Overwatch 2 – everything we know from BlizzCon

Overwatch 2
November 7, 2019
Mel Hawthorne

Blizzard made waves with their announcement of the Overwatch 2, the sequel of one of their most popular esports games. Conveniently happening right after the huge Hong Kong scandal, Blizzard needed the good publicity that came with the announcement, and there is a lot of info already out!

Overwatch 2 New Look

© Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch 2: new look, old heroes

First off, Overwatch 2 will not be a completely separate game. It will feature many if not most of the heroes of the first one, but with more gameplay options. Specifically, there will be a lot of different PvE options, where previously, it was all about PvP.

Fans previously loved the themed events that were available at special occasions, and have been asking for a more story-heavy mode for ages. Now Blizzard is delivering – there will be story and hero missions.

The new hero missions will be somewhat like the replayable adventure mode in Diablo 3 –  players will be able to pick from the full character roster in order to level their heroes up and choose skills and talents as they level up.

The example given at BlizzCon was Tracer – for her, players can pick skills at levels 1, 10 and 20. Six skills are available to choose from, and they are generally variants of the skills already available to players now. Reinhardt, Hanzo, and Mai have had skills announced as well – though these skills will not carry over to the PvP mode.

Story missions, on the other hand, feature specific characters. At BlizzCon, an example mission in Rio featured Mei, Lucio, Tracer, and Reinhardt. There are tailored voice lines, boss fights and specific intros and outros.

Detailing the Obvious

In the Rio mission, we can even enter Lucio’s home – he has a framed box of Lucio-Ohs on his wall. That’s a pretty fun detail to add, and it shows that Blizzard seems to want to maintain the level of attention to detail that they put into the previous title.

As for the existing resources like maps and characters – all of them are getting updates. Not much will change overall, other than a few details when it comes to costumes and hair. Tracer’s glasses, for example, got a redesign, as did her collar, but her overall look is still the same.

There will be at least one new character – Sojourn. Rumours show that a robot named Echo that has featured in a few cinematics might also be a new addition to the Overwatch 2 team. Both games will be set in one single client, meaning that even players of Overwatch 1 will get the benefits of updates and improvements.

Blizzard stressed that they are not trying to force people into playing Overwatch 2 instead of 1 – players who want to play with the current setup and the current hero rotation, they’ll be able to do so. As for new maps, nothing has been announced so far.

Details regarding release time and more have not yet been announced – we do know it will be on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.

Read also: Discontent and a dozen cancellations at Overwatch World Cup