Blizzard reveals Overwatch 2: Story missions, new heroes and more

Blizzard has officially announced Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon 2019, which is set for release on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Switch.

As expected, the team shooter sequel will feature PvE story missions exploring the backstories of the game’s heroes.

Heroes can be levelled up and customised with new talents for co-op game modes, while the game’s core PvP mode will be expanded with new maps, “multiple” new heroes and a new Push map type, in which two teams compete to make a robot push the map’s objective to their opponent’s side.

Original Overwatch players will be able to play on all the same maps as Overwatch 2 players, including new maps and new heroes, with progression and cosmetics carrying over to the sequel.

The sequel introduces significant engine upgrades that support larger maps for co-op (PvE) play, as well as visual upgrades for every hero in the game, Blizzard said.

In PvE, story missions will have Winston, Tracer, and other members of the original Overwatch join forces with a new generation of heroes.

“Players will take an active role in the Overwatch saga as a new global crisis unfolds through a series of intense, high-stakes four-player missions,” Blizzard said.

“As the story progresses, players will team up as different sets of heroes and fight to defend the world from the omnic forces of Null Sector, uncover the motives behind the robotic armies’ attacks, and come face-to-face with rising new threats around the globe.”

Meanwhile Hero Missions are described as “replayable” battles which have players defending cities against robot invasions.

In this mode, players can level up their heroes and earn customisation options that improve their abilities in co-op play—such as altering Reinhardt’s Fire Strike to ignite nearby enemies or modifying Tracer’s Pulse Bomb to cause a devastating chain reaction.

“With Overwatch 2, we’re building the cooperative, narrative-driven game experience that players have been asking for since the original—and that we’ve wanted to make for a long time,” said J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment, in a prepared statement.

“We’re looking forward to telling the next chapter of this epic story in-game, and we’re excited to give players a whole-new kind of co-op experience built around progressing and customizing their favorite heroes—all while providing even more of everything they love about Overwatch today.”