Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Available on: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Life as a single, male, young adult in a COVID-ridden world gets lonely sometimes. Loneliness used to not be as big of a problem for me. I lived alone through most of college and I didn’t have much of an issue then. There are a few differences between then and now though. I don’t get to spend as much time with my friends, working from home has meant I rarely speak to my coworkers and since graduating college, life hasn’t been quite the hustle it used to be.
Lately though, I’ve been thinking there’s another factor: I miss Overwatch.
No game gave me quite the experience Overwatch did. It was a chaotic, adrenaline-inducing masterpiece. I first played it in 2016 during the open beta, and throughout college, it was a minor obsession of mine.
Overwatch had all the usual stuff that made shooters (or any other game for that matter) great: responsive controls, satisfying gameplay, good sounds and visuals, a beautiful soundtrack, and characters that people practically (and literally) fell in love with. What truly made Overwatch stand out was the way it approached balancing.
When making games, especially PvP games, developers have to balance the power of their weapons and abilities. Nothing can be too powerful or too weak. Nothing can be too frustrating to play as or against. Anything that doesn’t hit the mark is considered broken, as it breaks the experience.
Overwatch approached this differently. They made everything broken, and it was wonderful.
To see what I mean, let’s walk through some of the history of Bastion, one of the game’s playable characters. Among his (its?) abilities is the ability to quickly transform into a stationary turret where he can fire his gatling gun. Noting matched the power of Bastion’s gatling gun. All head-on fights with Bastion ended with Bastion winning. When transformed, the 50ft of space in front of him became a no man’s land.
Everyone hated Bastion. He was broken. He always had the most kills. He always had play of the game. Calls to nerf him came out of every corner of the Internet. The developers responded by doing nothing.
What “fixed” Bastion was players learning how to beat him. Sure, he’ll win every head-on fight, but there are plenty of ways to beat him that aren’t head-on. For one, being stuck to stand still means he’s a sitting duck for snipers. However, a wise Bastion can adapt to that with smarter positioning. He’ll set up at a spot around a corner where attackers have to go and where snipers can’t get to him. That’s ok though, a smart Roadhog player can still force him out of his positioning and his turret form with his hook. Uh oh, now he’s working together with a tank so he has a shield in front of him. Well, he can still be flanked from behind. Or, with explosives, the shield can be busted. Or you can have someone distract him while others sneak by.
This is what made Overwatch beautiful. Every character had strengths that couldn’t be beaten and weaknesses that were begging to be exploited. Overwatch was just as much a test of wits as it was a test of skill. Players worked together to make and break setups. Every strategy had a loophole. Every obstacle could be overcome with a change in tactics.
The best games are easy to pick and difficult to master. Overwatch fit that definition like a glove. Abilities were simple and powerful. Learning the basic controls and capabilities of a hero was easy. Learning how to utilize them in the best ways possible was an endless effort. Those who win fights are the ones who are better at it, even if only slightly. Becoming better at Overwatch was a joy.
Sadly, the good times didn’t last. Over time, the developers made mistakes, and, in my opinion, the game was nudged too far in the wrong direction. The last time I played Overwatch was two years ago.
There’s no simple explanation as to what caused Overwatch to decline. Various factors were at play.
New content was plentiful during the first year of launch, but it became increasingly scarce over time (the last new hero to be released was two years ago at the time of this writing). The developers’ response to toxicity has been weak. The once exciting lore became a predictable routine of introducing new characters and sub-plots with zero resolution, only promises of more to come.
The fatal blow for me was an attitude shift regarding balancing. As Overwatch League kicked off, the developers of Overwatch began catering to the top players more than the bottom. Heroes were released not to add to the experience of the game, but rather to shake up the meta at the top in ways that they requested. They released heroes like Brigitte and Baptiste, who were designed solely to shake up the meta at the top and who thrived in almost every situation. Overwatch began losing the dynamic play that made it famous.
To bring it back, the developers turned to increasingly artificial solutions. In one such attempt, they implemented a system that forced teams to stick to a 2-2-2 comp (two DPS, two tanks, and two healers). This effectively crippled players’ ability to adapt to situations as you were now stuck in the role you chose. More than ever, Overwatch is just a simple game of skill and a dull grind.
To be fair, it’s not never fun. Occasionally, all 12 players of a match would silently agree to skip out on all the new crap, and I got a glimpse of the blast I used to have when the game was near launch. These matches became rarer and rarer though. When I last played two years ago, I would have this fun roughly 10% of the time.
Overwatch’s woes were not over though. An explosive lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard that alleged horrible frat-boy culture and sexual harassment gave them a big wave of bad news cycles. They’ve lost talent, including their internet-famous director Jeff Kaplan.
Those who are left are now trying to salvage the situation with Overwatch 2. We know a few things about Overwatch 2. There will be PvE modes alongside the PvP modes. Each team will now have 5 players (1 tank instead of 2) and many of the heroes are being reworked.
Will Overwatch 2 bring about a comeback for Overwatch? Maybe. It could be the developers get their act together and bring the game back to its former glory. It could be PvE is fun but PvP will forever suffer the issues brought about in the first game. It could be the game as a whole will just be stale.
All I know for sure is I miss Overwatch, and I hope its sequel will be good.