Overwatch 2 breathes new life into Blizzard's stagnant hero shooter

Overwatch desperately needed change, and Blizzard delivered.

When Blizzard's ambitious 6v6 hero shooter Overwatch released back in 2016, I instantly fell in love. Its stylish visuals and wide variety of unique and charming characters drew me in, and I regularly played the game for two years as Blizzard added maps, game modes, quality-of-life features, and heroes.

However, Overwatch's gameplay direction started taking a controversial turn starting in 2018 with the release of suppor tank Brigitte. For example, the game became driven by abilities that could stun enemies, and while these were always a part of Overwatch, the fact that almost every hero added after launch had one or more of these moves meant that they were a constant nuisance.

On top of that, many tank combinations became annoying to play against since they could work together to clog up Overwatch's maps with barriers and other damage mitigation abilities. These developments resulted in slow, sluggish matches that mostl...