Game On: Overwatch 2 Beta hands-on – has it been worth the wait?

Overwatch 2 has been a long time coming. Initially announced November 2019, the game’s long and troubled development has been a major detriment to the original game, which has practically lain dormant for two years. Blizzard began rolling out beta access to select PC players as early as April, and in late June began inviting console gamers.

I’d like to curse the irony that whatever algorithm Blizzard concocted to select beta access recipients did not pick me – I had to buy the “Watchpoint Pack” which guarantees admission. That probably sounds self-centered, but according to my Xbox Live statistics, I’ve clocked about 2,200 hours playing Overwatch since it was released in 2016. Rough math says I’ve spent about 2%-3% of my life over the past six years playing Overwatch.

Boy, I really need a new hobby.

That, or some other game developer could create a competitive first-person shooter half as good as Overwatch. It’s far from perfect, but the genre has seen few major releases aside from 2020’s Valorant and 2021’s Halo Infinite because most developers would rather cash in on the battle royale craze.

Activision-Blizzard has been in a state of turmoil since the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against the company alleging sexual harassment, employment discrimination and retaliation last year. Their stock value tanked, there were massive layoffs and employee turnover and now Microsoft is poised to acquire Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion.

None of their IPs have been safe from delays and internal mismanagement issues, and Overwatch has been no exception.

I’m glad the wait is over – the game has been totally rebalanced. Overwatch’s cast boasts an impressive variety of mobility options, but the game has been troubled by the dreaded “tank meta” for years. See, despite all of the fun players could be having with jet packs, teleportation, super jumps and so on, nine times out of 10 they’re better off hunkering down and hiding behind barriers.

Overwatch 2 seeks to rectify that problem – the tank class of heroes has seen the most changes, barriers have been scaled back and Blizzard had the gall to shrink the game’s 6v6 format to 5v5, where teams are forced to play with two damage heroes, two healers and just one tank. I was extremely skeptical of this radical change, but I’m beginning to think it was for the best.

It’s made combat much more dynamic. Players are flanking like there’s no tomorrow and I found myself less able to predict where my opponents would attack from. I’m dominating my enemies less, yet having more fun – that’s a really good sign. There’s a handful of new maps, an excellent new “Push” game mode and two new heroes – Sojourn and Junker Queen.

But all of this begs the question: Why now? Why did fans have to wait through a two-year drought of content? Keep in mind – Overwatch 2 is not a proper sequel, it’s all running on the same engine and will completely replace the original game when it hits early access on Oct. 4.

Behind the scenes, they’ve been hard at work creating a full-blown player versus environment campaign. Blizzard always planned on Overwatch being player versus player alone, but after the massive success of their annual “Halloween Terror” and “Archives” events featuring PvE gameplay, they changed course and decided to create a proper campaign mode.

The obvious goal is for both sides of the game to feel integrated with one another. But with Blizzard making the PvP modes free-to-play while asking for money upfront to experience the PvE story, there’s soon to be a massive divide in the playerbase. Fortnite’s “Save the World” PvE mode was ultimately abandoned for this reason, and I wouldn’t put it past the money-grubby Activision-Blizzard to do the same – publishers ultimately earn more money with their free-to-play-with-microtransactions tactics than the traditional buy once, own forever business model.

Blizzard has needlessly kicked the can down the road and lost a massive portion of its once-dedicated Overwatch playerbase in the process – I’m afraid they might not be able to win everyone back. The Overwatch 2 Beta is exciting and engaging, but is it all worth the wait? We’ll soon find out.