A heartfelt trailer set the scene for Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 announcement at BlizzCon earlier today.
The cinematic, called “Zero Hour,” opens up with Winston and Mei sitting alone in what used to be a room used by the members of Overwatch. Old photos decorate the walls. Tracer, the apparent pilot of the ship, tells Mei and Winston that they wil be landing in Paris, where there’s a Null Sector invasion.
“Everything will be okay if we stick together,” Winston said as they headed towards the city.
After an intense battle, Winston faces a giant robot alone. Mei seems to think he won’t return, and she and Tracer both urge him to come with them instead.
Then, just as things are looking grim, Genji, Mercy, and Echo show up, and the Overwatch crew ultimately defeats the bad guys that took over Paris. Echo has been hinted as the
next hero
for the past few weeks leading up to BlizzCon, much to fans’ excitement.
What will be in Overwatch 2
After the trailer, fans were gifted with some gameplay from the upcoming Overwatch installment. This included co-op PvE missions along with a new PvP mode called “Push.” The gameplay trailer began with the heroes realizing that the invasion wasn’t just in Paris, but all over the world. This includes all the maps plaeyrs have already come to love from Overwatch, along with a new map, Toronto.
“Overwatch 2 will feature a ton of PvE content. We will have a complete story experience, featuring story missions,” game director Jeff Kaplan said at BlizzCon.
This includes progression-based hero missions, which Kaplan compared to Diablo’s adventure mode.
Who will be in Overwatch 2?
All 32 heroes will also be in Overwatch 2, as well as some new heroes. These heroes include Sojourn, the first black female character to become playable in the series, and Echo. Not much is known about Sojourn, but past hints throughout Overwatch indicate she is a high-level Overwatch operative with a lot of combat and tactical experience.
All of the heroes will also get brand new skins, but the biggest update to the heroes is the ability to level them up. Players can customize the hero’s abilities in Overwatch 2, choosing unique abilities for them to learn and level up.
The trailer shows Tracer unlocking new abilities as she’s leveled up to Level 40. It also shows some customized abilities for Tracer, Mei, Reinhardt, and Genji that look like OP variations on their previous abilities and ultimates, like Genji’s blade cutting through multiple enemies at once, or Mei freezing those around her if they come too close to her when she’s healing herself.
Kaplan described Overwatch 2 as a “shared multiplayer environment where nobody gets left behind,” noting that all cosmetics will come available with each hero.
Olivia Richman
About Olivia Richman
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
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