Overwatch 2's recent update has managed to improve its recent Steam reviews from "Negative" to "Mixed".
After approximately one and a half years of negative Steam reviews, Blizzard has now released a massive update for Season 15 of Overwatch 2 - and it's actually improved the game's ratings!
Overwatch 2's Bad Start
Before Overwatch 2 was released in October 2023, Blizzard Entertainment had already raised expectations pretty high, promising new PvE and campaign missions. And fans got really excited - after all, its predecessor Overwatch was an instant hit when the multiplayer hero shooter was released in 2016. It quickly garnered a big community of loyal fans who were keeping track of all new releases.
Of course, fans were pretty excited when Overwatch 2 promised new features for the franchise - and pretty disappointed when only a small part of these features was actually added to the game, while the rest was cancelled. This got Overwatch 2 overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam.
Up to now, that is. Because Blizzard has now finally released a massive update!
Overwatch 2's Recent Update
The Season 15 update, released February 18, brought 168 upgrades for the game's 42 heroes, all at once! This is how they work:
- Every hero has 4 unique perks overall, two minor and two major ones
- During the match, players get to choose between two perks twice, so in every match, you can use 2 of a hero's overall 4 perks
- At level 2, players can choose between two minor perks
- At level 3, players can choose between two major perks
So this is a new mechanic that finally distinguishes Overwatch 2 from the first part, as players have been complaining that this successor didn't really add anything new to the game.
Another thing the update added was a new competitive open queue for 6v6 matches but the spotlight is definitely more on the new perk feature.
Improved Reviews
After the game's reviews had always been summarized as "mostly negative" by Steam, which is still true for the "all reviews" section, at least the "recent reviews", reviews written in the last 30 days, have now gotten the tag "mixed" and aren't completely negative anymore.
It should be kept in mind that, due to the "recent reviews" section tracking reviews made in the last 30 days when the update has only been out since February 18, some of these reviews might now already be outdated. We'll see if the ratings will improve even more over time.
As a start, here are some reviews that have been made since the arrival of the update:
For once, I most come to Overwatch's defense and say they really have stepped up their game. Going back to what worked in Overwatch 1 while introducing new and fun mechanics to the game. A certain game made them LOCK IN and I couldn't be happier. Now we just gotta wait for next season with an actual cooler battlepass - Neko on Steam
They just released Overwatch 2. The recent update is what the game should always have been before corporate greed got in the way. - AEPhoenix on Steam
Overwatch 1 was my favorite video game of all time, full stop. If it was the only game for the rest of time I guarantee you I would stay happy. 6v6 with Role Queue is the only way to make this game work and Blizzard will do anything, including adding CS:GO mode(WHAT HAPPENED TO QUEUE TIMES BEING A PROBLEM?), rather than restoring this game to it's former glory of 6v6. 6v6 was how the game was originally designed but what the heck do the actual creators know? Who cares, I guess. They're all gone anyway. - SirBarther on Steam
Some reviews seem happy about the new features while others, who were more interested in 6v6, complain about how 6v6 only got a queue mode.
Still, it is a first step to improve the game's reviews. Whether they'll become even more positive in the future is in Blizzard's hands but they are reportedly planning new features for season 16, such as:
- A Stadium mode: Stadium is Overwatch's third primary mode, separate from Quickplay and Competitive. This is a round-based mode that is played in third-person by default and it allows players to purchase upgrades and customize their builds between rounds.
- A new hero called Freja
- Loot boxes as weekly rewards and battle pass rewards
- Hero bans in Competitive
With Marvel Rivals being a big competitor of Overwatch, it might lead Blizzard to provide more new features and possibly take greater risks to reclaim its community. So maybe this was the start of Overwatch 2's redemption arc, we'll see.
What do you think about the recent update? What new features would you like to see in the future? Tell us in the comments!