Aside from the deep dive into character backgrounds that many players are looking forward to, Overwatch 2 will expand on combat as well as introduce fresh gameplay experiences, developers say.

It’s less common to see multiplayer games following up with a completely separate sequel in the way Overwatch 2 will, but this is because developers have big plans for the game. Back when the original Overwatch was released, many players wondered why character story wasn’t more deeply covered. Blizzard responded by revealing a far more developed campaign mode in Overwatch 2, but this isn’t the only major upgrade players should look out for in the sequel.

Overwatch 2 will introduce several new types of play strategies to build upon the foundation that Overwatch has built in its multiplayer-style gaming, in addition to its normal PvP combat. A recent development blog post dives into what that specifically means for player experience, and it looks like map layouts will be directly affected by this upgrade.

Not only will map sizes in Overwatch 2 be vastly larger than in the original, developers previously reported, but thanks to the ever-improving TED engine, this will allow the game-makers to “push the limits” on the interactive environment players will encounter. For example, the advances in lighting artistry will allow for placing small probes throughout in-progress levels, and engineers responded by writing a script to enable dynamic illumination on only those affected surfaces. On paper, this may not sound like much to gamers, but implementing dynamic real-time lighting will certainly have a significant impact on player experience.

But the developers note, “That doesn’t just mean more distance to cover, but also longer missions involving more kinds of foes and more elaborate encounters.” Another major reason why fans are excited to see a fully-realized release in the upcoming sequel is Overwatch 2’s addition of PvE combat in addition to the PvP combat seen in its predecessor. To expand on this, developers are comparing new available modes to Left 4 Dead, a multiplayer survival horror game developed by Valve.

Left 4 Dead features four different play styles: campaign, versus, survival, and single-player, and it looks like gamers can look forward to similar options in Overwatch 2. Comparatively, the Overwatch successor will add enemy types that lead to complex ability interactions between enemies and heroes, similar to Left 4 Dead 2’s zombie classes. Overwatch 2 players should expect multi-wave encounters where short-range and long-range units will be required to coordinate their attacks against several different types of foes.

Overwatch 2 is currently expected to release for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, but no release date or window has been set.

Source: Blizzard