Overwatch 2 might be the first sequel in history that players of the original begged the developers not to make. Through a small handful of gameplay changes and minor visual updates, it just barely manages to justify its own existence. It feels like it’s Blizzard’s attempt to restructure the monetization into a more profitable, industry-standard model, which people have rightly pointed out benefits the publisher, but doesn’t actually provide any value to the players. At first blush, Overwatch 2 comes across like a dark tulpa of the original - a product designed to increase profits and engagement without offering anything that meaningfully increases enjoyment. Within the broader context, Overwatch 2 follows this year’s Diablo: Immortal as just another anti-consumer title from a mega corp that used to actually care about its fans and reputation. There’s never been a particularly good answer to the question "Why does Overwatch 2 exist?", and I don’t anticipate there ever will
The hero shooter is a relatively new twist on the first or third person shooter genre. It's typically defined as a game where you have a selection of characters to choose from, all of which have different roles, classes, or abilities that can help your team win the game. These games are usually team-based, and have elements that are commonly found in MOBAs, such as lanes, payloads that need to be pushed, or points that need to be captu
Losing a tank opened the door for major, much needed reworks to a lot of heroes. Tanks like Reinhardt and Orisa now have more utility and survivability since they have to tank for the entire team, while shield breakers like Bastion get to take a step back and fill a different role. I’m not suggesting that every character is perfectly balanced now, but I see so many improvements already. It’s hard not to be excited about the new overwatch 2 patch notes meta. A shakeup like this was never going to happen without a title cha
While this is all well and good for Overwatch 2 , what becomes of the overall hero shooter genre? Right now the core three are Overwatch , the ancient Team Fortress 2 , and Apex Legends - which is more of a battle royale, really, but technically counts. Apex actually may be the best example of how this genre will evo
A lot of hero shooters will probably try to follow suit, combining with other genres in an effort to stand out. It's already kind of happening, with games like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege , Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 , or the upcoming Bleeding Edge all taking cues from hero shooters, and adding them into their own games. Even the juggernaut Fortnite has instantly recognizable skins beloved by the community, which are sold as everything from action figures to Halloween costu
Their heroes had flashy, distinct designs, and though there's not technically an in-game story, you can still get a sense of who each hero is. The amount of craft and detail that went into creating each hero's personality allowed players to get emotionally invested in them, something that most other hero shooters fail to achi
A lot of games tried to emulate Overwatch , and while some like Paladins have managed to stay afloat, there are not a lot of others who have had the same level of success. Apex has broken the mold, as it's a hybrid of two popular genres mashed into one. Taking the idea of playing as your favorite character and having to survive to get your chicken dinner is a brilliant tw
Still, there is a trickling of recent releases that embody more of the Wii spirit; the zany party game WarioWare: Move It, for instance. And so, we thought we'd revisit this list of the most fun and refined motion Switch games that are sure to get players off the couch and mov
What Overwatch really needed was the same thing that every live-service game needs: content. While development of Overwatch 2 caused a lengthy drought in the original, Overwatch wasn’t exactly on par with the rest of the live service game market either. A new hero every few months and a rehashed holiday event just weren’t cutting it. There’s a lot of people moaning about the new seasonal model in Overwatch 2, but if they were being honest, most of them would admit Overwatch wasn’t holding their attention. The luster fell off Overwatch after a couple of years, and the quarterly cadence of a new hero or map was not going to keep Overwatch al
Unlike the Wii before it, motion controls have taken something of a backseat when it comes to the Switch . But despite most of its library stressing traditional inputs, the Joy-Cons offer some of the best gyroscopic controls in gaming. Ironically, these refined gyro controls are still a bit underutilized compared to the cruder technology built into the Wiim
Taking a page out of the Splatoon playbook, id Software and Bethesda take a "best of both worlds" approach with the player interface, utilizing traditional control and motion to their advantage. With this sequel to the 2016 hit, Doom Eternal brings the usual adrenaline-pumping chaos players expect from this classic FPS seri