After last week’s Overwatch 2 developer livestream, one fan created some of the changes coming in the new game in Overwatch’s workshop mode.
In workshop mode, players can create custom games that allow them to do anything from train their aiming skills to play an Overwatch-ified version of Flappy Bird or Bejeweled. Reddit user Ajfis3, who is no stranger to making cool shit in Overwatch, used the workshop to give players a chance to experience what Overwatch 2 might feel like ahead of whenever the game’s actually released. The game mode recreates the changes announced during Thursday’s Overwatch 2 livestream, including reducing the number of players on each team from six to five, adding hero-specific changes like giving Zarya a second charge on her bubble shield, and implementing role passive abilities like reduced tank knockback and support passive healing.
The game mode also disables a number of heroes that were not shown during the livestream, such as Sigma and Orisa, out of speculation that Blizzard is reworking those heroes to perform differently in Overwatch 2.
Reactions to the mode on Reddit have been positive, with players saying the reduction from six players to five made the game feel less crowded and its combat feel scrappier. In tinkering with the mode myself, the reduction in the number of tanks does indeed make games feel emptier. As a healer, I felt more exposed without that second beefy body to protect me, such that I had to step up my offensive capabilities to defend myself. I also loved Winston’s new secondary fire ability that makes his Tesla cannon shoot a bolt of electricity to hit enemies at range.
Overwatch 2 is still somewhere on the horizon, but I hope we see more recreations like this as more details about the game are released.