase confirmed that OW2 will be free to play. Blizzard also teased a new tank character Junker Queen.
Here are some earlier Overwatch 2 reveal trailers
This 8-minute reveal cinematic from 2019 feels like a dramatic declaration of a new Overwatch age. It feels different from the disjointed hero cinematics that we've gotten used to over the years, tying together multiple characters into a focused story. Overwatch 2 will have a story that moves forward, and this is the kickoff. The accompanying 2019 gameplay trailer is a quick rundown of everything coming in the sequel. We get a look at the story, co-op, and the new hero Sojourn.
Overwatch 2 Gameplay Changes
What is Overwatch 2, exactly?
Well, it's a sequel to Overwatch, but not in the way that we usually think about sequels. Overwatch 2 is transitioning Overwatch PvP into a free-to-play seasonal model, and is making some dramatic changes to the basic format of competitive Overwatch play. Team sizes are reduced to a 5v5 format, with only one tank hero for each time. Alongside new heroes, existing heroes will be undergoing substantial revisions to how their abilities and weapons function.
Meanwhile, there's also a PvE mode in development for Overwatch 2. It will feature narrative-driven content that's intended to push forward the story of Overwatch's setting and characters. Initially meant to launch alongside the multiplayer overhaul as one package, this cooperative mode is now expected in 2023.
Overwatch 2's PvP will be 5v5 teams with only one tank
During a livestream in May 2022, Blizzard revealed that Overwatch 2 would change team sizes down from six to five. It will also change up team composition, which will be limited to one tank, two DPS, and two support.
"We feel like this is the next step in the way that Overwatch ought to be played," game director Aaron Keller said. "If you think about it, there is a lot going on in an Overwatch map. It is incredibly fast paced. We have always tried to make our combat easy to read and very understandable, and even with all of the work that we've put into that, sometimes it's just hard to track what 11 other players are doing on the battlefield. Removing two of those simplifies everything, and it allows players to understand everything that's happening around them, and to be able to make better choices."
Tanks will also undergo some individual changes for Overwatch 2 aimed at making them "a lot more aggressive," lead hero designer Geoff Goodman said. "They'll be a little more hybrid-y on the gameplay side, and less just wall protection."
Blizzard has also been experimenting with "role passives"—small bonuses shared by every character of the same archetype, intended to incentivize different modes of play. These could include a flat movespeed increase for DPS characters, or passive healing for supports.
Overwatch 2's new Push mode is a tug-of-war match
Overwatch 2 is getting a new map type called Push. The premise is as simple as it sounds: Two teams fight over control of a robot that pushes two barriers back and forth across the map. Whichever team pushes farther into the other's territory wins.
Push is a cool twist on traditional payload that might encourage different hero compositions based on which team is pushing farther. During the Overwatch2 BlizzCon panel, assistant game director Aaron Keller described the mode as "really flanky," because players can access various points along the robot's path through different shortcuts and connections.
Overwatch 2's new PvP maps are predictably gorgeous
Overwatch 2 will launch with a slate of new maps, with more coming in later seasons. The first four shown above are Monte Carlo, Toronto, Gothenburg, and Rio De Janeiro. The last one with the big ring in the sky is still a mystery, but I sure like its style.
In the PvP alpha and beta, we played on the New Queen Street (Hybrid), Midtown (Payload), Circuit Royal (Escort), and Colloseo (Push) maps. There was also an assortment of old maps at the opposite time of day as the usually are, like daytime King's Row and golden hour Eichenwalde.
Overwatch 2 will be replacing the original Overwatch
Because Overwatch 2 is functioning as a revamp for existing Overwatch PvP, it's less of a sequel and more of a relaunch. The original game will be replaced, with the free-to-play Overwatch 2 multiplayer serving as the singular Overwatch platform.
Overwatch 2 hands-on impressions
After many hours of time spent in the Overwatch 2 PvP alpha and beta, we have a lot of thoughts about the direction of the game (opens in new tab). As our Morgan Park wrote in his impressions, the game has experienced a significant increase in speed, with new heroes like Sojourn exemplifying an accelerated pace of play.
"The original Overwatch's DNA isn't all gone in Overwatch 2, but it's minimized enough that it starts to make certain non-aim-based heroes and strategies fall behind when they don't fit into the new rhythm of the game's team fights. Number tweaks can fix this, and I imagine that's the bulk of the work that will go into the beta outside of new hero releases. But Overwatch 2 makes me question whether or not squeezing the game into this slimmer form is worth all the trouble," our own Tyler Colp wrote (opens in new tab).
Watch some Overwatch 2 PvP alpha gameplay
Here's the full Blizzcon 2021 Overwatch 2 presentation
The BlizzCon 2021 Overwatch 2 presentation (opens in new tab) was the first time we were given some real insight into sequel's design philosophy, both for PvP and PvE. On the PvP side, the team discussed the big changes to the design and balance philsophy that we've now seen come to fruition in the beta. Tanks will be modified to play more aggressively (Reinhardt's current iteration lets him throw two Firestrikes per cooldown and cancel his charge at will) now that there's only one per team.
Blizzard also stated its intention to revamp game modes as needed. Former game director Jeff Kaplan suggested, for instance, that the unpopular two capture point mode may be gone forever in Overwatch 2. It may be replaced by a new mode that Blizzard feels confident in like Push. We didn't hear anything more about the robot-on-robot Push mode at BlizzCon 2021.
For PvE, we heard a lot of the same things that Blizzard pitched when the game got announced. There will be story-based missions and repeatable 'Hero Missions' that will help you earn unique abilities for heroes. The dynamic missions will also include NPCs and unique objectives that sound like a more robust version of the PvE missions we already have in the base game.
Overwatch 2's PvE Mode
Blizzard is splitting up Overwatch 2's PvP and PvE releases
While Overwatch 2 was originally conceived as a single package, stalls in the development of its PvE mode have led Blizzard to split the game's PvE and PvP content into separate releases, at least for the beta period. By decoupling the two modes, Blizzard has been able to begin its PvP betas earlier than it might have otherwise been able to.
As things currently stand, Blizzard has said to expect Overwatch 2's PvE mode sometime in 2023.
Overwatch 2 PvE missions are divided between 'Story' and 'Hero' missions
Overwatch 2 is going all-in on PvE. The game's main campaign, made up of co-operative Story Missions, will see new and old Overwatch heroes teaming up against the Null Sector, the robotic army players fought in the Uprising event from the original game.
According to Blizzard, players will "team up as different sets of heroes and fight to defend the world from the omnic forces of Null Sector, uncover the motives behind the robotic armies' attacks, and come face-to-face with rising new threats around the globe."
Story missions will also have item pickups that can slightly modify a hero's playstyle. The three shown were an HP generator, a corrosive grenade, and a barrier shield similar to Winston's. Any hero in the mode can pick these up and use them at will, but they don't carry over between missions.
On the other end of PvE are Hero Missions, missions separate from the story that are designed to be highly replayable. In this mode, players can level up heroes and unlock customization options that modify their abilities. In the gameplay trailer, we see a modified Tracer build that chains her Pulse Bomb explosion to multiple enemies.
As far as we can tell, these ability modifiers are exclusive to PvE and won't have any impact on PvP.
Get ready for skill trees, baby
To further increase the replayability of Overwatch 2's Hero Missions, each hero will have three distinct skill trees that enable some absolutely bonkers abilites that would never work in PvP. Kaplan used the intriguing example of Junkrat dual-wielding grenade launchers. That sounds incredible.
The behind-the-scenes video also detailed Soldier 76's "snowplough" build, which gives him the ability to push enemies away from him in a wave. This also pleases me.
Overwatch 2's New Heroes
Sojourn is Overwatch 2's first new hero
And she looks cooooooool. We got to play her during the game's PvP alpha and beta. She rocks a rail gun, a sweet slide, and an energy grenade. This Canadian woman is extremely mobile and blends hitscan- and projectile-based gunplay in her role as a DPS.
In her story trailer (opens in new tab), we learn that she's been in the background for most of Overwatch's history as an organization in the game's lore. She's a pilot and commander that led the charge for the game's most iconic heroes. Now, we can finally play her and learn more about her.
The Junker Queen is Overwatch 2's burly new tank
Revealed alongside Overwatch 2's launch date, the Junker Queen will be the latest tank hero to join the Overwatch roster. As seen in the Junker Queen story cinematic (opens in new tab), she's a formidable brawler who's battled her way to supremacy in Australian mech brawls. She's been an audible presence in Overwatch's Junkertown map for some time now, but players will finally get to bring her into the fray as a frontline tank.
Toting a shotgun, throwing knife, and heavy battleaxe, the Junker Queen has a set of offensive abilities that inflict enemies with a Wound status effect, which deals damage-over-time while restoring her own health. A radial shout ability buffs teammate movement speed and armor, while her Ultimate nullifies enemy healing effects.
Other Overwatch 2 info
Overwatch 2 may not have loot boxes
In an interview with PCGamesN (opens in new tab), former game director Jeff Kaplan discussed how the team is exploring other monetization models for Overwatch 2. "Well, we have made a lot of changes to loot boxes and how they work over the years, so we're definitely open to change. Overwatch 2, in terms of business model, we're exploring different options that move us away from loot boxes, but I think that will be more for Overwatch 2 than the core game. I would never rule anything out," he siad.
While Kaplan wouldn't confirm a transition to a battle pass model, Blizzard's recently-revealed content roadmap confirms Overwatch 2's seasons will have their own respective battle passes.
Game director Jeff Kaplan has left Blizzard
The game's main campaign, made up of co-operative Story Missions, will see new and old Overwatch heroes teaming up against the Null Sector, the robotic army players fought in the Uprising event from the original game.
According to Blizzard, players will "team up as different sets of heroes and fight to defend the world from the omnic forces of Null Sector, uncover the motives behind the robotic armies' attacks, and come face-to-face with rising new threats around the globe."
What does the Microsoft purchase mean for Overwatch 2?
In case the internet has been out for you and you missed the news that Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard in their quest to assemble video-game-developer-Voltron, well, it's happening. When it comes to Overwatch 2, though, what this means is still uncertain.
It's unlikely we'll see much in the way of effects for awhile, and the deal itself hasn't been finalized yet. But it's likely we'll get some commentary on all the big Blizzard projects once the deal turns over, much like any kid—enormous-corporate-conglomerate or small—Microsoft will want to play with their new toys.
All existing Overwatch cosmetics will carry over to the sequel
For existing players of Overwatch, that's huge news. Going into Overwatch 2, many players will already have an extensive library of skins to equip. This bit of backward compatibility is great to see, but I also wonder if Overwatch 2 skins will come to the old game. Based on the "shared multiplayer environment," it sounds that way.
Competitive teams are using a build of Overwatch 2 in 2022
Rather than using the existing version of Overwatch, players in the 2022 season of the Overwatch League are instead competing in an early build of Overwatch 2's PvP multiplayer. The change has already had some bizarre results, even beyond the sudden shift from 6v6 matches to Overwatch 2's 5v5: while playing on one of the game's new maps in May, the Florida Mayhem esports team were forced to replay a round after performing what Blizzard ruled an "illegal maneuver," (opens in new tab) having utilized an unintended map exploit.
That's not Lucio's glowing hair, apparently.
Listen, I know there's a lot of seemingly more important stuff going on in Overwatch 2, but we need to talk about this. Initially, we thought it was his hair that was glowing. Now, we know that those green pool tubes aren't his hair (opens in new tab), but some kind of hat. In Overwatch 2, for some reason, it is a glow-in-the-dark hat. I like it, but why and where do I get one?
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/overwatch-2-release-date-trailer-everything-we-know/
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