Overwatch 2: Devs Considered Negative Push Feedback While Crafting Flashpoint Mode

Overwatch 2: Invasion will debut today from Blizzard, delivering the biggest single drop of new content in the game in years. Not only will the long-awaited Overwatch 2 story missions be released, but a new hero and other additional features are also included. That's also not all, Overwatch 2: Invasion will debut a new core game mode for the PvP side of the game with Flashpoint. Similar in nature to "Control," the game mode will see Overwatch 2 release its largest maps ever as teams compete to control points without the breaks in-between rounds found in Control. But how will Overwatch 2 handle a new game mode when it's last one was not well recieved?

When Overwatch 2 launched in October of 2022 it premiered with the new core game mode "Push." In that mode, players compete in a tug of war of sorts by escorting a robot across a map into enemy territory. Since it's debut however the Overwatch 2 player base hasn't had a collective high opinion of the mode. Though there are some fans of Overwatch 2's Push mode, it remains a thorn in the side of many. Luckily for those that are still playing the game, the upcoming Flashpoint mode was designed knowing that players still aren't in love with Push.

Overwatch 2's Flashpoint mode is all about symmetry 

Speaking with ComicBook.com in a roundtable interview ahead of the launch of Overwatch 2: Invasion, Principal Environment Artist Daniel McGowan and Lead Level Designer Ryan Smith spoke at length about Flashpoint and how they applied things they learned from Push when crafting it. As noted in our discussion, Flashpoint's maps are built with symmetry in mind. Not only are the Flashpoint maps built to be symmetrical from left to right, but also from top to bottom; plus the individual capture points on the maps are also built to be symmetrical. That leads to a more even playing field already being built in to the mode, somethign the developers believe will give it a smoother launch than Push.. 

"The game modes aren't created equally," Smith noted when comparing Push and Flashpoint. "But we, of course, we learn as we go, and these game modes are ever evolving. We're working on new Push maps, we're also thinking about how the spawns...How can we approach it differently than we did in the previous Push maps. We're always thinking and learning as we're kind of working on these things."

McGowan added, "Ryan's team has taken a lot of care to make sure like that that time to combat, the distances, the sightlines, the amount of cover. We're making sure that all of those things are meticulously balanced, right? We've playtested over and over and over and player experience is always at the forefront of our mind. And so there's always the question we're asking is like, Does this feel balanced? Even if there isn't an advantage, is there the perception of an advantage? So these are things that we've we've worked really hard to iron out."

Flashpoint in Overwatch 2 will reward hero swapping

A key element that distinguishes Flashpoint from Push is that the maps themselves are so vast. Overwatch 2 players on Push are forced to largely fight in big corridors, with choke points either in front of our behind them. With Flashpoint the Overwatch 2 team made its giant maps force players to be aware of their surroundings to a bigger degree than any other game mode, except maybe deathmatch. 

"The ability to turn it around mid-game, late-game is definitely there with (Flashpoint)," McGowan said. "In Push there's a very clear front, right and it's pretty linear and with this the omni-directional combat, like you got to keep your head on a swivel. There's all kinds of flank routes. Like Ryan was saying the map is symmetrical, left to right, but it's also symmetrical top to bottom, and then within each point, there is symmetry. Although each point is different. So there's definitely the ability to turn it around late game with player swaps. And if you have good map knowledge, right? Closing off a couple critical paths, or getting some really quick picks if someone was off by themselves. So I think it's going to be a lot of fun for players and they're going to be super excited about it."

Overwatch 2: Invasion launches today, August 10th, featuring not only the new game mode Flashpoint but also the new hero Illari, Overwatch 2 story missions, Hero Mastery, and more..