10 Things to Know About Overwatch 2
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VOICE OVER: Kirsten Ria Squibb
WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Johnson
Is it going to be an awesome, full sequel or an overpriced expansion? For this video we're looking at 10 things to know about “Overwatch 2”. Our list includes New Maps, New Game Modes, Hero Missions, Story Missions and more!
Script written by Caitlin Johnson
Welcome to MojoPlays! Today, we’re looking at 10 things to know about “Overwatch 2”. Is it going to be an awesome, full sequel or an overpriced expansion?
We already see plenty of cross-gen games when a new console generation launches, but “Overwatch 2” is going to go a step further by being completely compatible with the first game. This means many of the improvements “Overwatch 2” is bringing will also come to the first game so that people can still compete in ranked matches without having to cough up for both a new console and a new triple-A game at launch. We’re sure plenty of people will be buying and playing the sequel, but it’s nice for Blizzard not to force everybody to buy a brand-new game, instead, preserving and improving the franchise.
One problem Blizzard noted with the original game was that people didn’t like fighting Null Sector because the Omnic soldiers were boring. After all, the game lore says that the Omnics are such a huge threat that Overwatch needs to reform partly in order to fight them, but every time you fight them in-game it’s no fun. Developers have gone back to the drawing board and created an enormous variety of Omnic enemy types that will come into their own in the game’s new PvE modes. They’ll better reflect the diversity of the heroes by having a wide range of abilities and specialties, making for far more exciting combat.
Throughout “Overwatch’s” lifetime plenty of maps have been added that weren’t there at launch, including spots like Rialto, Oasis, and Havana; all these and more will be coming to the sequel. Already announced are maps based on large cities like Rome and Toronto, while we’re also going to see a Gothenburg map that will feature Torbjorn’s workshop. Blizzard has a dream to make “Overwatch” a truly global, international experience, with representation for every nationality around the world. They’re clearly still committed to this idea. And these new maps are set to be bigger and more complex than most of the maps in the original, too.
If you’re worried that the character you main might not make the cut for the sequel, never fear; every single hero is going to be carried over into “Overwatch 2”. There are also, of course, going to be plenty more added. Just like Tracer was the mascot for the first game, incoming character Sojourn, another DPS option who wields a railgun, is becoming the flagship hero for the sequel. Sadly it doesn’t look like any new characters are going to debut in the original game until the sequel is released, but at least we’ve got something to look forward to!
As a primarily multiplayer game, “Overwatch 2” will live and die based on how good that multiplayer is. The first game was wildly successful with a hugely popular eSports scene, and Blizzard has been iterating to ensure this continues into the sequel. One new mode we’ve already seen some of is “Push”, a tug-of-war style game that will take place on far larger maps than we’re used to. But Jeff Kaplan has also hinted that 2-capture-point maps, widely disliked because of how unreasonably difficult they are if you’re on the attacking team, might be disappearing completely.
You may have spent the last few years getting used to what every character looks like, but Blizzard is shaking things up a bit and taking the risk of redesigning them. We don’t yet know exactly how many heroes will be overhauled, but we have seen new concept art for core characters including McCree, Reaper, Widowmaker, and Pharah. However, fans so far haven’t been too receptive to the “new looks”, as developers describe the changes. Will the new designs grow on existing fans, or will they be clamoring for a return to the original McCree who doesn’t have that strange-looking beard? Only time will tell.
Multiplayer is “Overwatch’s” core gameplay, and it’s going to have some changes made to it when the sequel launches. This goes beyond the addition of new maps and game modes and includes rebalancing for major characters. The most prominent changes we’ve heard about so far revolve around Reinhardt, who’s been there from the beginning; players are now going to be able to cancel out of his charge, for instance. But different hero classes will now have uniform strengths regardless of which character you actually pick, like tanks taking less knock-back damage across the board and regenerating health for every support character.
“Overwatch'' has a lot of appeal, but for people who aren’t big into online multiplayer, it may not have been a game they were too interested in checking out. That’s going to change with the sequel, which will add a “Hero Mission” system that will be played cooperatively. It’s one of the game’s two new PvE modes and is where those newly-designed Null Sector combatants will debut. You’ll be levelling up just the same as always with potentially hundreds of different Hero Missions with different structures to blast through with friends. It’s still going to be primarily shooting enemies, but you won’t have the pressure of competitive play.
With every hero available to you from the beginning, the only thing to work towards in the original “Overwatch'' is getting loot boxes to unlock cosmetic items, stickers, poses, and other things that don’t change the gameplay whatsoever. That’s going to change in “Overwatch 2” – at least in the PvE modes that won’t be competitive. Blizzard has shown off a progression system that lets you unlock “talents'' - new abilities that will completely change how characters play and will even let you engineer a specific and unique build for your mains. This is incredibly exciting and will add a brand-new layer to the game – as well as enticing people away from ranked play.
The main new PvE mode is, of course, a story. Since the beginning, players have been clamoring for an actual campaign mode in “Overwatch” to further explore the game’s deep and exciting lore, and though there were a few limited-time modes that told brief stories, we had to rely on the comics and the cinematics to get any actual information. This is all going to change in “Overwatch 2” and, we’re sure, for the better. On top of just being able to learn more about these characters we’ve spent so much time with, they’ll also be interacting with each other; there will be branching dialogue before missions that will change depending on who you choose to play as.
10 Things to Know About Overwatch 2
Welcome to MojoPlays! Today, we’re looking at 10 things to know about “Overwatch 2”. Is it going to be an awesome, full sequel or an overpriced expansion?
Compatibility
We already see plenty of cross-gen games when a new console generation launches, but “Overwatch 2” is going to go a step further by being completely compatible with the first game. This means many of the improvements “Overwatch 2” is bringing will also come to the first game so that people can still compete in ranked matches without having to cough up for both a new console and a new triple-A game at launch. We’re sure plenty of people will be buying and playing the sequel, but it’s nice for Blizzard not to force everybody to buy a brand-new game, instead, preserving and improving the franchise.
Enemy Units
One problem Blizzard noted with the original game was that people didn’t like fighting Null Sector because the Omnic soldiers were boring. After all, the game lore says that the Omnics are such a huge threat that Overwatch needs to reform partly in order to fight them, but every time you fight them in-game it’s no fun. Developers have gone back to the drawing board and created an enormous variety of Omnic enemy types that will come into their own in the game’s new PvE modes. They’ll better reflect the diversity of the heroes by having a wide range of abilities and specialties, making for far more exciting combat.
New Maps
Throughout “Overwatch’s” lifetime plenty of maps have been added that weren’t there at launch, including spots like Rialto, Oasis, and Havana; all these and more will be coming to the sequel. Already announced are maps based on large cities like Rome and Toronto, while we’re also going to see a Gothenburg map that will feature Torbjorn’s workshop. Blizzard has a dream to make “Overwatch” a truly global, international experience, with representation for every nationality around the world. They’re clearly still committed to this idea. And these new maps are set to be bigger and more complex than most of the maps in the original, too.
Heroes
If you’re worried that the character you main might not make the cut for the sequel, never fear; every single hero is going to be carried over into “Overwatch 2”. There are also, of course, going to be plenty more added. Just like Tracer was the mascot for the first game, incoming character Sojourn, another DPS option who wields a railgun, is becoming the flagship hero for the sequel. Sadly it doesn’t look like any new characters are going to debut in the original game until the sequel is released, but at least we’ve got something to look forward to!
New Game Modes
As a primarily multiplayer game, “Overwatch 2” will live and die based on how good that multiplayer is. The first game was wildly successful with a hugely popular eSports scene, and Blizzard has been iterating to ensure this continues into the sequel. One new mode we’ve already seen some of is “Push”, a tug-of-war style game that will take place on far larger maps than we’re used to. But Jeff Kaplan has also hinted that 2-capture-point maps, widely disliked because of how unreasonably difficult they are if you’re on the attacking team, might be disappearing completely.
Redesigns
You may have spent the last few years getting used to what every character looks like, but Blizzard is shaking things up a bit and taking the risk of redesigning them. We don’t yet know exactly how many heroes will be overhauled, but we have seen new concept art for core characters including McCree, Reaper, Widowmaker, and Pharah. However, fans so far haven’t been too receptive to the “new looks”, as developers describe the changes. Will the new designs grow on existing fans, or will they be clamoring for a return to the original McCree who doesn’t have that strange-looking beard? Only time will tell.
PvP
Multiplayer is “Overwatch’s” core gameplay, and it’s going to have some changes made to it when the sequel launches. This goes beyond the addition of new maps and game modes and includes rebalancing for major characters. The most prominent changes we’ve heard about so far revolve around Reinhardt, who’s been there from the beginning; players are now going to be able to cancel out of his charge, for instance. But different hero classes will now have uniform strengths regardless of which character you actually pick, like tanks taking less knock-back damage across the board and regenerating health for every support character.
Hero Missions
“Overwatch'' has a lot of appeal, but for people who aren’t big into online multiplayer, it may not have been a game they were too interested in checking out. That’s going to change with the sequel, which will add a “Hero Mission” system that will be played cooperatively. It’s one of the game’s two new PvE modes and is where those newly-designed Null Sector combatants will debut. You’ll be levelling up just the same as always with potentially hundreds of different Hero Missions with different structures to blast through with friends. It’s still going to be primarily shooting enemies, but you won’t have the pressure of competitive play.
Skill Trees
With every hero available to you from the beginning, the only thing to work towards in the original “Overwatch'' is getting loot boxes to unlock cosmetic items, stickers, poses, and other things that don’t change the gameplay whatsoever. That’s going to change in “Overwatch 2” – at least in the PvE modes that won’t be competitive. Blizzard has shown off a progression system that lets you unlock “talents'' - new abilities that will completely change how characters play and will even let you engineer a specific and unique build for your mains. This is incredibly exciting and will add a brand-new layer to the game – as well as enticing people away from ranked play.
Story Missions
The main new PvE mode is, of course, a story. Since the beginning, players have been clamoring for an actual campaign mode in “Overwatch” to further explore the game’s deep and exciting lore, and though there were a few limited-time modes that told brief stories, we had to rely on the comics and the cinematics to get any actual information. This is all going to change in “Overwatch 2” and, we’re sure, for the better. On top of just being able to learn more about these characters we’ve spent so much time with, they’ll also be interacting with each other; there will be branching dialogue before missions that will change depending on who you choose to play as.
