The controversial monetization system, major changes in the gameplay and the main question – is this really a sequel?
Overwatch 2 is arguably one of Blizzard’s strangest releases. It cannot be said that by the announcement of the sequel in November 2019, everything in the original game hit the ceiling and the creators suddenly needed a full-fledged sequel. Blizzard promised not only a rethinking of the balance and large-scale processing of characters, but also a PvE mode.
In the nearly three years since its announcement, Activision Blizzard has seen a number of significant events, from sexual harassment scandals and a culture of “disrespect for women” to the departure of major top managers. The company also released Warcraft 3: Reforged and Diablo Immortal, which sit somewhere near the bottom of Metacritic according to user ratings.
On top of that, details of the development of Overwatch 2 got into the network before the launch – in particular, the authors of the game accused Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, of delaying the release of the game. Finally, in April, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan, who spent 19 years at Blizzard, left the company without explanation. He was a “talking head” on behalf of the team, and many fans of the shooter loved him for his charisma, openness and sincerity.
It would seem that clouds were hanging over the game, but, as it turned out, work on it was in full swing. At the beginning of 2022, Blizzard announced that the game would be released in early access on October 4, completely replacing the first part, and in May, players were allowed to feel the beta version (read our impressions of it here ).
Immediately after the release of Overwatch 2, there were classic Blizzard moments : huge queues at the entrance, DDoS attacks on servers, the loss of some skins from the owners of the first part (all content and cosmetics were automatically transferred to the sequel). We had to wait on two devices (PS5 and PC) for more than six hours before the game launched into the main menu. However, the first match ended after a couple of minutes with a broken connection to the server. After that, I had to again observe the inspiring inscription “There are 40,000 players in line in front of you.”
The game servers came in order only a couple of days after the release
Major changes
The biggest change in Overwatch 2 is the number of players on teams. Now there are not six of them, as it was in the first part (two tanks, two damage dealers and two medics), but five. The second tank was removed from the official meta, heroes with shields were weakened (for example, Reinhardt’s barrier strength was reduced from 1600 to 1200 units), and all the possibilities for stunning opponents were removed. So, Cassidy, whom everyone still calls McCree, lost his flash grenade, and Brigitte now cannot stun opponents with her shield blow.
All this greatly affected the dynamics of the matches. Gone are the lazy skirmishes where, for example, Orisa and Reinhardt are in front of everyone and take turns changing shields, and rivals are trying to somehow destroy them.
Skirmishes without a second tank to absorb damage are now faster and teams are much more mobile. In addition, the value of each frag has greatly increased – now any kill deprives the team of 1/5 of its composition, and not 1/6, as it was before.
The role of medics has increased – they don’t have to endlessly heal tanks and other teammates, as well as themselves.
The Capture Points mode, which I personally hated, was removed from the game, which in the first part looked very unbalanced. If the attackers could take point “A” quickly, then when the second point was captured, the defenders already received an advantage in the form of a close respawn.
Instead of “Capture Points”, a new mode called “Onslaught” has appeared. In it, you need to accompany the robot, which pushes a special load on symmetrical maps towards one or the other team. The main task is to make the robot push the load further than that of its rivals.
In Onslaught, the situation in it can remain unpredictable until the last seconds of the match. The maps are full of tricky passages, so you can organize attacks from the rear or from the flank, as well as set up full-fledged ambushes on gaping opponents.
Playing “Onslaught” is much more fun than “Capture Points”
The developers abandoned the controversial system of medals for certain actions and returned to the traditional table for online shooters. It shows the main indicators of all players: from the number of frags to the damage done. Anyone can now see in real time who and how much is given to team work. However, it still does not save from swearing.
New characters
The roster of tanks has been increased by the Doomfist, which was previously a fairly powerful damage dealer, but now has become fat and mobile, but with much less damage, as well as the Vulture Queen, a new character in the game. She deals powerful damage with melee attacks, and thanks to her swift “ult”, she temporarily “cancels” the healing of all opponents that she touches due to the dash.
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Sojorn has become a new DPS character that is extremely fun to play. She moves very quickly around the map, can fly high for a while and shoots from a machine gun, which in the alternative fire mode turns into a good old railgun. With a good combination of circumstances, thanks to such a shot, you can “one-shot” someone even at a long distance.
Sojorn is a very mobile character who, with a couple of well-aimed shots from a railgun, can change the situation on the battlefield in seconds.
There is also a replenishment in the camp of doctors – Kiriko has become a new support heroine (a touching cinematic is dedicated to her). She can heal with special “tickets”, teleport to teammates even through walls, and throw special kunai at enemies. True, playing for her feels the most difficult of all doctors – you need to memorize a competent pattern of using abilities, accurately throw daggers (preferably, of course, at the heads of opponents) and competently retreat.
Not all of the characters’ lines, by the way, have been translated into Russian. New heroes almost always speak Russian, but the old ones (for example, Reaper) have forgotten how to communicate in it. Before the start of the battle, a strange situation often arises when the heroes pronounce the introductory cut-dialogs in two languages. One speaks Russian, the other answers in English. Most likely, work on localization stopped after February, but, nevertheless, technical and other important announcements on the official website of Blizzard dedicated to Overwatch 2 are published steadily in Russian.
Monetization system
Speaking of Kiriko, it should be mentioned that only the owners of the first part got it for free. Beginners will have to download the battle pass right up to level 55 – only then the new character will appear in their collection.
The monetization system in the second Overwatch is the main reason for hatred among fans of the first part. Lootboxes have disappeared from the game, which were previously issued for any slightest achievement and leveling up. You can now get epic skins or other cosmetic items either in a paid store (where the cost of one “suit” is approximately 10 euros), or by upgrading the battle pass.
And here is the real trouble with the battle pass in Overwatch 2. If you don’t want to open the premium part of it, get ready to get only two (!) skins for characters as a result of full leveling, as well as a few other cosmetics like weapon trinkets or graffiti. At the same time, the owners of a paid BP cannot say that they will receive some incredibly rich content. Here, even corny, you can’t pay back the battle pass by fully pumping it for the whole season, as, for example, in the battle passes of Rocket League or Apex Legends.
There are no significant advantages for those who bought the first part. After all, Blizzard could thank the owners of the original Overwatch with free access to a premium battle pass, or even come up with something special. Then there would be less negative feedback from users.
The monetization system and the lack of any decent buns for the owners of the first part were the main reasons for the user rating in the region of one point for Overwatch 2 on Metacritic
Rank system and matchmaking
With the system of ranks in competitive modes, everything is still very unclear. If in the first part of the title they changed immediately after the match, now they change only after seven victories or twenty defeats. At the same time, even if you manage to win seven matches in a row, you will hardly get anything higher than the third “gold”. And if then you play flawlessly, with a minimum of losses, it’s not a fact that the game will not demote you to the first “gold”.
The rest of the matchmaking remains the same as in the first part. Toxic teammates and opponents who don’t know how to compromise in the choice of characters, occasional disconnects of one of the team (which almost always leads to defeat) and other delights of playing with random players. As always, Overwatch 2 is best played in competitive mode with a proven stack of friends.
So far, the system of saving the best moments does not work in Overwatch 2, and this looks sad. The game continues to generate incredible episodes, and many of them want to save and revisit.
The main question that torments any experienced gamer from the first part is why the game was called a full-fledged sequel? Why couldn’t Blizzard just release a major update to the original game? If you look closely, the list of changes here is not that huge: yes, now there are five characters in the team instead of six, many heroes have been redone, and one old mode has been replaced with a new one. But over the course of its entire life cycle, the first Overwatch has undergone not such changes – what is the eternal leapfrog with the obligatory 2-2-2 meta, new modes for arcade matches and constant changes in the abilities of heroes based on feedback from esports players and fans worth? At the same time, the main declared feature of the second part – a full-fledged PvE mode, which could finally clearly tell the story of the quite interesting Overwatch lore, is still not here, it will appear in 2023.
Yes, the company wanted to restart the distribution model to make the game more profitable. But so far, the changes are hitting both the fans of the franchise and the solvent audience. For some, there is no motivation in the form of content. For others, the prices are very high.
However, this is still good old Overwatch with all its pluses and minuses. If you close your eyes to the terrible monetization system compared to the original, then we have before us an almost exemplary hero shooter that can captivate for hours. Yes, the ideal balance is still far away, and some characters look clearly stronger than others, but this is temporary (everything will be corrected with updates, don’t even hesitate). Overwatch 2 continues to keep players entertained with fast-paced combat and team-based gameplay. In addition, it has a low entry threshold for beginners, and also, it has finally become free. But whether it was worth arranging such a restart for the sake of it – we are not sure.
