An aimless-feeling revamp of 2016's best multiplayer game, slightly coarsened by free-to-play grinding, Overwatch 2 is a brilliant teamplay experience in the grip of an existential crisis. Our review:
Heading the group is Sojourn, one of Overwatch 2's three new faces at launch, a nimble Damage hero who is all about chaining things together - knee-slides into high jumps, rifle shots into energy for her auxiliary railgun. The only hero class missing from the picture is the Tank.
Its overwriting of Overwatch 1 aside, Overwatch 2's most controversial element is the new Battle Pass monetisation system, whereby players either pay real money to unlock each nine-week season's spread of cosmetics and new features, or crank out match XP to acquire them one by one, completing time-limited challenges to accelerate the process.
The new heroes are, so far, not really worth either paying or grinding for, though they're clever creations in themselves. The problem is that they're designed to fill gaps in the existing repertoire, rather than to add new styles, often stealing their best tricks from old characters. If you're a seasoned veteran, you'll probably be underwhelmed.
New players may also struggle with Kiriko, a combat medic with powerful throwing kunai in one hand and a bunch of homing health talismans in the other. Her movement abilities blend Genji with Mercy - she can scuttle up walls and teleport to allies through surfaces, allowing her to shadow a faster Damage hero while another healer supports your tank. But it takes nerves of steel to play her aggressively.
Going by its launch showing, I suspect Overwatch 2 will continue to stumble occasionally with its representational politics. The wider question is, where is it stumbling to?
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