A Brief Glance at Overwatch 2

You know what? Overwatch 2 is alright. I actually jumped into a few casual matches the other day with my boyfriend, and it was pretty fun. If a bit laggy. However, it’s definitely not perfect. Mostly just better than I expected.

Starting fresh

Since this was jumping in to Overwatch for the first time in years, I realised that I am starting from scratch. I have a limited pool of heroes, and a free season pass I definitely won’t finish. It kinda reminds me of playing League of Legends a little, especially with the ton of new heroes that have been added over time. I don’t mind a fresh start, but a few more characters would be nice. That being said, I just need to win more games to unlock the missing heroes. Which isn’t too bad at all.

The games we played were pretty normal, although I don’t particularly like the robot-pushing maps. We won a few and lost a few. Throughout these matches though, I was playing support because no one wants to. Even with the new coat of paint, people who like support are few and far between. I didn’t mind though, because I’ve always been a healer.

In particular, I mostly played Lucio. I felt like I was contributing more by getting heals, as well as giving us a great rollout thanks to his speed boost. That being said, every other character feels incredibly slow in comparison. I tried Moira and Mercy too (the initial free healers) but they just didn’y feel right. Moira’s dash thing is ok but Mercy somehow just bores me, despite me being a Medic main in Team Fortress 2. I felt even more helpless playing as her.

On the other hand, I wasn’t troubled by playing Lucio. Being able to boop a threat away from you is very handy, as is being able to speed off. I also managed two pretty cool plays – I booped some character with a big arm off a cliff, and also managed to save myself from a similar attack. Lucio’s wall riding is pretty damn cool.

What’s more amazing though is that I didn’t get a headache. There was an option in settings that does something to the HUD and makes the game far less stressful to my eyes. So I can actually play now. Mostly. The lag spikes are pretty horrible and I seem to sometimes teleport all over the place.

Alongside the new options, the graphics are now very pretty. The characters are all fancy. Maybe they are a little too fancy. Everyone seems to be armoured up to the nines. Well, everyone except Genji, who gets a nice hoodie to wear. I’m not a fan of the new looks, but I can at least switch every character to their Overwatch 1 skins.

Honestly though, Overwatch 2 is basically a new can of paint for Overwatch 1. The gameplay is mostly the same, even with just one less player. Everything is now bright and shiny. I feel like Overwatch 2 was more of an attempt to change how the game makes money, more than anything else. Going free to play means they have access to way, way more potential players, and thus it’s easier to make more money.

I mean, I’m a f2p player, but my cheapness means I won’t be buying the season pass.

However, that being said, I probably won’t play Overwatch 2 that much anyway. I gave OW2 a go mostly because I don’t like playing on my own and because my boyfriend plays it. Playing solo in pvp games just isn’t enjoyable for me any more. But for a bit of casual play with friends, it’s a bit of fun.