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Overwatch 2 was announced during BlizzCon 2019’s opening ceremony. It’s a sequel to Blizzard’s popular team-based first-person hero shooter from 2016, but as evidenced by its announcement cinematic and gameplay reveal trailer, the upcoming Overwatch 2 will have fresh things to offer players old and new.

After its official reveal and presentation, game director Jeff Kaplan and assistant game director Aaron Keller took the Mythic Stage at BlizzCon 2019 during the future of Overwatch panel to talk Overwatch 2 game modes, maps, and heroes.

For a specific topic, use the table of contents above, otherwise just scroll through for all the info, rumors, and other details we know about Overwatch 2 so far.

Overwatch 2 Specs

Overwatch 2 is still actively in development, so the team doesn’t have a release date or even release window in mind, but it was confirmed at BlizzCon 2019 that it will come to all platforms that currently support the first Overwatch, including the Nintendo Switch.

• Release date: N/A
• Platforms: PC (Battle.net), Switch, PS4, Xbox One
• Genre: First-person shooter

Game Modes

At BlizzCon 2019, Kaplan showed off a brand-new game mode called Push, described as a “core game mode” playable in both quick and competitive play, and which will also be featured in the Overwatch League. Early gameplay footage of Push mode on the new Toronto, Canada map showed two teams fighting to escort a robot into enemy territory. The team that pushes the robot furthest into the other team’s territory before time is up will win the match. As the robot moves down the linear path towards enemy lines, it’ll occasionally come up against barriers that must be pushed to unlock checkpoints. This momentarily slows the robot down, but the checkpoints they unlock also unlock new spawn points.

Currently confirmed game modes new to Overwatch 2 include:

New Maps

Overwatch 2 will have all-new PvP maps for Push mode, but also for every current “core” game mode. The team wants to ensure players have a “totally new experience” thanks to the new maps, which are also coming to the original Overwatch as well.

Currently confirmed maps new to Overwatch 2 include:

• Gothenburg
• Toronto
• Monte Carlo
• Rio de Janeiro

Story Missions

Story Missions are a new feature in Overwatch 2. They will be heavily curated PvE missions where players will only be able to select from a limited, contextually-relevant roster of characters. Every single story mission will have its own cinematic intro and outro video.

Hero Missions

Hero Missions are another new PvE feature, designed to be “deeply replayable” thanks to three factors outlined by Overwatch 2’s directors: varied locations, which will take players across new maps and old; constantly changing objectives, which will keep the gameplay fresh and varied; and different enemy groups, such as Null Sector, Talon, and “other threats.” Certain objectives or enemy types may demand certain types of heroes to counter, allowing more hands-on time for players stuck playing their main in PVP, Kaplan explained at BlizzCon 2019.

Item System

The newly-introduced item system is exclusive to Story Missions. Rather than a loot system like Diablo, Overwatch 2’s item system will supposedly work in much the same way items do in games like Apex Legends and PUBG, according to Kaplan: temporary item pickups that you can use for the duration of the mission. These include things like a corrosive grenade, a healing station, or a barrier fence. Items also come in tiers, like Legendary.

Talent System

Overwatch 2 will introduce a new progression system designed exclusively for Hero Missions. It will allow heroes to level up and unlock Talents that give them additional perks in combat and is meant as a strictly PvE, non-competitive mode feature. A series of Talents for Tracer were shown off at BlizzCon 2019, but Kaplan warned that the progression system is still very early in development and could change a lot.

Unlockable Talents for Tracer, part of Overwatch 2’s new PvE-exclusive progression system.

The example abilities shown off for Tracer include:

• Level 1:

• Level 10

• Level 20

New Heroes

Sojourn, Overwatch’s first Canadian hero.

Overwatch 2 will introduce new playable heroes, including both characters that are brand new and “characters you’ve been waiting for.” It will also carry over every hero from the first Overwatch.

Currently confirmed heroes new to Overwatch 2 include:

So far, Sojourn is the only new character announced for Overwatch 2. She is the first Canadian hero and has a role “right at the center of the story of Overwatch 2,” according to Kaplan. According to the BlizzCon 2019 panel, some heroes will even be introduced all at once, similar to how Mei, D.Va, and Genji all rolled out at the same time during the Overwatch beta.

Echo was also shown in the Overwatch 2 cinematic and gameplay trailers, but Kaplan did not confirm if she would be playable.

Skins And Progress

Kaplan confirmed that all progress and cosmetics earned in the first Overwatch will carry over to Overwatch 2. According to Kaplan, “We want to make sure that all Overwatch cosmetics come forward with you into Overwatch 2. So all of your progress matters. Nothing is getting left behind, no one is getting left behind.”

What Overwatch 2 Means For Current Players

In an effort to keep the Overwatch community united, Overwatch and Overwatch 2 players will be able to play the traditional PvP mode together. The original Overwatch will also receive new maps, new heroes, and the new competitive mode, Push.

Hero Visuals

Overwatch 2 is not being designed in a new engine, but it is a “greatly updated” version of the Overwatch engine. Overwatch 2 will have new HUDs for all heroes, and perhaps most importantly, brand-new looks for all existing heroes. The team wants Overwatch 2 to “have a new look and feel fresh and awesome,” according to its BlizzCon 2019 panel.

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Blizzard began its opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2019 with an additional statement in regards to the recent controversy the studio has been a part of since it banned professional Hearthstone player Blitzchung for expressing support for the Hong Kong protests. Afterward, GameSpot caught up with Blizzard president J. Allen Brack to talk about the opening speech.

“It’s probably not a secret that it’s been a hard month for Blizzard,” Brack said. “It’s been hard for the community. It’s been a hard month for the employees. And I think there’s just been a lot of confusion and a lot of misinformation and a lot of challenges that everyone has had as a result. Frankly, there was never really a conversation where we weren’t going to do that because to not at least have a really straightforward conversation with our community about that would have appeared extremely tone-deaf in my mind. So it’s the right thing to do. We felt very strongly that we had to do it, otherwise it just would be looming, kind of hanging over us for the rest of the show.”

He continued, “I haven’t actually read any of the feedback of what was said this morning yet. Very early on–one of the very first conversations when we made our statement and walked back the penalty and restored [Blitzchung] winnings–we actually had a personal conversation with Blitzchung and we apologized to him for how the situation had gone and … [how] no one was happy with how we ended up here. And so [today’s statement] was less [about] that specific [incident] and more about the overall of what everyone [has thought] and what everyone has read and what everyone has heard and sort of have a reset–like what are the values that we have that somehow have been lost; that narrative [has] been lost in the last month.”

Brack made no mention of the specifics surrounding the controversy and also didn’t follow-up with any announcements of how Blizzard plans on changing its position or amending its actions. However, Brack said that the company has a history of learning from its mistakes and will continue to do so going forward.

“We have a culture of learning. We have a culture of improving. We have a culture of iteration. This has exposed to a whole bunch of things that need to go differently next time. I said this morning, I said we acted too quickly. Absolutely. Did we have the right constituents in the room to make the decision and to have the right time in order to kind of be successful? Clearly that’s something that we need to do differently going forward.

“Are the rules clear to everyone? Does everyone understand kind of what the expectations are and what the penalties are going to be going forward? Clearly there was some kind of work to do for that going forward. I don’t think anyone is excited about this last month from that perspective. Things could be done differently.”

Blizzard followed Brack’s opening speech with several announcements. The most significant of which were the reveal of Diablo IV, Overwatch 2, and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. Our coverage of the event is in the pinbox below.