Overwatch 2 announced, adding a hearty kick of PvE
Overwatch 1 players will PvP alongside sequel folks too
After a run of leaks and rumours, Blizzard today announced Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon. The FPS sequel will feature "a ton" of PvE and story bits, director Jeff Kaplan said in stage at BlizzCon, including "highly replayable" cooperative missions. A new core PvP mode is in too, along with new maps, new characters, and new looks for old characters. It'll feature cross-game multiplayer with the first Overwatch and, my god, cosmetic doodads unlocked and bought in the first will actually carry over into the sequel. Come watch the announcement cinematic and first wee gamevid.
The first Overwatch was somehow a prequel to itself, story-wise, so it seems something might actually happen this time.
So! New characters, though the only one we know is Sojourn and we don't know much about her. New maps, including Toronto, Gothenberg, and Monte Carlo. And a whole load of PvE, including four-player story missions and the 'Hero Missions' mode. Hero Missions will also see characters levelling up, unlocking new perks. PvP-wise, we also know it'll feature a new core mode named Push. You can see a bit of all this in the gamevid:
You can see some of the character makeovers on the Overwatch site. More details on other bits are there too.
While unlocked cosmetics will carry over into the sequel, newness will flow back into the first game too. Players of Overwatch and Overwatch 2 will play on the same PvP servers with the same maps and the same characters. Kaplan said they want to "redefine what a sequel means" and yeah, it does sound quite nice from the little they've said. More details on that to follow this weekend at BlizzCon, I'm sure.
No firm word yet on when Overwatch 2 will launch.
BlizzCon's opening ceremony began with an apology from president J Allen Brack for the lousy mess they made when they banned a pro Hearthstone player who voiced support for Hong Kong after a match. That's nice but insufficient. Blizzard also announced Diablo IV, announced World Of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and announced a new Hearthstone expansion and Auto Chess mode.