Today was the Overwatch 2 Spotlight, an online video event to lay out exactly what is coming to Overwatch 2 in the coming year, and outlining how the game is changing in the wake of Marvel Rivals current dominance in the hero shooter field. A surprising amount of changes and features were announced, including the new ‘perks’ system to change heroes abilities, the return of loot boxes, new cosmetics, hero bans, map voting and more.
Probably the biggest changed announced was the reveal of ‘perks‘, a new system that lets Overwatch heroes change how their abilities work on the fly. These perks slowly upgrade through a match, with a maximum level 3 perk allowing the player to make a more drastic change, such as giving Orisa her protective barrier back or supercharging her javelin to dramatically launch heroes back. This new feature launches on Feb. 18 along with Season 15.
The other significant shocking reveal was the announcement that loot boxes will return. Loot boxes were the primary method of cosmetic unlocks in the first Overwatch, and were quite a controversial addition at the time, as they became an industry standard across online games. The Overwatch 2 Spotlight did specify that the loot boxes will be transparent with their odds, and will also be earnable both in weekly challenges and in the free level of the Battle Pass. We don’t exactly know what pools of items will be available in loot boxes yet, but we are curious to see what offerings will be available.
Overwatch is of course known for its heroes, and so the next two were revealed in the Spotlight event! The first was a new DPS named Freja, a bounty hunter from Denmark with a crossbow weapon, followed by Hero 44 with the codename ‘Aqua’, a Chinese water-wielder with more to be confirmed on his abilities later in the year.
As for a new feature, the new Stadium mode will allow players to add mods to their characters, going far beyond the perks system, giving players a wealth of customization abilities to add to each and every hero, powering them up far beyond could ever be balanced in the main mode. Currency will be earned through Stadium games, which can then be spent on weapon changes, ability tweaks and unlockable traits.
There was a wealth of cosmetic updates, include the confirmation of a second collaboration with K-Pop group LE SSERAFIM, reveals of the next three seasons mythic skins (Zenyatta, Juno and D.VA), new shop skin and earnable skin previews, a trailer for Season 15 along with its earnable cosmetics, and more. There will even be new earnable galaxy-themed weapon skins to be unlocked through playing ranked play.
Some features such as hero bans and the map voting system were relatively sparse on information, as these will be coming to the game at a later date, after the mass of other things announced have been added. We’ll be sure to update you as some of these details get more fleshed out.
And that was the Overwatch 2 spotlight event! What are you most excited for, and do you think this was a fitting response to Marvel Rivals and its current takeover of the genre? Sound off in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more breaking gaming news!
