The Overwatch 2 team has lifted the veil on the upcoming PvE content in a big way, with a dedicated livestream peering into all the unique, non-competitive gameplay that is slated for release.
Sitting down with Kim Horn, senior game producer and Dion Rogers, the art director for Overwatch 2, the pair divulge a plethora of tasty tidbits about how this PvE experience is built to further the story of the Overwatch world – including showing players the start of relationships between the cast members.
The developers actually showed off footage of the upcoming Story Missions, featuring new enemies, unique maps and cinematic moments. Directly following the events of Winston’s Overwatch Recall, Null Sector has returned and is wreaking havoc on a world with no specialised force to protect them. Members of Overwatch will respond to the call for help, with old faces meeting new recruits and giving us a glimpse at their budding relationships for the first time. With proper cinematics and a ton of new dialogue, the real strength of Overwatch – it’s characters – start to shine.
They also give us a look at the upcoming ‘Hero Mastery’ challenges – unique, hero-based maps that are designed to develop and introduce specific mechanics that will help a player develop their skills. An example of a map design for Mercy was wholly set around using her unique hover mechanic to duck and weave through enemy fire, while healing and dishing out damage. Set to launch during Overwatch 2 Season 6, we can expect to see this specialised training mode roll out for Sojourn, Tracer, Mercy, Reinhardt, and Winston. They must be saving the Solider 76 ‘Jog and Shoot’ experience for a later date.
During the #Overwatch2: Invasion Reveal livestream our team took a deep dive into all the new ways to play✨
Here’s a thread of things you may have missed👇
Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.
In Hero Mastery, hone your skills with different heroes and unique challenges 💥 pic.twitter.com/GBdCPgwBOu
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 21, 2023
Away from the canon Story Missions, there will also be some more loose gameplay experiences in the form of Event Missions. While still PvE, these experiences are designed to have some unique mechanics to keep them fresh and interesting – unconstrained from strict canon. The first map for this is actually an expanded version of King’s Row, called Underworld, and may well reference the Omnic underground that featured prominently in the Overwatch comic books back in the day.
It’s a ton of stuff, considering the sentiment that PvE was being scaled back – but what is on offer does have quite robust legs. Most of this is not rolling out until Overwatch 2’s next season, so keep an eye out for further details as they are shared.
How do you feel about the PvE content on offer? Does it feel worth the price of admission? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
