We’d hop on Discord and inevitably talk about the state of Overwatch, sharing timid excitement for the sequel and how we’d hope it might shake up the subdued nature its progenitor had adopted in the years since its release. The world and heroes have so much potential, taking the foundations first established here and building them into showcases that aren’t afraid to grow this universe in bold, meaningful w

As a - very - casual Overwatch fan , the characters have always been my favourite thing about the hero shooter. They only tell vague stories, but they’re so well designed and are bursting with such life that they feel like bigger characters than they actually are. They’re similar to comic book characters; you don’t need to have read the decades long history between Batman and the Joker, you just see their iconic designs and you instantly feel as if you know them. Whether it’s Ashe and her Wild West gunslinger aesthetic, D.Va’s e-girl vibe, or Winston the science monke, the character designs tell their own stories. That’s why the recent Archives event feels like a big missed opportun

Overwatch 2 China release 2 is going through an identity crisis right now, even if this weird transition was one that me and so many others expected. It will be a better game in the end because of this awkward growth, but right now my investment in Overwatch has arguably lessened the investment I have in its successor because there is less in it for me from the off. Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely a me problem , but aside from pushing through the battle pass I’m now stuck waiting to see what else awaits me on the horizon.

It was convoluted and it didn’t do much to cut back on toxicity. Instead of antagonizing your teammates for not getting enough kills, players would just rub their gold medals in each other's faces. In the end, it just led to bullying with extra steps, so for Overwatch 2, the developers replaced it with a good old-fashioned scoreboard. Now players can see exactly how many elimins, assists, and deaths everyone has right away. Flaming your teammates has never been eas

That’s an issue for another day though. Today, I want to focus on the Archives skins, particularly those of our queer characters, Soldier 76 and Tracer. The Archives event is running until April 27, and brings eight new skins to the game, each designed around a given character’s cultural history. Both Soldier 76 and Tracer are included in the event, but it’s extremely telling that neither of their cultural histories includes any reference to queerness. Soldier 76 is becoming Soldier 1776 which, I admit, is a good pun. The American soldier is donning the jacket of the Revolutionaries, these days probably best known from the musical Hamil

The first online-only BlizzCon kicked off today with an announcement-filled opening ceremony. The livestream featured updates, reveals, surprises, and new game announcements, including some that are already available today. Here's a look at everything announced during the BlizzConline 2021 opening cerem

I know, I know, the medal system was flawed. In an effort to curb toxicity, the original Overwatch team opted to forgo a traditional scoreboard and instead use a medal system that would vaguely tell you how well you’re doing. During and after a match you could see how well you did compared to your team based. Across a series of categories from eliminations, to damage dealt, to healing, the top three performers would receive gold, silver, and bronze medals. If you have a particularly good game, you might even receive gold medals in multiple categor

I prefer a scoreboard in general. Transparent information is just more useful and easier to parse, and the medal system never functioned the way it was intended to. However, I do think something valuable was lost in the transition. In Overwatch, every match would end with a score screen that revealed all of your medals. In Overwatch 2, matches just end. On the one hand, getting players back into the queue to play another round as quickly as possible is a good priority to have. On the other, where are my shiny medals god damn

If I see a skin I really love, I can either grind through the battle pass to earn it or buy things outright. Sure, they’re expensive, but it will run me far less than an infinite amount of boxes trying to pull it. However, my past behaviour means that all of my accounts merging into a single entity with the launch of Overwatch 2 means I already have most of the skins I would ever want. Of course there remain a bunch of cosmetics I’d love to earn and will probably end up treating myself to in the coming months, the repertoire of outfits for each character at my disposal is honestly quite overwhelming. I have 80+ unlocks for D.Va, and that includes over twenty unique skins ranging from Black Cat to Cruiser. She was a real sticking point for me, and every new mech was almost taunting me as I tried my best to earn them whenever a seasonal event rolled around. That struggle remains, but now it’s far more manageable.