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Overwatch 2

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Overwatch 2
Developer(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher(s)Blizzard Entertainment
Platform(s)
ReleaseTBD
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Overwatch 2 is an upcoming hero shooter video game and sequel to Overwatch. Developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, Overwatch 2 is intended to have a shared environment for player-versus-player modes with the first game, while introducing a cooperative player-versus-environment mode. A major change to address stagnation of the metagame in Overwatch was to reduce team sizes from six to five, and to rework the functionality of tank characters, requiring several characters to be reworked for the sequel. The game had a PvP beta in April 2022.

Gameplay

Main article: Gameplay of Overwatch

Overwatch 2 is a hero shooter, where players are split into two teams and select one of more than 30 established hero characters as of 2022. Characters are broken out into damage class, doing most of the team's offense against the opposing team; support class, providing heals and buffs to teammates; and tank class, having a high damage threshold and can absorb damage for their teammates. Each character has a different skill kit with a combination of active and passive abilities as well as a special Ultimate power that can be used after it is charged up. The base Overwatch 2 game, like Overwatch, features primarily player versus player battles across several different modes and maps, and includes both casual and ranked matched play.

A significant departure will be moving to a five-on-five PvP mode, with a restriction of only allowing one tank in play on a team. According to Aaron Keller, the prior allowance for six players per team and two tanks made gameplay slower than they would have liked, and by moving to five players and removing one tank, they believed this sped up play. This additionally simplified how much action there was to watch for both players and spectators. New maps were thus designed to include more options for cover due to the reduced presence of tanks.[1] Heroes will have a general reworking within their classes as to make the game generally faster. Damage heroes will generally have increased movement speed, while Support heroes will all gain some type of passive self-healing skill. Tank heroes are expected to undergo the largest change to make them able to take on more offensive roles. Heroes are also undergoing a visual update to reflect the few years of in-game time that has passed between the events of Overwatch and Overwatch 2.[2] The game will include a ping system, similar to that of Apex Legends, for players to easily alert teammates to points of interest on the map in addition to existing callouts.[3]

A new PvP mode, "Push", will be introduced, which functions like a tug of war, where each team is vying for control of a robot that is pushing a team's payload to the opponent's side of the map when a team controls it. Push will become part of the standard map rotation in the Overwatch League as well as be available for Quick and Competitive play.[4] Some existing gameplay modes may be dropped in Overwatch 2; Kaplan has stated that two control point maps, such as Horizon Lunar Colony, will likely not be available in Overwatch 2 as these have been difficult to balance in response to monitoring gameplay and player feedback.[5]

The game will have persistent player versus environment modes (PvE). These are similar to the special seasonal events, which will feature four-player cooperative missions against computer-controlled opponents. In this mode, players can gain experience for the hero they are using, and at certain experience levels, unlock new passive skills called talents that boost the hero's current abilities, allowing them to customize how the hero plays. At least two PvE modes will be added: a story-based mission mode, where players are limited to their hero selection in replaying missions based on Overwatch's lore, and Hero missions which allow all heroes to be used in fending off waves of enemies at various locations. Blizzard anticipates that Overwatch 2 will ship with over 100 different missions, utilizing new maps as well as existing multiplayer maps expanded out to include new areas, and adding in dynamic effects, such as night and day modes and weather effects. Enemy types will be expanded out from the Null Sector robotic opponents used during seasonal PvE mods, adding in new types with unique behavior.[6][2]

Development

Overwatch 2 was announced at BlizzCon on November 1, 2019. The game will maintain a "shared multiplayer environment" between it and the original Overwatch, so that the players in either game can compete together in the existing player versus player (PvP) modes, retaining all unlocked cosmetics and other features.[6] Jeff Kaplan stated that this was a major push he had to argue for this "player-first standpoint" to his superiors at Blizzard, given the current industry trend to draw in new sales.[7] All new heroes, maps, and PvP modes will be added to both games to maintain this shared environment.[8] At least four new heroes will be added, which include Sojourn, a Black Canadian Overwatch officer introduced in the Overwatch Archive seasonal events.[9]

Overwatch 2 will run on an upgraded version of the original game's engine which allows for larger map sizes to better support the new story-based PvE elements.[6] Additionally, all of the existing heroes are getting visual redesigns for Overwatch 2, although Blizzard does not expect every hero to have theirs finished by the time Overwatch 2 launches, with twelve of the existing 31 completed at the time of the game's reveal.[9]

Overwatch 2 is expected to release for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, although there is currently no set release window. Kaplan stated they were more concerned about quality of the product than timeliness of the release.[10][11] Investor documents released in November 2021 had reported that an initial planned release window in 2022 had been pushed to at least 2023, intended for "giving the teams some extra time to complete production and continue growing their creative resources to support the titles after launch".[12] Kaplan anticipated that Overwatch and Overwatch 2 will ultimately merge into a single product to avoid having any engine differences affecting player experience.[13] Technical director John Lafleur has stated they are also interested in supporting, at minimum, cross-platform progression and are looking at the possibility of cross-platform play.[14] In March 2022, Blizzard stated that they had put too much focus on Overwatch 2 over the past few years to the detriment of support of the original game, and have changed plans to release Overwatch 2 in parts, with the PvP portion to be released in beta form starting in April 2022 and the PvE part to come at a later time. This would allow them to also continue to support Overwatch alongside Overwatch 2's development.[15][16] Later, Blizzard announced that the first wave of Overwatch 2 closed betas would begin on April 26, 2022, at 11:00 am PT and end on May 17. Access to the closed beta could be earned either by signing up for a chance to participate on Overwatch 2's official site or by watching select Twitch streamers for four hours on April 27, 2022, from 11:00 am PT to 1:00 pm PT. [17][18]

References

  1. ^ Chalk, Andy (May 20, 2021). "Overwatch 2 PvP will be 5v5 with only one Tank per team". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 20, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  2. ^ a b Nunneley, Stephany (February 20, 2021). "Overwatch 2 features "hundreds" of Hero Missions, character dialogues, updated hero looks, dynamic maps, more". VG247. Archived from the original on February 21, 2021. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  3. ^ McWherter, Michael (March 24, 2022). "Overwatch 2 is getting a ping system; here's how it works". Polygon. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  4. ^ Park, Morgan (November 4, 2019). "Overwatch 2: Everything we know about the unconventional sequel". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  5. ^ Hussain, Tamoor (February 25, 2021). "Overwatch 2: Jeff Kaplan On Expanding Story, Refining Gameplay, And Beards". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Domanico, Michael (November 1, 2019). "Blizzard Announces Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon". IGN. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  7. ^ Walker, Alex (November 5, 2019). "Convincing Blizzard To Merge Overwatch 1 And 2 Was 'Very Challenging'". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  8. ^ Chalk, Andy (November 1, 2019). "Overwatch 2 announced: New heroes, co-op story missions, and more". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Reiner, Andrew (November 5, 2019). "Details On An Unannounced Overwatch 2 Hero". Game Informer. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  10. ^ Chalk, Andy (November 1, 2019). "'I have no idea' when Overwatch 2 will be out, Jeff Kaplan says". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  11. ^ Ramee, Jordan (November 1, 2019). "Overwatch 2 Is Coming To Nintendo Switch". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  12. ^ Bailey, Kat (November 2, 2021). "Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 Delayed". IGN. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  13. ^ Grayson, Nathan (November 7, 2019). "Overwatch Stagnated Because of Its Sequel, Says Director". Kotaku. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  14. ^ Makuch, Eddie (May 25, 2021). "Overwatch 2: New Details On Beta, Cross-Play, Ping System, And More". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  15. ^ Vincent, Brittany (March 10, 2022). "Focus on Overwatch 2 left the original game struggling, Blizzard says". GamesRadar. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  16. ^ Lawler, Richard (March 18, 2022). "The Overwatch 2 closed beta starts April 26th on PC only". The Verge. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  17. ^ "Overwatch 2 PvP Beta". Overwatch. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
  18. ^ "Welcome to the first Overwatch 2 PvP Beta". news.blizzard.com. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
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