Blizzard is hitting the big red reset button on Overwatch 2, reverting the game back to being just Overwatch from 10th February, a bit like when Prince decided to be called Prince again instead of having an unpronounceable sign for a name. As part of the soft reboot, Overwatch will embrace a new story focus with a narrative arc running through each season, and there will be 10 new heroes launched through the year, with the first five joining the roster alongside the reboot.
Overwatch might have been feeling some of the heat from Marvel Rivals, pushing Blizzard to take this reinvigorated approach, harking back to the early days of the game. Each arc will start with a new cinematic and then continue through motion comics, in-game events, new voice lines, animated hero trailers and short stories.
The five new heroes include Domina, Emre, Mizuki, Anran, and Jetpack Cat, and each one will have an important role in the story.
Joining the Talon forces, with Vendetta leading them, is Domina, taking on the role of being a poke tank with a hard-light barrier, sonic repulsors and an imprisoning barrier ultimate. Emre is a former Overwatch Strike Team member, but walked away, got some cybernetic mods, and kind of lost his mind – he’s a fact-paced run-and-gun damage style. Mizuki is a new support with spinning blades that bounce of walls, a healing hat to bounce around and a healing sanctuary.
On the Overwatch side of things is the new damage dealer Anran, who shoots fiery projectiles and is sure to be veeeeeeerrry popular for cosmetics – hence why she’s available from 5th Feb via a Hero Trial. Then there’s Jetpack Cat, who is a ginger cat riding a jetpack and meowing a lot. She has Biotic Pawjectiles, a healling Purr, and the abilitiy to catnap as her ultimate. She will also make pet owners feel very, very guilty for shooting at her.
The three main character classes will remain, but they’re now being broken down into sub-roles to give special buffs as follows:
TANK
- BRUISER: Reduces critical damage received. While at critical health, gain movement speed.
- Mauga / Orisa / Roadhog / Zarya
- INITIATOR: Staying airborne lightly heals you.
- D.Va / Doomfist / Winston / Wrecking Ball
- STALWART: Reduces knockbacks and slows received.
- Domina / Hazard / Junker Queen / Ramattra / Reinhardt / Sigma
DAMAGE
- SHARPSHOOTER: Critical hits reduce your movement ability cooldowns.
- Ashe / Cassidy / Hanzo / Sojourn / Widowmaker
- FLANKER: Health packs restore more health.
- Anran / Genji / Reaper / Tracer / Vendetta / Venture
- SPECIALIST: Eliminating an enemy briefly increases your reload speed.
- Bastion / Emre / Junkrat / Mei / Soldier: 76 / Symmetra / Torbjorn
- RECON: You detect enemies below half health through walls after damaging them.
- Echo / Freja / Pharah / Sombra
SUPPORT
- TACTICIAN: You can gain excess ultimate charge, which carries over after using your ultimate ability.
- Ana / Baptiste / Jetpack Cat / Lucio / Zenyatta
- MEDIC: Healing allies with your weapon also heals you.
- Kiriko / Lifeweaver / Mercy / Moira
- SURVIVOR: Using a movement ability activates passive health regeneration.
- Brigitte / Illari / Juno / Mizuki / Wuyang
Season 1 will kick off a new meta event that will run for five weeks, asking players to join either Talon or Overwatch, and then fight for their side. You’ll get missions to complete each week to further the lore of the battle, and earn tons of lootboxes along the way.
Oh, and there’s an ugly new main menu that looks like a mobile F2P game. The old menus weren’t perfect, but they had a pleasing minimalism and clarity to them.
Source: Overwatch
