After almost three years after it was initially announced, Overwatch 2 finally lands across all platforms under a new free-to-play blanket, featuring cross-progression and cross-platform play. Whether you played the first instalment or not, opening the doors to everyone is undoubtedly appealing to new players, the hardcore community of the last game and an attempt at reeling old fans back in. You may wonder how it compares to the six-year-old successful outing of the first game, but I will try and cover everything possible here. The one sure thing is, you can download and play it without any risk but at the time of writing the servers are still a little ropey

Introduction

Overwatch 2 has been in the works for quite some time and potentially would have launched a lot sooner had it not been for the dark problems clouding Activision Blizzard. Brushing those issues aside, the game is now available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 4|5, Windows PC and Nintendo Switch. 

After extensive BETA testing across the platforms, we finally saw a rocky launch. Launching on 4th October 2022 gamers eagerly piled onto the servers only to be faced with a brick wall. Lengthy queue times due to thousands trying to access the game at once. Alongside this it was announced that the servers suffered DDOS attacks plaguing the opening few days even more.

So What Has Actually Changed?

Playing Overwatch 2 for the first few hours I was immediately confused. I was escorting the payload on the maps from the original Overwatch with the same characters I’d used before. I was scratching my head wondering if I was missing something here. The development team has blended everything from the first game into this new free-to-enter package. So, it was really difficult to pluck out anything new here, but I’ll cover what is fresh below. 

New Maps

There are six new maps integrated into Overwatch 2 and it took me several hours to see all of them. Now I’m not knocking them bringing the older maps across, but it would have been nice to maybe see a playlist showcasing the new ones. The new maps available at launch are the following:

-Paraiso

-Colosseo

-New Queen Street

-Midtown

-Esperanca

-Circuit Royale

5v5 Instead Of 6v6

Perhaps the biggest change to the gameplay loop is taking away a player from each side. Whilst I wasn’t a hardcore Overwatch player by any means, it did feel much better and balanced. Games can still be chaotic, but more casual players stand more of a chance against the competitive bunch. A maximum of one tank, two damage and support can be selected.

Three New Heroes

Overwatch 2 introduces three new heroes to the fray. Sadly, if you’re not planning on spending a penny on a game, then you won’t have access to two of them. Sojourn and Junker Queen are two heroes that are locked behind the battle pass. Kiriko will be instantly unlocked for you if you purchased and played Overwatch. You can also unlock her for free at level 55 of the battle pass which is a free tier for players who don’t want to stump up the cash.

Sojourn is a damage hero that has probably the most likeness to my personal favourite Soldier 76. With some mid-range weaponry that packs a punch with projectiles in the back pocket, she is likely to become a popular choice. 

Kiriko is one for the healers out there. With her ninja-style abilities, she is one you’ll want to use to aid teammates quickly in the heat of battle.

Junker Queen makes up the last of the three. She is a badass that is designed to get up close and personal dealing deathly blows with her shotgun, causing opponents to bleed out slowly. 

One New Mode & An Old Mode Removed

If you were expecting a feast of new modes, this time around then you’ll be disappointed. In comes, a new mode named “Push”. The objective here is quite similar to pushing the payload along, but there is a lot more going on which makes things a little more hectic. Two barricades spawn in the centre of the map and players must control the robot and push the barricade towards the enemy base, whoever has pushed the barricade the furthest at the end of time wins the match.

Unfortunately, if you were a fan of the two-point capture mode which was known as assault, this is no more. Whether it will ever make a return is yet to be seen, but it is not currently present in Overwatch 2.

Hero Reworks

A fair amount of heroes have had slight tweaks and some have been completely reworked. If you loved the stationary turret that Bastion used, then this is gone which is a sad shame as it was one of my favourite abilities in the entirety of the first game. I didn’t notice many major changes and honestly, you’re better off having a browse on the internet to dig every little change throughout the roster.

Loot Crates Are No More

The loot box system has totally been abolished and now cosmetics can be ground out through the premium battle pass system which costs 1000 in-game currency which equates to around $10. Sure, there are free tiers throughout, but they only give you a small handful of what is available, those pumping hours into the game will want to perhaps think about just handing over the dollar.

I Played Overwatch 1, Do I Get Anything?

You may be wondering if you get anything for the countless hours of gameplay you pumped in over the past six years. The good news is that players of the original will retain access to all previous statistics, skins, cosmetics and voice clips they unlocked prior to Overwatch 2. They will also unlock new hero Kiriko right off the bat, no waiting until level 55 of the battle pass. Overwatch 1 players will also unlock competitive play instantly if they reached level 25 in the first game, new players will have to grind out 50 games of quick play to unlock this option. Newcomers unfortunately will have to play for around 100 hours to unlock all the original heroes in the catalogue, a big ask if you haven’t played before, but it’s an incentive to keep playing.

Have Your Phone Number Handy!

Playing Overwatch 2 requires you to enter a mobile telephone number to attach to your account. Obviously, this is a system to discourage cheating within the game. But the way Blizzard has handled this has caused nothing but chaos and confusion, especially in America.

Certain players in the US with prepaid phones are currently struggling to even access the game completely. I was left scratching my head as I entered my number to be told it had already been used. It was attached to another account I’d used to play Call Of Duty Warzone and trying to sort this out took me almost two hours of messing around. The process is frustrating and not explained well whatsoever and if you don’t have a phone number, then you’re out of luck.

Graphics & Audio

Overwatch 2 does have some extra gloss in the visuals, and I had no performance issues with the gameplay on Xbox Series X. Menu structure is pretty much identical to the last title. Career history and progression are slowly transitioning for players. This means that all your previous playtime statistics will be displayed proudly on your account. When it comes to the audio everything is the same from the sound effects to the in-game announcer.

In Conclusion

Overwatch 2 is simply a clever nudge into the free-to-play space. Bringing with this some questionable paywalls and the norm of a battle pass system. Those who absolutely adore the Overwatch brand will be instantly at home as change is minimal. Newcomers will now have the opportunity to dive in without opening their wallets if they don’t mind missing out on a couple of the new heroes. Those who want to consume everything on offer will need to invest in the battle pass system. You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned PVE in this review, this is because it isn’t here until 2023.

As someone who played Overwatch for a few hundred hours back in the day. Jumping into this was a little underwhelming, whilst I was anticipating a whole new experience entirely, it is simply a big lick of paint on the original. That said, I understand that they needed to give it a sequel to transition old and new players across. If you’re expecting anything new here, then nothing will jump out and grab you.  It is nothing but a content update rather than a fully loaded sequel, but it is still the Overwatch we all know and love.