Overwatch’s New Season 1 Is What the Sport Was All the time Meant to Be

In late January, I used to be amongst a bunch of journalists from all around the globe packed into the Blizzard Theater in Irvine, California, to look at the 40-minute Overwatch highlight and listen to from Blizzard execs about the place the sport was going subsequent. I used to be not ready for what we noticed. Nor have been the opposite journalists, who gasped, laughed and typically comically swore because the video confirmed us what’s coming subsequent for the hero shooter franchise — which turns a decade outdated later this 12 months.

What stirred up such audible reactions? An ongoing story that is mirrored straight within the recreation. New subroles with distinct passive talents. Ten new heroes are coming this 12 months, 5 of that are arriving subsequent week. One of many later heroes is freaking Jetpack Cat, who was dreamed up in idea artwork and scrapped earlier than the sport was even launched. And possibly most surprisingly, dropping the “2” so the sport returns to easily being “Overwatch.” 

One of many first inquiries to that group of execs was about altering the title from Overwatch 2 again to Overwatch — why change, and what does it imply? Johanna Faries, president of Blizzard Leisure, stated the group thought it was the precise time for Overwatch to show the nook in an enormous manner. “It units us up for a wider dialog on the place the way forward for this universe [is] and the place these characters are going to go.”

Blizzard’s large swing to revitalize Overwatch comes as the sport approaches its tenth anniversary in Might. Gaming is totally different in 2026, as newer live-service video games can disappear right away, and much more tenured franchises like Name of Responsibility and Battlefield can battle to retain gamers. Even Overwatch lastly has a significant, direct competitor within the group hero shooter style in Marvel Rivals. So for Blizzard to step up and commit so boldly to this imaginative and prescient is a jolt, a burst of life right into a recreation that has already spent the previous couple of years solidifying and increasing its identification with new game modes and options like perks and map voting.

The bulletins are each a celebration of the sport’s historical past and a press release that the sport is constructing a bolder future for itself.

Throughout my very own nine-year historical past taking part in Overwatch, I’ve skilled its ups and downs, from the heights of queuing with a full six-stack and becoming a member of organized group play to the lows of the seemingly interminable double protect meta. And after speaking to hero designers, narrative designers, programs designers, artists and voice actors, I left the Blizzard campus reflecting on the concept of taking part in Overwatch and following its bigger story in any case these new initiatives launch. One thought caught with me.

That is how the sport was all the time imagined to really feel. 

The emotion of a brand new cinematic driving the story of Overwatch ahead, of puzzling over 10 hero silhouettes and studying that 5 of them can be able to play virtually instantly… it kindled the identical sort of anticipation I had in the movie theater the place I first awed over an early Overwatch trailer.

Better of all, followers will not have to attend for this new period of Overwatch, as its fittingly rebadged Season 1 is launching subsequent week with 5 heroes up-front and one other new hero roughly each different month in every new season. We’ll get two new maps later within the 12 months, alongside the return of postmatch accolades, which up to date the outdated voting playing cards that allow you to present some like to gamers on both group who carried out notably effectively in a match. 

I received an early take a look at the journey awaiting Overwatch followers this 12 months throughout my time at Blizzard. And whereas I’ve some lingering questions on how sure parts will play out, here is why I am extra excited concerning the recreation than I’ve ever been.

Overwatch embraces storytelling straight within the recreation

The world of Overwatch has all the time felt vibrant and pulsing with lore, however the recreation has struggled to inform a narrative exterior of an impressionistic narrative you might vaguely piece collectively between cinematics, comics and occasional in-game occasions.

Season 1 guarantees to vary that by kicking off the year-long Reign of Talon storyline, starting with a cinematic that exhibits main upheaval within the villainous group and longtime antagonist to Overwatch. The remainder of that story will play out over the course of the 12 months, via conventional avenues like hero trailers, brief tales and comics, in addition to extra immersive strategies like new voice traces and map adjustments that mirror story occasions. 

The Overwatch Highlight video features a clip of Talon plane assaulting Overwatch’s Gibraltar base, house of operations for genius ape hero Winston. Within the media playtest, I fought throughout a Watchpoint: Gibraltar map that confirmed the harm of that assault. The bridge exterior the beginning attacker spawn was partially collapsed, and a flaming beam had crashed down on the airship within the hangar. These map adjustments breathe life into the bigger narrative of a brand new, extra aggressive Talon and ensure gamers see the implications of those story beats.

Along with map adjustments that illustrate the continued story, Overwatch’s narrative and audio designers stated that character interactions may also change to mirror the story’s development, noting an “outrageous quantity” of voice traces being added to the sport.

Collectively, these adjustments assist bridge the gameplay with the broader world of conflicts and characters which have been the preliminary focal point for thus many gamers. 

5 new heroes headline an enormous inflow over the subsequent 12 months

Overwatch 2 launched with three new heroes and has added one other 10 within the three-plus years since then. Now we’re getting 10 heroes in a single 12 months, beginning with 5 who all have connections to current characters and factions within the recreation.

• Domina, the brand new ranged tank and ally of Talon, is the heiress of Vishkar Industries, the identical firm that harm hero Symmetra works for and that additionally suppressed and exploited assist hero Lucio’s hometown with know-how his father had developed. 
• Anran, a brand new fire-themed harm hero, is the older sister of assist hero Wuyang. She wields hand followers that may shoot fireplace, and is a brand new Overwatch recruit alongside her brother.
• Emre, a harm hero wielding a number of weapons, is a former Overwatch agent now turned to Talon’s goals. He is an outdated good friend of harm hero Freja, although the particular person she discovered of their current reunion may be very totally different from the good friend she remembers. 
• Mizuki, an offensively centered assist hero, is a part of the Talon-aligned Hashimoto clan, which has been going through opposition from the assist hero Kiriko and her allies in Japan. 
• Jetpack Cat, a cat carrying a jetpack, is predicated on an early Overwatch hero idea lengthy considered scrapped. Overwatch assist hero Brigitte builds the kitty a jetpack to let her assist allies from the skies by towing teammates and trolling enemies.

A number of builders reiterated that this superdrop of recent heroes wasn’t the results of reducing corners or speeding the method, however as a substitute a good thing about improved instruments and programs which have shrunk the design time for brand new heroes from eight months right down to 4 or 5. 

“We nonetheless needed to offer the characters the identical stage of care we give any hero that we construct,” the sport’s Artwork Director Dion Rogers stated in a panel on the brand new Reign of Talon story’s artwork.

Within the management panel, Keller famous that the group needed to kick off this 12 months with an replace that may really feel like an growth for the sport, and the easiest way to try this for a hero shooter was to offer them a bunch of recent heroes: “Folks play the sort of recreation … to study extra about these heroes, choose them up and repeatedly grasp them,” he stated. Launching 5 heroes without delay provides gamers that rather more to interact with and will considerably shake up the meta of hero picks and group compositions.

Buzzing enthusiasm amongst builders

There’s a lot extra driving my optimism past the brand new narrative focus and inflow of recent heroes. It is the vibe of the bulletins, the willingness for the sport to go large, chase concepts and ship a uniquely Overwatch expertise to gamers. 

There was palpable pleasure among the many 5 teams of Blizzard builders that journalists received to listen to from on the Overwatch Highlight occasion. In a panel concerning the recreation’s narrative, Lead Narrative Designer Miranda Moyer buzzed with enthusiasm, talking alongside Scott Lawson, the sport’s audio and technical director, about planning a year-long story, bringing Talon into the fray and the way characters and allegiances may change over the course of that story.

“I feel quite a lot of this new story relies on questions which have existed since, y’know, Overwatch was an entity [before eventually being disbanded],” Moyer stated. She additionally famous that whereas some characters could have felt a little bit out of the loop of any form of bigger narrative all through earlier years of the sport’s story, within the new construction “each single character … is pertinent to the general plot.”

Builders being enthusiastic about their recreation is not stunning, however the diploma of enthusiasm was encouraging for a recreation that suffered a years-long content material drought adopted by a troubled launch for Overwatch 2, stumbling over gated hero releases and long-announced recreation options that by no means noticed the sunshine of day. The conversations with devs gave me confidence that there is a imaginative and prescient and keenness for Overwatch that may gas thrilling updates like this for a very long time to return.

The query marks amid the approaching adjustments

The guarantees of ongoing tales and new heroes each season — six per 12 months — are two of probably the most thrilling issues the sport might announce. That stated, some bulletins from the highlight increase extra curiosity or concern than confidence. 

A serious overhaul of the menus forces us to relearn the place issues are and how you can navigate them. The programs design group asserted that the brand new format will add worth, decrease interruptions and provides gamers decisions in menus, and I am hopeful that the time spent relearning how you can get round is definitely worth the payoff. I just like the cleaner look, however it is going to take a while to see how the brand new format actually feels.

The group additionally introduced that some heroes, similar to Ana and Genji, can be getting their second mythic skins earlier than others obtained their first. I say this as somebody who performs a number of Ana and wasn’t in any respect excited by her mythic pores and skin, however that feels fairly unfair to the remainder of the roster, particularly given what number of new faces we’re getting this 12 months.

Balancing is the opposite factor that looks like an even bigger query mark in 2026. Dropping 5 heroes concurrently and including a brand new hero each season goes to place much more stress on the group chargeable for stability.

I requested Affiliate Sport Director Alec Dawson concerning the problem of balancing 5 new heroes without delay. He acknowledged that the group does nonetheless need heroes to really feel “impactful” at launch, however stated they “in all probability went a bit too far” with current releases. 

“It is good to have an impactful launch. It is not good in case your hero is banned in virtually each match you are in,” Dawson stated. 

The hero design group advised us that they’re going to be conserving an in depth eye on Jetpack Cat, particularly provided that everlasting flight is a wholly new factor within the recreation, and there are only a few restrictions on her Lifeline capability that permits you to fly allies across the map. Hero designer Scott Kennedy added that the group is aware of it’ll be tough to determine abruptly and that they’re going to react shortly if issues are out of line.

A brand new day and a well-recognized really feel for Overwatch

The Highlight video alone felt like Overwatch returning to the surprise and creativeness that powered its 2016 launch. And the expertise of speaking to a wide range of builders — and notably seeing the seemingly unseverable thread of enthusiasm that related them — made me as looking forward to the sport as I have been since I began taking part in. The promise driving a narrative ahead appears to reflect the group’s personal inner hopes for shepherding the sport into one thing larger and bolder.

In a bunch interview with international media, I requested the sport’s director, Aaron Keller, whether or not the Highlight bulletins have been a dedication to shifting the sport ahead — not simply by way of recreation mechanics however utilizing it to inform a narrative past simply transient snippets we have gotten from cinematics and occasions. He referenced the “superb, sentimental” character items they’ve performed to date, however stated the group desires the brand new story to go someplace. 

“We wish to take gamers on a journey over the course of this 12 months — and over the course of a few years,” Keller stated. “We wish to be doing this for so long as gamers are going to tune in for it.”