Overwatch 2 Review: Fun As Ever, But With Confounding Changes

First announced to the world in November of 2019, Overwatch 2's existence has been hampered by large scale miscommunications, the pandemic, major staff overhauls, and even splitting the title's PvP and PvE modes into separate releases. Now that it's here (the PvP at least) and it's in our hands, the gameplay of what amounts to a big update and a major drop of new content remains a mostly satisfying team experience. The trouble of course is that it's impossible to not acknowledge the noise that surrounds Overwatch 2, ranging from its new battle pass model to the elevated cost of cosmetics and even the lack of appeal some of its new additions have at all.

As far as the game itself, the big change of shifting Overwatch 2's gameplay to a 5v5 model over 6v6 has resulted in a more fun, and fast, style of play, one that is also without an overhead cost as it's now free-to-play. Gone are the days of shooting through two shields while the enemy team doesn't move, protected by double barriers and a stationary Bastion. Now, the game forces teams to not only stay on their toes but to work together even more than was necessary before. Just like any game where you're beholden to other people, even strangers, how much of a good time you have will still depend on the quality of your teammates.

Tanks, now the only one of their class on each team in most games, have a slightly different workload but changes to the characters compliments this shift and makes the most of them. Zarya, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Sigma, and D.Va all have minor tweaks to make them even better anchors for a five man team, but the kind of quality of life changes that will have longtime OG Overwatch tank players happy (Reinhardt has two fire strikes, Roadhog can self-heal while ulting, Zarya can bubble herself twice in a row!). 

Both Orissa and Doomfist have gotten major reworks as a result of this Tank change however, the latter shifting from DPS to the new role, and with it a reduced damage capacity (something most players haven't yet grasped it seems). Orissa on the other hand plays like an entirely new character. No longer equipped with a shield but boasting a javelin and an all-new ultimate, players that may recall the character leaking years ago under the codename "Anchora" will feel like that's still a suitable moniker. Junker Queen, the new tank, has a fun playstyle as well, she's constantly moving and attacking in a limited area, even introducing a new style of mechanic to injury the enemy, bleeding. It proves Blizzard is still thinking about new additions to the roster in terms of how they can differentiate them from the rest of the heroes.

Damage and Support heroes still have their own quirks and some new quality of life changes that make things better. All Supports now do moderate healing to themselves after a brief period of time, so you no longer have to waste your own grenade as Ana to keep yourself alive. DPS players also get the addition of a speed and reload boost after every kill, something that seems like a nightmare for slow support players dealing with flanking Genjis but in the 20+ hours of gameplay I've had…it hasn't seemed like a big deal. There's also a built-in feature for all heroes where players can keep a percentage of their ultimate charge if they need to switch characters, a huge dynamic shift.

Overwatch 2's new maps and new mode, Push, are welcome additions too. Except for Control – essentially King of the Hill – the game modes in Overwatch have never really lent themselves to feeling directly fair to both teams. Push makes this work by tasking teams with escorting a robot from the middle of the map to a designated endpoint with checkpoints throughout the robot's path. It's largely a movable version of Control, but the honeycomb design to the maps always opens up new paths for access and flanking. So far, there are only three Push maps, but if every new addition to this type is as fun as what we already have, it could become my favorite game mode in all of Overwatch.

The trouble with the addition of Push and five new maps is that Blizzard threw in the towel with regard to their Assault mode and maps, tossing them out of the playable rotation entirely. Players that want to play these still can do so in custom games, but you won't find them within Quick Play or Competitive modes at all. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't happy to see some of these removed from play, but it makes the charm of "adding new content" shine a little less when you realize that a hefty chunk of the original game has been taken away entirely in favor of the new. How long until the same thing is done to the new stuff?

With the talk of new additions to Overwatch must also come that the game has shifted from a loot-box style of reward to the nine-week battle pass. So far, this change has rightfully been called out for having classist roots, though Blizzard has already walked back a major confounding addition that forced players to tie a phone number (but not one from a prepaid provider) to their account. This was done as an anti-cheating measure, one which took a game with a minimal hurdle for entry and gave it a customs gate for new players. Blizzard has altered this in the past week, making anyone who played the game prior to June 9, 2021 not be forced into the restriction, but it's still in place for anyone totally new to the game.

There's also the larger cost of…everything associated with the battle pass and the game's new store. In the same way that Fortnite or other titles have a battle pass with skins, emotes, sprays, etc that one can play the game to obtain, Overwatch 2 also has a store where coins can be spent for such things (including cosmetics that were previously free in the original game). The 80-level battle pass also offers cosmetics only obtainable for purchasing the Premium Version, which comes with a $10 price tag every nine weeks. Each new level unlocks a new piece of something, be it a cool highlight intro, a new emote, or even a legendary spray (completing it offers the game's rarest skin, the first ever Mythic). The limited number of levels also means that only certain characters get much love, battle pass 1 for instance is heavy on cosmetics for new characters, while some, like Torbjorn or Wrecking Ball get….nothing.

A handful of what is offered feel worth it in the larger sense. The skins for example are cool additions; but for the most part, the battle pass' rewards are lackluster. Items like weapon charms, player icons, and name cards feel like filler, some of which I may never think about twice or even utilize ever. Tragically these are also the "free" tiers of the Battle Pass. Don't want to pay? Here, you get a voice line now and a spray in three more levels. I don't begrudge Blizzard adding some of these extra layers of customization into the game but not all of them are worthy of being noted as a prize for completing levels upon levels of the game, not when we used to get four items from a simple level up.

What's troubling about this on the whole though is the near-predatory levels of price gouging being thrust on players to take part in this, and the real lack of rewards being offered in exchange. Many other games with the battle pass model offer a certain level of in-game currency in exchange for your play and meeting certain objectives. Overwatch 2 does have this but the amounts are laughable, forcing players that don't want to spend money (or cannot) into months long grinds that probably won't even have what they want available by the time they've managed to scrounge together the needed amount. Scarcity and FOMO are two things that will fuel Overwatch 2's cosmetic marketplace. In the past, not getting a skin during an Overwatch event meant you could get it the next time it rolled around. Now? Who knows if you'll ever have the chance again, at least not for free.

There's also a bit of a double-edged sword here though which is that the threshold for "leveling up" has been cut in half from the 20K XP that Overwatch 1 had between levels, but then the amount of XP offered per match has been drastically reduced as well. The removal of post-game cards and even in-match medals have not only taken away a level of pride players can take in their play but also how much they're rewarded with XP. Naturally paying for the premium battle pass offers an XP bonus (and Blizzard has announced Double XP weekends are in the works for all players). Blizzard has found a decent workaround here though, offering daily, weekly, seasonal, and lifetime challenges that reward additional XP. Ranging from "Say Thanks to a Support player" to "Win 250 Competitive Matches," the challenges are a nice bosot and sometimes a surprise that you even completed something after any given game.

After what feels like a lot of complaining about the battle pass and Blizzard's new strategy for cosmetics, it's worth reiterating just how much fun Overwatch 2 really is and how satisfying the game can really be at times. Even when you don't win, a really great match of Overwatch 2 is pleasant and refreshing. There are brand new character dynamics and interactions that will have you laughing or shrieking an "aww!" before the game starts, plus a total rework of the game's sound effects and design that give it an extra level of polish; not to mention the new dynamic lighting that shows off maps at different times of day.

Overwatch as a world is one that I fell in love with because of the original game. The character dynamics, the maps, the interactions, the storylines, the events, the new skins, the sprays, there was some new avenue into the franchise that expanded it. The good news is that the drops of new content will be more frequent, meaning players can get more of what they love not only out of the game but in how they choose to play as their favorite characters. New maps, new characters, and new modes will finally be arriving with frequency. The bad news is that instead of asking you to spend $60 one time to play the game you love and get all the things you want, you're being asked to spend that much per year just to make sure you don't miss anything. 

I hope the allure of what makes Overwatch as a game and a unique world can be seen to newcomers despite the negative cloud that is surrounding much of it. In terms of play, Overwatch 2 is more fun to play than it has ever been. We are in luck, however, as Blizzard has clearly been keenly listening to the community since the launch of the game didn't go very smoothly, and the potential for more fixes and fine-tuning seem like it's their biggest priority. It will be interesting to see where things are after a year, that's the blessing and the curse of a live-service game. But for now…

Rating: 4 out of 5

This review was primarily conducted on PlayStation 5 with codes provided by the publisher.