Overwatch 2’s newest occasion, Starwatch, would possibly as nicely be a licensed Star Wars tribute. Whereas it might have missed Could the 4th, the brand new PvP(vE) occasion is filled with legally distinct tributes to the franchise, from an homage to the enduring textual content crawl within the accompanying comedian to characters like Baptiste donning a bounty hunter pores and skin akin to the Mandalorian’s getup. Having performed a handful of rounds within the new mode, I assumed it was superb. I respect that the staff at Blizzard most likely had a number of enjoyable remixing its characters, world, and Horizon Lunar Colony map as a tribute to Lucasfilm’s money-making machine. However actually? I’m left feeling hole as a result of these little distractions simply aren’t what I signed up for when Overwatch 2 was introduced. I’m not likely all in favour of these spin-off occasions anymore. I need an Overwatch story.
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Starwatch, together with occasions like Junkenstein’s Revenge and Yeti Hunter, is extra of a retooling of Overwatch 2’s techniques for a little bit of non-canonical levity. This time it’s a Star Wars tribute, whereas earlier occasions have included a Halloween horde mode with Reinhardt narrating the entire thing like a spooky ghost story for the off-duty brokers. It’s all actually cute, and had we not gone seven years with out significant in-game story growth, they’d be actually enjoyable detours on the best way to seeing Overwatch and Talon come to blows. However in any case this time? It simply doesn’t hit for me. I wish to get enthusiastic about Overwatch 2’s occasions, however regardless of the sequel primarily appearing as a relaunch, it nonetheless looks like we’re in the identical content material drought the unique recreation was in earlier than it went free-to-play and slapped a 2 on the identify.
I’d really feel higher in regards to the state of issues if Starwatch didn’t really feel like such a meager remix of established mechanics and techniques. The occasion solely has one mode, which brings again the long-dormant Horizon Lunar Colony map after Overwatch 2 eliminated Assault maps from fast play and aggressive rotation. Two groups (one in every of which requires an AI-controlled Doomfist that likes to cost into the enemy backline and feed their final cost) face off and seize 4 factors on the map, all below the guise of feeding into the brand new fiction Blizzard wrote for the mode. Doomfist leads a bunch of rebels infiltrating Emperor Sigma’s base to rescue their pal and mech 3CH-0 (it’s Echo. Get it?) from his clutches and reside to combat for galactic freedom one other day.
It’s fairly mild when it comes to lore and even the comedian Blizzard launched alongside the mode doesn’t add a lot, however the Star Wars parallels are fairly apparent. Doomfist’s group is a bunch of scrappy roguish sorts who imagine in combating for the higher good, whereas Sigma’s is chilly and prepared to do something to keep up his reign over the galaxy. The attention-grabbing factor is the way it remixes a number of of those characters, permitting every character to primarily cosplay in a task they wouldn’t essentially slot into in the actual Overwatch world. Brigitte, one of many kindest members of the forged, is forged as a loyal proper hand to Emperor Sigma, the place Doomfist, a central villain in Overwatch lore, is main the insurrection in Starwatch. It lets the voice actors flex slightly bit and is attention-grabbing to observe play out as a thought experiment.
Past that, Starwatch is a number of what we’ve achieved for hundreds of hours earlier than. It modifications up the factors the staff has to seize from the unique map, and has turrets stationed across the discipline that operate like Torbjörn’s, homing in on opposing gamers as they stroll by. There’s additionally gravity wells that, when destroyed, proc a Graviton Surge impact that teams gamers collectively like Zarya’s final potential. However actually, the issues that make Starwatch distinctive are issues we’ve already had in Overwatch earlier than, which is why it doesn’t really feel like the massive leap in seasonal content material Overwatch 2 wants.
In equity to everybody concerned, Overwatch 2’s PvE story missions are coming, although Blizzard has been cagey on the way it will combine the story into the sport’s seasonal mannequin. However given Overwatch’s laborious pivot into periodic, service-game-style rollouts, I count on it will likely be applied in components, fairly than as a single marketing campaign. It is smart. Service video games reside or die by whether or not or not they’re giving individuals a cause to go browsing now and again, and placing an eight-to-twelve-hour marketing campaign out unexpectedly just isn’t the way you prolong your recreation’s shelf life. However when Overwatch 2 launched, it was meant to be a shot within the arm for the sport. As an alternative, occasions like make it really feel prefer it’s simply treading water.
I hope that at any time when Blizzard does begin releasing story content material, occasions like Starwatch can really feel like what they most likely really feel wish to the event staff: enjoyable remixes of previous concepts that pay tribute to issues they like. However proper now, I hold watching these retooled modes roll out each season, positioned as new methods of understanding the characters and world of Overwatch, and I understand that I nonetheless don’t actually know them very nicely in any respect. I’ve concepts of who Soldier: 76 is once I play him, and I dream of what Sombra would possibly discover for herself as she hacks by Talon’s database. Hell, I may write you a whole novel on how I feel the date Lifeweaver and Baptiste speak about in pre-match dialogue went. However a number of that’s simply issues I’ve imagined between the traces of dialogue characters say earlier than they begin pushing payloads. It’s been nearly 10 years since Blizzard first unveiled Overwatch at Blizzcon 2014, and I’m bored of feeling like these heroes are simply toys that I slap in opposition to one another with nothing however totally different costumes and non-canonical tales to go together with it.