Released in 2016, Blizzard’s Overwatch made headlines as the newest multiplayer first-person shooter game to be released with game modes and a class system similar to Valve’s Team Fortress 2. After years of adding new characters to the roster, game modes and various cosmetics, Overwatch has finally shut down to make room for its successor, Overwatch 2. Don’t worry, your favorite heroes aren’t going anywhere. However, Overwatch 2 is not fun and games, but rather a borderline disaster beyond Blizzard’s imagination.
Compared to the original Overwatch, Overwatch 2 experienced a few significant changes. Asides from the graphical overhaul, Blizzard has added new maps, taking us to locations such as New York City, Toronto and Rome, just to name a few. However, some fan-favorite maps such as the Temple of Anubis, Hanamura and Horizon Lunar Colony had been disabled due to bugs. Additionally, Blizzard added a new game mode called “Push” in which opposing teams attempt to fight for control of a robot and to push it furthest down their side of the map. Blizzard has also opted to remove 6v6 teams, removing one tank from each team to make it a 5v5 composition. The biggest change of all, however, was Blizzard’s decision to make Overwatch 2 free-to-play.
Although a lot of Blizzard’s changes were not received well by the community, the free-to-play model has led to the most controversy. The free-to-play model has caused Blizzard to implement a Battle Pass system into the game, similar to games like Fortnite and Fall Guys. The Battle Pass system replaces the Loot Box system that allowed players to play and earn experience points to get a free loot box. In these loot boxes, players had an equal chance to win various cosmetics without having to spend money. With the Battle Pass system, players would need to spend $10 to upgrade to a premium Battle Pass necessary to unlock new skins and in-game currency to buy more skins. The free version of the Battle Pass does not have many cosmetics unlocks. Thankfully, the free version of the Battle Pass contains hero unlocks, allowing players to grind through the tiers to unlock a new hero. If one did not want to participate in the Battle Pass model, players would be able to purchase skins using real currency. However, the prices for these skins are ridiculously expensive, ranging from $10 to $20.
The good news is, veteran Overwatch players who had bought the original game are allowed to transfer their account data over to Overwatch 2, allowing them to keep their cosmetics and have their favorite heroes already unlocked and ready to play. Additionally, the new hero, Kiriko, is unlocked and ready to play for veteran players. New players, unfortunately, must grind their way through games to unlock the original Overwatch character roster.
Other than from the major changes in Overwatch 2, the launch of the game was thought of by many fans to be an absolute disaster. When the game launched on Oct. 4, 2022, Blizzard’s servers experienced a mass DDoS attack, shutting them down and causing extremely long loading times. Players were stuck waiting in the queue for over an hour, and even then, games would abruptly crash and go on random maintenance. Some characters were bugged and had to be disabled, and some characters were too overpowered, making a balanced match too difficult to attain, locking the entire character roster for veteran players and making it impossible for players to have a remotely enjoyable game. Over the next month, Blizzard would repair these bugs only for a new one to appear right after.
Despite the messy launch and new pay-to-win model, the classic Overwatch players have grown to love is still here and present in Overwatch 2. With the original character roster, familiar maps and gamemodes and the cooperative experience, Overwatch 2 is still a very enjoyable experience if you had fun with the original. Although there are still many bugs in the game, Overwatch 2 has nonetheless made me remember why I liked the original Overwatch to begin with. Overwatch 2 is now available on PC through Battle.net, PlayStation 5 and on the Xbox Series X. Console players will now be able to play with PC players through cross-platform.