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So now, Brigitte’s shield no longer stuns enemies and Orisa’s has been completely reworked into a new move set, which includes a useful javelin that can be lobbed at enemies to knock them off their feet. Many felt that the original game was becoming too heavily reliant on characters with defensive shields who would soak up damage like giant muscular sponges.
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She’s a great option for those who like to patrol the periphery of the battle zone, zipping in to save allies or take out enemies with critical hits.Īll of the mainstay characters have been variously tweaked, buffed and nerfed to add tactical variety. Kiriko is the star, an anime-infused support character who can climb walls, teleport and summon a fox spirit that increases the speed of the whole team. With her automatic weapon and fast slide move, Sojourn feels like an import from Warzone or Apex Legends, while Junker Queen is a close-range behemoth with a shotgun and a throwing knife that drags enemies towards her – a supremely pleasing move when you get it right. The fresh characters are an interesting bunch. This is the economic reality of online gaming in the 2020s. This is all going to be galling for Overwatch veterans who liked the fact that they paid once for the game, learned their characters, and then competed on a level playing field – but that’s so 2010s. Blizzard has also said that it plans to rebalance the game every season to make it feel continually new. With new characters likely to arrive on a regular basis, it’s doubtless going to be tough for casual players to keep levelling up without eventually paying up. You don’t need them, but if you’re a completist about weapon charms and rare costumes, you might find your cursor inching toward the “buy credits” button. Some cosmetic items will only be available if you pay for a subscription or buy them directly from the shop.
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If you want to customise your costume and weapons – or play as Kiriko, one of the three new characters – you’ll either need to play a lot of the game, completing daily challenges and working your way through the tiers before the season ends … or just buy the Battle Pass. The game has been refitted to work with that infamous talisman of the free-to-play shooter: the Fortnite-style battle pass.
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The biggest change is economic: Overwatch has now gone free-to-play, meaning you can download it on to your PC or console and start blasting without paying a penny. This is the same team-based sci-fi shooter we’ve been playing since 2016, with mostly the same characters battling it out with familiar moves. I f Overwatch 2 were a movie, it would probably be called a reboot or a reimagining rather than a sequel.
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