During the summer of 2021, the video game industry saw as one of the largest and most important companies, Blizzard, entered a spiral of problems, complaints and investigations for things that no one expected, and less so from a company as beloved and mythical as Blizzard. After knowing many of the schemes that occurred in the company, many dismissals of important figures and delays in its most important titles such as Diablo IV or Overwatch 2fans lost even more confidence in the studio.
With the departure of Jeff Kaplan, director of the first Overwatch and one of the most beloved veterans of the old Blizzard, we all thought that the title had completely foundered. But we mightn’t be more wrong, since without being the perfect game, and with many things to fix with time, Overwatch 2 is a worthy “successor” of its first installment, maintaining what made Blizzard’s hero shooter special, and adding more content to attract new players.
Since the purchase of Actvision Blizzard by Xbox became known, many regained hope that the old company would return, something that remains to be seen. Many of us were looking forward to Overwatch 2, and following seeing all the news that it would bring, in addition to being totally free, we even wanted to play it even more. And if you’re still not totally sure what you’re going to find, hopefully you’ll learn it in this Overwatch 2 review.
An update rather than a sequel
When Blizzard announced back in 2019 that Overwatch 2 was a reality, many of us wondered if it was going to be a totally separate sequel to the original, or if it was going to be connected in some way. A long time passed until we found out that the title would replace the original, giving us the option that we might keep all the rewards that we had obtained during all the years of playing. On top of that, being a completely free title, it seemed like a dream come true… But all that glitters is not gold.
Overwatch 2 feels in all respects an update of the first installment, but improved– New menus, new hero animations, new HUD, and some new heroes and maps, but it doesn’t change enough to call it a “sequel.” Yes, it is true that the core of the original is intact, and remains, very good and enjoyable, and thanks to that, Overwatch 2 is so enjoyable. But it must be said that many of us expected a thousand times more new features, and what people see is more of a “revision” of the original, rather than a new continuation.
Many of the criticisms that the title has received since it was announced have always been related to the game being “the same” as its predecessor in almost all aspects. And, to be honest, there is a lot of reason in those arguments, since there are few novelties that make it differ from the first title. And there comes this idea: Was a sequel really necessary? The answer is simple: no. Overwatch 2 might exist as a gigantic update of the first title, keeping the name and, perhaps, the reception would have been a thousand times better… But in the eyes of investors, a sequel makes much more money than what was proposed…
Overwatch 2 still feels absolutely phenomenal
By putting ourselves at the controls during the first game, all of us who have put a minimum of hours into the original will feel the same sensations once more, since, except for the new characters, the old ones feel exactly the same, something that is not bad, since they were very well designed (although, yes, it will be necessary to nerf some, since there is quite a lot of imbalance). Instead, hehe new heroines (Sojourn, Junker Queen and Kiriko) control themselves perfectlyadding even more variety of situations and possibilities to a game that already had many.
As the studio has accustomed us, the design of the new maps is what we might expect from Overwatch 2: Very colorful maps, with a perfect design for the different game modes that exist, and many places where real skirmishes take place. It is something that is appreciated, since it is noted that although there are few maps, they are polished to exhaustion, and that adds even more quality to a selection of maps that reaches excellence in most cases.
Something that cannot be discussed is that the first installment was a very well designed game in general, so much so that this installment, by drinking so much from the previous one, still maintains its pros and cons. Yes, it is true that there are still many aspects to be balanced that are currently too unbalanced, bugs and errors that Blizzard is working on fixing as soon as possible. But you only need to play a game and see how well measured each little detail is, and that is synonymous with a well-polished job with great care.
The future of Overwatch 2 remains to be seen…
Although Overwatch 2 is already on the market, the real test starts now. Blizzard is going to have to show that it knows, and very well, the service games industry, since the model that this title follows is one very similar to Fortnite or Halo Infinite, to give a few examples. With a Battle Pass to complete for rewards, and future plans to release more new characters, game modes, and maps, we’ll have to trust that Blizzard has learned from the mistakes it made with Overwatch.
Also, with the long-awaited PVE mode on the horizon, Overwatch 2 has a lot of content ahead of it, but hopefully it can hold up just as well as Epic Games’ star title has managed to do. We can already see that multiplayer games have been changing for a few years, and the step that Overwatch 2 has taken is the logical one for the game to reach many more people and, thus, the game stay alive much longer.
Blizzard should look very carefully at the issue of micro-transactions, since by changing the loot box system for battle passes, all rewards are achieved by leveling up the pass (which is worth €10) or paying with the currency of Overwatch 2, which is obtained very little by little by doing challenges or paying. Going totally free, Blizzard’s game has to profit from somewhere, and the study has decided that micro-payments will be the solution for that aspect. But if we stop to see how the system is set up, we see that there is a very great danger, since the prices are too high, and they can cause the community to turn all their complaints, once more, to the studio, something that does not suit them. Not at all.
Overwatch 2 is the logical evolution of multiplayer games
The franchise has gone from offering a full-price game with a box system to obtain rewards, to offering a free-to-play title with the possibility of acquiring a battle pass to thus get all the rewards, something that since the boom that caused Fortnite, many of the titles of recent years have come to offer this experience, something that makes it easier for many users to get to the game, breaking the barrier of price.
As always, we will see the success that Overwatch 2 will achieve over time, and with the content that Blizzard receives over the months, something that the original title failed quite a bit. Overwatch fans will be delighted with this game, since it is almost the same as the first installment, but with the addition of some new featuresalthough it does not have enough to name Overwatch 2 the “sequel” to the 2016 title. But, without a doubt, Overwatch 2 is one of the best multiplayer games to play with friends, or alone, the latter. months of the year.
It is not the sequel that everyone expected, but in these times, It’s the logical choice for a studio with an IP as big as Overwatch.: keep all the gigantic work done in 1, while adding new features over the months, along with battle passes so that people don’t stop playing and new people continue to come to the franchise, thanks to the fact that it is totally free. Many will not be happy with how Blizzard has handled the development of the game, but with time, and with a lot of positive feedback from the community, we can have a true work of art in the multiplayer shooter genre.