Overwatch 2 must be studied in a lab. Or, hell, possibly I should be studied in a lab for a way a lot I nonetheless love Blizzard’s hero shooter regardless of the corporate persevering with to fumble the bag. The sequel’s first Anniversary occasion, which is operating from now till October 9, is the newest instance of Blizzard messing with a very good factor, seemingly all in service of funneling money into its in-game store. But it surely additionally tweaks the annual occasion in ways in which baffle from a enterprise standpoint, because it provides gamers even much less incentive to dump money into the sport than in earlier anniversary occasions.
For the infant Overwatch followers within the room, the Anniversary occasion in Overwatch 1 was one thing to stay up for. On high of latest skins, dance emotes for heroes, and a restricted run of earlier seasonal occasion modes, the occasion let gamers unlock cosmetics that had been sometimes tied to sure occasions of the yr. It gave gamers an opportunity to finish collections by getting skins you may need missed out on in earlier, themed occasions—and it didn’t matter how previous or obscure they had been, they’d be obtainable. Did you miss that sick Tropical Baptiste pores and skin from the Summer time Video games occasion a number of years again? It might be purchasable within the Hero Gallery, or you may unlock it in a lootbox. Was there an emote you all the time wished to whip out after pulling off a Play of the Sport-worthy staff kill however you didn’t play Overwatch through the occasion it debuted in? The Anniversary occasion was there that can assist you fill out your assortment.
Overwatch 2 anniversary occasion spotlight’s the sequel’s issues
Now? The Overwatch 2 Anniversary occasion has parts of the unique sport’s, however is so restricted it feels antithetical to what made it thrilling within the first place. Overwatch 2 is celebrating its first yr with a few of what you’d count on, such because the return of seasonal modes like Battle For Olympus and Catch-A-Mari, and providing some previously-cycled skins by means of a brand new tab on the Store menu. However there’s a definite lack of latest cosmetics and incentives, and the choices to get previous stuff that debuted in Overwatch 2 that you just missed are way more restricted.
When Overwatch 2’s free-to-play mannequin and its subsequent microtransactions had been revealed, I advised myself that I’d solely spend my cash on Soldier’s cosmetics, as he’s been my predominant since I began enjoying the unique sport. There’s a Soldier: 76 emote known as Drill from Overwatch 2’s fourth season the place the grumpy, homosexual grandpa performs a army drill together with his rifle. This emote is among the few Soldier unlocks I by no means acquired as a result of I by no means noticed it obtainable for buy on the Store throughout Season 4. My assumption was that Overwatch 2 would comply with its predecessor and make it in the stores with credit through the Anniversary occasion, however that’s not the case. The one previous cosmetics Overwatch 2 has introduced again is the curated listing of skins within the Anniversary tab, however much more cosmetics have been on supply at sure factors all through the sport’s first yr which are value making obtainable once more.
The Anniversary occasion has lengthy been a tribute to the previous, however it additionally had its personal new skins and cosmetics to stay up for. New, $20 skins just like the Flower Child Mei skin are biking by means of the store on a regular basis, however they’re not explicitly tied to the Anniversary occasion, and even when they had been, they haven’t been given the identical fanfare this time round. However that’s probably not a brand new drawback. Most Overwatch 2 occasions haven’t had the instant impression of the unique sport’s occasions as a result of, as the sport’s beauty rollout is setup proper now, you get an abundance of themed skins by means of the Battle Move, whereas occasions have sometimes been relegated to solely a small handful of latest lewks in your favourite heroes. There additionally aren’t any dance emotes for the brand new heroes which have debuted because the sequel launched (like Lifeweaver, Illari, or Ramattra), which was traditionally a staple of the Anniversary occasion. Lifeweaver might be a dancing queen when he’s not pushing the payload, however Blizzard refuses to indicate us.
Kotaku reached out to Blizzard for remark and clarification on this story and didn’t hear again in time for publication.
The Anniversary occasion isn’t disappointing in a means that’s new for Overwatch 2. It’s a letdown in the identical methods swaths of the sport’s seasonal occasions have been, and in the best way the price of cosmetics have felt astronomical. However due to what the Anniversary occasion used to signify, it’s particularly tragic to see this half-hearted model of what was once Overwatch’s largest occasion of the yr.
I’ll give the Overwatch 2 Anniversary credit score for spotlighting the much-maligned (unfairly, in my view) Assault mode from the unique sport and placing it in Arcade as an alternative of simply customized matches. However past that, there’s little that displays the whole lot that occurred earlier than October 4, 2022, as an alternative it appears like this occasion solely highlights the sequel’s extremely uneven previous yr as an alternative of the sequence’ seven-year historical past, which is regarding. It underscores that, regardless of the preliminary pitch of Overwatch 2 as a sport that exists in tandem with Overwatch 1, the sequel has fully devoured the unique sport—and all its historical past together with it.
The Anniversary occasion feeling much less like a celebration and extra like a possibility to re-sell just a few uncommon skins isn’t fairly as earth-shattering as Blizzard gutting PvE, sunsetting Overwatch 1, and eradicating one tank from staff compositions, it’s simply one other reminder that Overwatch 2 can’t get its shit collectively. The unique Overwatch had its points, a number of of which had been solely made worse by the content material drought as Blizzard labored on Overwatch 2, however this Anniversary occasion wipes away years of historical past as a result of Blizzard determined to slap a 2 on the title a yr in the past. The Anniversary occasion we obtained in Overwatch 1 is gone, and as a substitute is an unrecognizable non-event that feels much less like a tribute to Overwatch’s historical past, and extra like a confused try at mapping it onto a limited-time, ludicrously costly storefront.