Overwatch 2 exists in a weird sort of limbo. It’s not out yet, so there’s not all that much to say about it, but expectations are already high given that it straddles an odd “expansion but also sequel” fence. It’ll plug into the original and all heroes will appear in both, but it’s still $60? And focused on PvE? But what we do know sounds promising, and that includes the fact that the maps in the new game are set to almost twice as big as those in the first.
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Which makes sense, of course, given the ostensibly PvE nature of the new maps. There’s a lot more wiggle room when you don’t have to account for some sort of fairness and equality to both sides of a map. In other words, the design just inherently seems like it’d be a little more capable of sprawl without devolving into madness.
“Overwatch 2 also gives us the opportunity on the tech side to tell more story,” Aaron Keller, Overwatch 2‘s assistant game director, shared as part of a larger Q&A over on the PlayStation blog when asked about how the new game allows for new storytelling. “The maps are almost 2X larger than regular Overwatch maps. They’ve also got way more advanced technology to show dynamic weather, lightning, explosions, and more. We like to say that our maps are almost another character in helping with Overwatch 2 storytelling.”
“There’s so many people who are deeply engaged with our characters because we’ve put these heroes in the forefront,” Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan previously said of Overwatch 2. “They would love to engage with the characters in a way that is a little bit less high pressure to them. So we felt like, you know, if we could deliver one really massive feature to our fans, it would be to blow out the co-operative side of the game.”
What do you think of what we’ve seen of Overwatch 2 so far? Are you excited to check out what the sequel has to offer, or will you be sticking with whatever manages to come to the original? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!
Overwatch 2 is currently in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It’s unclear exactly when it might release. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming sequel right here.
