Season 2 of the new-look Overwatch (formerly Overwatch 2) launches today, bringing a new hero, a new event, a reworked map and some hero changes. But most notably it signals the launch of a proper Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game. This boasts improved visuals and sound quality and – apparently – up to 60 FPS performance both docked and handheld. Finally.
Sierra is the new hero being introduced to Overwatch
Sierra has a fancy rifle which shoots in a spiral pattern and gets more accurate the longer you fire, and can mark enemies with a homing beacon to attract her rifle shots. On her arm is a drone she can launch to use like a mobile grappling point, and she’s got a small bomb she can throw to create a shockwave on impact. Her ultimate deploys a low-flying, carpet-bombing drone attack.
Linked to Sierra is the new Grand Mesa event, which offers various challenges that will unlock lore about her – and other more cosmetic rewards – as you progress.
Elsewhere, the Antarctic Peninsula map has been reworked to “create cleaner engagements, smooth out team pushes, and make meaningful flank routes”, according to the Overwatch website, and post-match accolades return. These spotlight various players after a match’s end, for varying reasons, and allow players to vote on their contribution. But this time, 3D rendered characters replace cards.
In the slightly separate Stadium mode, where you progress through a kind of skill tree as you play, we’re getting two new heroes: the tank Ramattra immediately, and then the new utility character Jetpack Cat mid-season. Bertie’s favourite character Juno, meanwhile, is being reworked in Stadium “for better balance and reliability”. Bertie wishes someone would rework his balance and reliability. Finally, there’s a new Stadium map: Control map Lijiang Night Market.
There are perk reworks for some characters – Mercy, Soldier 76, Reaper, Pharah and Ramattra – and the recipients of the fancy-pants mythic skins this season are Soldier 76, for an armour skin, and Genji for a weapon skin. Both gain new properties as they level up; Genji’s blade flaming black and red sword is especially cool.
Also in cosmetics: a limited edition cherry blossom Sakura skin collection for a handful of characters (“skin collection” is a strange phrase to write) and a collab with Korean girl group Le Sserafim, if you know who they are.
Overwatch effectively relaunched at the beginning of the year as Blizzard ditched the game’s “2” and launched an expansion-like update that heralds the arrival of yearly expansion-like updates for the game, and pushes lore to the forefront of the game, and gathers people around seasonal events such as this one. It also introduced five new heroes to the game. And as a result, Overwatch (2) hasn’t been as popular since it launched.