Overwatch 2 stumbles into a unique conundrum though, because its cosmetic economy is built on a system so different to what we have now. Skins used to be earned randomly, with each loot box offering a small chance of us rolling a rare or legendary item that would absolutely make our day. It was certainly unhealthy and downright exploitative in how it preyed on vulnerable people like me with no concept of how much money or time they were wasting on such pursuits, but now things are so much more definitive.

Another controversial one? I don’t really know enough about Kiriko yet, but I don’t get friendly vibes from her. She seems a little too contrived - I know all Overwatch characters are created by a team of designers and developers who go through reams of concept art and try to hit the right demographic markets, but with Kiriko that feels especially blatant. She doesn’t strike me as having much of a persona at all, so middle of the list she g

While the main tank functions in this way, the off-tank is doing every tanky job the main tank doesn’t have time for - protecting support heroes, supplementing damage heroes, and tending to any objective that requires a big, chunky health bar. From Roadhog’s hook to Zarya’s bubbles, each off-tank has some degree of authority over space manipulation, too, which allows them to use the main tank’s anchorage to support more active area control. They’re an essential part of fluid, facile, and fantastic Overwatch - and guess what? They’ll be the first on the chopping block when it moves to

Paladins, a free-to-play shooter which took a _ lot _ of inspiration from Overwatch, has a battle pass, and love it functions brilliantly. Now imagine this with Blizzard’s budget. I used to be filled with excitement when Overwatch introduced new seasonal events, hoping that my favourite trio of heroes would receive skins I could flaunt on the battlefield. Now, I’m just indifferent, rolling my eyes as the same optional modes, the same skins, and the same aesthetic are rolled out again and again to keep us ha

Overwatch 2 is a weird sequel. It’s more of a live-service update with fancier menus and quality of life improvements instead of a fundamental evolution of what came before, except it’s a whole new game - although it’s free and your progress carries over, so it’s not really that much of anything.

Let’s put our thinking caps on here - we’re not getting Overwatch Ground War, meaning that we were never going to see some kind of enormous, mayhem-filled match type. Although I’d like a battle royale mode for Overwatch, that’s not looking particularly likely either. I’d assume the maximum number of players you could ever reasonably expect would be nine, increasing the standard 2-2-2 formation to a beefier 3-3-3, or any other strategic permutation amounting to the same sum of overall heroes. So now we’ve got a possibility window spanning one to n

I can buy skins outright, but they used to be earned through chance, so the value of each skin is twisted in a way that the community is going to take a long time to reconcile. In reality is it no different to how things are done in games like Apex Legends or Fortnite , with the very best skins costing around $15-$20, but we were used to earning them in a much easier way, and thus it feels unfair. For someone like me with more skins than sense, I feel like a dragon sitting atop a mountain of gold unaware of how they stumbled across such riches. I’m serious, using the new values assigned to skins I think my account is worth thousands. Yet it’s also worthless.

Overwatch 2 will be out in the wild soon, and the internet won’t be short of opinions on it. I don’t know if it can ever be as good as the original was, but locking new players out of using its most popular and iconic heroes doesn’t seem like a winning strat

Overwatch 2 is right around the corner, and even though it shouldn’t really exist , there’s an air of excitement around its launch. The first Overwatch completely reinvented the online shooter space when it launched in 2016, and deserves to be spoken about in the same breath as gaming’s all time greats. It was fresh, fast, and fiendishly compelling, but the very fact a sequel exists highlights how much Overwatch has fallen off the pace. The latest revelation about the hero roster only underscores this furt

All the while, Twitch streamers are taking a stance against gambling, while Xbox brings HowLongToBeat support into its library to let you know what time investment you’re making before you dive in. Speaking of diving i

Overwatch led the way for the likes of Fortnite , Apex Legends , Paladins, Bleeding Edge, and Valorant . Even Destiny 2 seems to have taken as much from Overwatch as it has the original Destiny. But what those games have in common is the exact thing that stands Overwatch 2 apart for the wrong reasons. Sequels to Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Valorant will never arrive - instead the games continue to evolve with constant updates, new battle passes, and frequent seasonal events pulling you back in. Even Destiny 2, though a sequel itself, is abandoning that model in order to keep building and evolving as it