Blizzard is taking a different approach when it comes to storytelling in the Overwatch universe this year. Today, game director Aaron Keller shared plans for the future of the free-to-play team shooter in a Spotlight video. The roughly half-hour video laid out plans for the game’s narrative, which launches on February 10th. The narrative is unique to Overwatch in that it has a full story arc that takes place over a period of one year (or six seasons), starting with Season 1: Conquest.
Under the title “Reign of Talon“, the story begins with the film revealed at the beginning of the stream today, in which Vendetta attempts to retake Talon. Even as someone who doesn’t play Overwatch, I have to say that the short film is pretty epic. The story will span all six seasons, and a new story will begin with the first season of 2027.
The story is told in various media. Claro, there will be in-game content, including special events. And Blizzard always plays a big role in the trailers. So there will be plenty of that too. Players can also look forward to short stories and comics that complement the rest of the story. The good news is that all of it will be available in the game. So you don’t need to search for it on websites or anywhere else.
Blizzard is also doing everything it can, because this year marks the tenth anniversary of Overwatch. This starts with them increasing the number of hero releases this year to ten. Half of them will arrive with Season 1 – including some that I know I’ve seen players theorize about, like Emre and Anran (Wuyang’s older sister), and some that might be a surprise, like a fat orange cat with hover technology who’s literally called “Jetpack Cat.” (I don’t know if the cat will be a blessing or a curse for Overwatch. We all know orange cats and their common brain cell.)
In Season 1, sub-roles are introduced into the game. DPS will have four sub-roles, while Healer and Tank will have three each. This isn’t about choosing a character and then deciding which sub-role you want to use. Instead, the character you choose determines the sub-role. Therefore, players should think about what they want to do before deciding who they want to play against. Each sub-role and its associated characters are listed in the patch notes on the Overwatch website.
Oh, and there will be an Overwatch x Hello Kitty collaboration at the start of the first season.
The update will also include a major overhaul of the game’s systems to streamline things and address player complaints about things like navigating menus. For example, you create a notification hub and stadium to make it easier to find things. There will also be a competitive reset with Talon-related rewards.
Finally, you’ll notice that I didn’t refer to the game as Overwatch 2. That’s because it was announced during the livestream that Blizzard decided to drop the “2” and just call everything related to the Overwatch universe Overwatch. (I’m pretty sure we all called it that when we didn’t have to officially write about it anyway.)