Overwatch 2 review: Blizzard rethinks the sequel, now free to play

Blizzard Entertainment was founded Overwatch 2Jeff Kaplan was the first game director. He appeared before the entire world almost three years ago. Overwatch from failed MMO to dominant hero shooter, said the team hoped to “redefine what a sequel means.” Kaplan, beloved by the Overwatch community, was believably optimistic.

Blizzard redefines what it means to be a sequel with Overwatch 2But not in the manner that Kaplan had envisioned. Because Overwatch 2This isn’t a sequel as such. Instead, it’s a thorough overhaul and replacement of the 2016 game, now with free-to-play economic underpinnings to support its continued development.

Overwatch 2 may not earn its “2” — branding it Overwatch 2.0 might have felt more apt — but it does earn its “early access” launch designation. Overwatch 2 arrives without the biggest selling points touted at its reveal: “a complete story experience” and “highly replayable” cooperative hero missions. Blizzard promised that those features would come in later. However, there are new heroes and maps as well new gameplay modes and some other superficial or consequential changes that will at the very least be made. Overwatch 2 feel… different.

Overwatch 2They carry over all the characters from the previous game and introduce three new heroes. They are Sojourn, the series’ first playable Black woman character, who brings a railgun and high mobility to the damage group. Junker Queen is a tall tank that summons Mad Max likenesses. She also adds aggression and team buffs to the Overwatch roster. New support character Kiriko combines the fast-paced action of Overwatch’s Genji with the ability to heal and teleport through walls. All three are exciting new additions to the world of Overwatch, but Kiriko represents a new wrinkle for players: Only those who pay for the game’s premium battle pass will get instant access to her. To unlock Kiriko, players will need to participate in dozens of matches. A subset of viewers can watch from the sidelines and play her support role.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

Many of the roster’s original characters have been modified in some manner. The heroes that could shock opponents were Brigitte Cassidy Mei and Mei.Their crowd-control capabilities are no longer available. All supporting characters are now able to self heal passively making them more surviving. The story of other heroes has been vastly improved. Overwatch 2’s launch; Orisa no longer has a shield or a gravitational vortex ball, and Doomfist is now a tank-class hero with a powerful block and reworked movement. Many of those changes and new hero additions serve to flatten the roster with newly overlapping abilities, and make strategic hero counter-picking — an important facet of the original launch version of Overwatch — feel less important.

These heroes, including Bastion, Sombra and Orisa have seen substantial reworks that give them new life. Both bots are much more aggressive, and I’m much more likely to pick them in play than I was in the original game. Sombra is now more of an aggressor and a threat to the backline heroes, who might find themselves being hacked, then quickly eliminated.

The removal of stun moves like Cassidy’s flashbang and Mei’s ability to freeze enemies with her Endothermic Blaster has also reduced frustration. It’s never been pleasurable to be on the receiving end of such attacks, but those tweaks have decimated the thrill of single-handedly eliminating a rival opponent as one of those characters. It’s a trade-off I’m still wrestling with, especially with how often I delighted in launching a brain-skewering icicle into a paralyzed enemy as Mei in the original Overwatch. I’ll miss knowing that the last thing my exasperated, frozen opponents saw was Mei’s smirking face. And for as much as I loathed being harassed by a Cassidy player sneaking into my team’s backline, flashbanging me, and fan-the-hammering me to death, I’ll miss those moments too — in a masochistic way. A bit of each altered hero’s identity has been shaved off in the pursuit of game balance.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

This hero adjustment coincides with another significant change Overwatch 2’s design: Teams are now composed of five heroes, as opposed to six, an attempt on Blizzard’s part to reduce the “noise” of Overwatch matches. This has the benefit of halving the number of shields in any given match — and in my experience with Overwatch 2My battles are more fun and exciting because I spend less time shooting at glowing barriers, and rather engage with my adversaries.

Over the past week, I’ve experienced thrilling new competitive moments, some powered by Kiriko’s ultimate that buffs her team’s speed, turning them into a well-oiled, enemy-shredding machine. With a group of five, team pushes felt tighter, with my allies rallying behind a Nano-Boosted Bastion to break through Reinhardt’s shield and overwhelm a point with superior firepower. Their buffs make it feel more like a boss fight to take down an enemy tank such as a Roadhog, Zarya, or Zarya.

Overwatch 2’s new game mode, Push, adds a trio of new maps and an interesting twist on payload-style gameplay. Push being part of the gameplay rotation — alongside Control, Escort, and Hybrid maps — comes with a bittersweet caveat: Assault maps are now relegated to custom games only, meaning many players will rarely, if ever, battle on maps like Hanamura, Volskaya, and Temple of Anubis in Overwatch 2. While Assault (aka 2CP) maps were often imbalanced, leading to never-ending games, draws, or total blowouts, they were deeply connected to Overwatch’s lore and its personality. Who will destroy the arcade games of Hanamura like a pack of feral dogs after we’ve all moved on?

Playing Overwatch 2 over the past week has also introduced a new calculus I wasn’t required to consider during roughly 900 hours with the original game: leveling up my battle pass progress (and doing it in the most efficient way possible) to chase cosmetic unlocks like skins and emotes. Overwatch 2The game is entirely free, and it follows the battle pass system used in other games such as Apex Legends, Valorant, And Halo Infinite. A player obsessed about unlockable, event-themed skins. OverwatchWhile you can grind for random loot and occasionally pay for it, the daily obligation to check in every day and meet weekly goals feels overwhelming. Blizzard’s aggressive season schedule — rolling out new content every nine weeks and populating an in-game shop with rotating digital goodies — only compounds that.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

The math might work in my favor and the benefit of other players. Do I really need to chase a skin for Widowmaker, a character I’ll never play? Will purchasing a battle pass every few months, either with real-world money or the currency I’ve earned in-game, net out to match what I spent on loot boxes? That’s difficult to say after spending a week with Overwatch 2I only played Quick Play or custom games of,

It’s the notion that players have to consider these factors at all that vexes me. Overwatch’s lootbox-based monetization tactic had problems of its own — spending 10 bucks on a virtual slot machine pull and occasionally coming away with meager rewards was a drag — but the imposing pressure to grind and accomplish a list of tasks each day, week, and season makes me more cynical than I want to be about the sequel to my go-to, yes-I’m-still-playing-this game.

This is perhaps the reason why modern game of service has such a strong economics. The fear of missing out is not a universal problem. Overwatch 2. Blizzard’s reputation for beating its rivals is well-known. This can be seen by taking a look at the online multiplayer role-playing games market from the early 2000s, and then answering with World of WarcraftExpertly building on ideas Dune 2To create Warcraft: Orcs & HumansPlease see the following: Team Fortress 2To make Overwatch. The studio’s approach to retrofitting OverwatchA battle pass system which so closely mimics models similar to it. Apex LegendsAnd ValorantIt doesn’t feel innovative or progressing enough to overcome my initial cynicism.

Ultimately, do economic considerations matter? New player comes to Overwatch 2, after a bit of playing to unlock everything, should still have endless fun with its eclectic mix of characters, game modes, and maps, just as long as they don’t care about doing it in style with the latest skins, weapon charms, and emotes. It’s likely that many people will have a great time. Overwatch 2For what it really is, one of the best and most playable heroes shooters available.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment

There is still hope. Overwatch 2, after having seen some of Blizzard’s plans for new content coming in the next few seasons. New strategies and ideas will be brought to the game by the two new heroes, a tank and a support. It will be available in the following languages: studio has also committed to new seasonal events, including a sequel of sorts to the Halloween-themed Junkenstein’s Revenge co-op mode, and other substantial new gameplay modes that are unlike anything Overwatch currently has. The OverwatchContent famine will soon be a feast Overwatch 2.

There is also the unreleased, yet much anticipated, noncompetitive content. These include the hero missions and story that will deliver overwatch lore. How those will be doled out to players — or how much it will cost them — is unclear, and requires faith on players’ part that Blizzard will deliver on time and with the quality they expect.

Relaxing Overwatch 2 is an exercise in cautious optimism — not just in the future direction of its ever-changing lore and world, but in the idea that years of new content will ultimately deliver on the promise of a full sequel.

Overwatch 2On October 4, 2009, it was made public. Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox OnePlease see the following: Xbox Series X. Blizzard Entertainment provided access to the test server for review. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. Although these partnerships do not impact editorial content, Vox Media could earn commissions for products sold via affiliate links. Here are some links to help you find. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.