I was an enormous Overwatch junkie. Before dropping the sport as a result of it merely acquired irritating to play aggressive matches, I used to be hooked on it. I beloved enjoying with my buddies, maintaining with the sport’s always-evolving meta, and successful matches because of excellent teamwork. So far, the Overwatch 2 multiplayer beta is reinforcing all of these positives, whereas conserving negatives principally out of sight.

If you’ve seen folks speak concerning the Overwatch 2 beta on Twitter (or have been watching streamers grind away at it for hours), the concept that it doesn’t really feel like a correct sequel most likely isn’t new to you. For what it’s value, that’s a part of my takeaway as effectively. Instead, Overwatch 2 appears like the sport Overwatch was all the time meant to be. This is its most definitive replace, although that’s all it’s: An replace.
Back to fundamentals
The very first thing I did as soon as I used to be capable of get into the Overwatch 2 beta was verify on all of my outdated mains. Pharah is basically the identical (although her voice feels prefer it’s an octave increased, which sounds completely out of character), and so is Soldier 76, save for his gun now having recoil.
The largest modifications to the sport’s characters throughout the board are to its tanks, who I used to play as on a regular basis. Reinhardt, for example, can now retailer as much as two makes use of of fireside strike and might transfer back and forth way more whereas he expenses. These small device modifications felt nice to me, somebody who used to play him as my primary character. Instead of being restricted to up-close encounters, one of many recreation’s most iconic characters can really deal injury from afar now.
Doomfist is a dive tank as an alternative of a dive DPS in Overwatch 2.
Arguably although, the 2 characters which were modified probably the most are Orisa and Doomfist. The former has had her complete package revamped, ditching her defend for a spear that may be twirled to delete projectiles or thrown to stun and injury enemies. Doomfist has as an alternative made the full-on bounce from DPS to tank, getting an enormous bump in well being and shedding his uppercut in favor of a block utilizing his huge, effectively, doom fist.
These modifications, together with the changes made to a few of the recreation’s different characters, don’t really feel jarring in any respect to me. That may simply be a aspect impact from not enjoying the sport very a lot lately, however every nonetheless fulfills the identical function. Orisa continues to be a damage-soaking tank and Doomfist may be very a lot made for diving in and breaking apart a staff’s entrance line. Despite any modifications made, every character’s id may be very a lot the identical because it was in Overwatch.
For me, a returning participant, it meant that hopping again into the saddle as Pharah or Reinhardt was so simple as enjoying a few video games. I used to be rusty, however finally, my outdated senses got here again to me. I may hear my buddies yelling, “Otto don’t charge, I swear to God,” at me each time I thought of it whereas I used to be enjoying Reinhardt. By the time I had my performed fifth or sixth match, I acquired my first play of the sport with Reinhardt; it was like I by no means dropped the collection.
That’s one of many primary issues that the Overwatch 2 beta has proven me: It nonetheless has the identical stable bones as common outdated Overwatch. The recreation itself has all the time been an important shooter. It’s all the time felt good to play as one in every of its various characters and grasp their kits, and it feels even higher to excel with them in a recreation in opposition to different gamers.
Changing composition
One factor I all the time acquired bored with once I did play a number of Overwatch was staff composition. Players had been all the time yelling at one another to modify from the character they had been enjoying to a tank or a healer. That’s a factor of the previous because of function queue, however issues had been by no means actually balanced out. The final time I performed Overwatch, its meta was dominated by shield-deploying tanks that made each match really feel like a slog.
Overwatch 2‘s largest change solves that. Changing matches from a 6v6 format to 5v5 with one tank, two DPS, and two support characters feels perfect. Every character has its role and each class naturally gravitates to where they should be. Tanks can deal sizable amounts of damage, so they lead the charge. DPS characters are quick, nimble, and can sneak behind frontl ines to take out healers. That’s how I spent loads of video games as Pharah, resulting in an excellent variety of upset Zenyatta and Ana gamers, who had been staying within the backlines nearly as good assist characters ought to.
The new 5v5 format of matches makes a typical recreation really feel extra streamlined. There’s no contending in opposition to a unending defend wall, simply two groups that need to really feel one another out, poking and prodding at one another’s defenses, ready for an in.

Push, the brand new recreation mode coming in Overwatch 2, demonstrates the strengths of that the very best. It duties gamers with escorting a big robotic because it pushes a barricade throughout the map, with every staff preventing for management of the bot. Both groups play offense and protection on this recreation mode, giving gamers an opportunity to get a really feel for each. When there’s a break in a single staff’s protection, the offense swarms, turning a contested little bit of the map into an all-out battle zone. It all occurs a lot sooner than it used to, emphasizing sensible, team-oriented play.
While it appears like some characters have been reworked for one-on-one fights, that simply feeds additional into the sport’s general team-based method. Sure, Sombra’s package has been tweaked to strengthen her in fights in opposition to lone enemies, however as soon as she will get that choose, the remainder of the staff can dive in. It’s the function of DPS characters now; they’re duelists, and as soon as they take out the one straggling member of the enemy staff, they open up a window of alternative.
The new class
If you’re questioning why I haven’t talked about a lot of the brand-new content material proven off in Overwatch 2‘s beta — namely the new DPS character Sojourn and the game’s 4 new maps — it’s as a result of all of them meet the identical par of high quality that Overwatch initially set. Sojourn is a superb new DPS, like Soldier 76 with extra motion choices because of her slide. Circut Royal, Midtown, New Queen Street, and Colosseo are all improbable additions to the sport’s map rotation, providing distinctive traits that take just a few full matches to be taught. None of those radically stand out, however that’s an excellent factor. If any map or character did stand out, it might be as a result of they had been disappointing in a roundabout way.
Action is fast, and you may really feel the ebb and stream of any given struggle.

After writing that final paragraph, I finished to play yet one more spherical of Overwatch 2. I performed Reinhardt, our staff received, and I ended up getting play of the sport once more. It was a troublesome match, particularly as a result of somebody on the opposite staff converted to Mei, who can simply block off an advancing tank from the remainder of their staff with an ice wall. But we tailored, and with some clear communication, thanks partly to the sport’s new ping system, we received.
Anecdotes like this aren’t something new — they’re the important thing to what makes Overwatch such a enjoyable recreation to play. It’s not concerning the issues single gamers can accomplish, however what they’ll do to profit their staff. Sure, my play of the sport was me getting just a few kills following an final, however what that did greater than something was give my staff a gap to push onto the purpose.
Overwatch 2 is identical recreation as what people are enjoying now. But it has some substantial modifications, all of which take its core gameplay and refine the very best elements. Action is fast, and you may really feel the ebb and stream of any given struggle. Teamwork is emphasised much more now that there’s just one tank offering a staff with its spine. We don’t know when Overwatch 2 will launch, however I can already see myself falling again into it like I did with Overwatch years in the past.

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