In May 2016, Celebrated Studio Blizzard launched his hero shooter, Overwatch. A month later, the game added a competitive mode, and remained relatively the same through Overwatch 2, its sequel 2022. On Tuesday, Overwatch 2 will launch its new Stadium modethat could be the biggest change in the game in almost nine years.
Although the competitive format remains more or less the same, many things have happened between the first days of Overwatch and the beginning of the stadium: dozens of goals, the great drought of content, the change to 5V5 with the Overwatch 2 launchThe addition of advantages, many modes of novelty as mysterious heroes and the long list of personalized games made by the player. But for all those changes and options, the stadium is what Overwatch developers hope to change the game of people.
In online group media interviews, game director Aaron Keller said that if someone has been waiting to try Overwatch or return to the game, the stadium is time.
It is an important test for the long -term perspective of Overwatch, which advances four months after the launch of Hero Shooter of competitive heroes Marvel rivalsA game that recently went to 40 million players. Overwatch and their free evolution Overwatch 2 were the handle handles of de facto heroes for most of the last decade, with the greatest competition from other shooters such as Apex Legends and Valorant, which focused more on different subgenos of shooters (real battle and tactical shooters). But when the rivals launched with a frantic game that remembers the happily frantically frantic Overwatch days, along with a surprisingly strong list of Marvel favorites, it gave the players something newer and brighter to play.
The question was: how would Overwatch answer?
The stadium, which Keller said has been in process since before the launch of Overwatch 2, seems to be the answer. The family formula of Overwatch is needed: two players teams are divided into three different roles, interpreting heroes with unique skills on maps based on objectives, and shakes everything and pumps it full of adrenaline.
In a stadium mode, players can make their heroes more threatening through the capacity for additional survival, damage, skill benefits and more.
Suddenly, Reinhardt is not just power of power around a corner; It is flying through the air. Ana is nanalizing her entire team. And Mei became a giant snowball rolling towards you.
At the same time, his team could have a launch of Zrya when he bubbles his ashe, which launches a mini bob twice more often, while Kiriko receives invulnerability at its maximum expression.
The stadium has to do with everyone’s central skills for new functionality and dramatically expanded customization. It is a game mode that I hope to attract two types of players in particular: first, it will be a success among people who really love the private heroes and want to play them in each situation, choosing talents and elements that allow them to adapt to their opponents. But secondly, I could also gain traction with the people they like to think and play, people who want to make different constructions for heroes and try them against competition. Basic Overwatch game modes can be challenging for these types of players due to the prevalence of counterweight and the general lack of breaks in a game; The stadium offers some interesting alternatives.
Together with the fast game and competitive ways, the stadium was designed to be the third main pillar of the game: Keller said there is a separate team of people and “many resources” dedicated to the stadium mode.
The stadium finally brings a third -person option to Overwatch.
I asked if the stadium was designed to respond to a change in the needs of the players for Overwatch. Keller pointed to three specific desires for players that the new mode wanted to address: more time of inactivity, more strategy and a greater emphasis on power fantasy. The stadium is a game mode of seven where each round is an abbreviated version of other game modes such as control or thrust, basically, an explosion of short and sweet concentrated action that still meets the family rules sets. Among those rounds, players will get a space to breathe to think about the composition of the enemy team and how to strategically build against it acquiring new powers and “elements” that improve the abilities of the heroes.
The stadium leaves the exchange of heroes, instead, encouraging players to build around their challenges. For example, heroes such as Genji and D.va can buy skills that mitigate the damage of the beam, something against which they traditionally fight. Similarly, flying heroes have traditionally countered to Reinhardt. Even so, Pharah and Echo players will have to be a little more careful knowing that a reinhardt could simply throw in their direction, threatening to hold them against a wall, maybe with additional explosive damage!
These mechanics mark the stadium as the last and greatest evidence that Overwatch developers are moving away from the game approach in a carefully balanced experience and, on the other hand, allow players to adopt more completely the fantasy of power of their heroes. Keller said the developers had pushed the stadium far beyond other game modes, which means that the team took even more freedoms when new powers and updates for their list of playable characters.
I will try Stadium this week before the launch of season 16 next week. After covering Overwatch 2 from the beta version in 2022, I have seen that the game takes constant but slow advances in healthy addresses, although those that fans may have stopped following slowly as the years have used. The stadium is ready to be a real leap, and I am excited to see if it can live up to the exaggeration that wants to inspire current players, who return and new.
The stadium will be launched in season 16 as of April 22. The new mode will have 17 heroes and nine maps, although Devs said it will constantly evolve, with new heroes that will be added frequently.
