It’s been a long time since Blizzard went into any sort of detail on the upcoming Overwatch 2. While we already know that it won’t be coming anytime soon, which was emphasized by the series absence in the Opening Ceremony, we did get to see some new information, as well as some visuals for both the heroes, and the environments during BlizzConline. The Deep Dive panel, which was hosted by none other than Jeff Kaplan, covered a good amount of content, and we’re going to highlight some of them right here.
Jeff and the team revealed that Overwatch 2 will have two brand new maps, Rome and New York. Rome looks to have taken to the historic look as there’s a giant coliseum as well as a new stadium. New York is set within a 1920’s timepiece, complete with older buildings, and classic pizza joints. Of course both maps will have a futuristic feel to it considering that the series takes place in an era with multiple scientific advancements. The new maps look great so far and we can’t wait to see how many new areas the team comes up with.
Jeff and the team spoke about the heroes themselves and how their new talent system. This system was briefly shown during BlizzCon 2019, and it looks like the developer has added even more RPG-like elements to this system. This is where the player can pick an ability from the heroes talent tree and use it to suit their play style, such as choosing to use either ice or electrical damage with your weapon. The also quickly showed off a new hero, Sojourn, who uses the classic railgun and can do some serious damage if you have excellent aim.
Speaking of more heroes, the team has also reworked the classic look for Reaper, Widowmaker, McCree, and Pharah. While they don’t appear to be drastically different, there are some subtle changes that ensure the differences between Overwatch and Overwatch 2. However, the biggest aspect that we took away from this panel was the Player Vs. Everyone (PVE) missions. According to Jeff and the team, there will be hundreds of different hero missions in order to keep the player engaged when they grind for more experience points. The missions can take place on any of the maps, and will feature different variables with enemies and mission types. It’s the biggest thing that separates this title from the original.
Jeff stated in the panel that “Overwatch 2 is the largest opportunity to really expand what Overwatch even means to our players.” Judging from what we’ve seen in this panel, he’s right on the money with that line. Jeff also mentioned that wile they still need some time in order to complete the title, he is also excited for the time when players will get their hands on it. Hopefully we won’t be waiting too long for Overwatch 2, but as we’ve said in the past, the more time a development team has to perfect their project, the better.
Overwatch 2 will launch for PC through Battle.net, the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/Series S, and the Nintendo Switch.