Overwatch 2's announcement left many Overwatch fans a mix of both confusion and excitement. Overwatch 2 will be both a sequel, featuring an expansive new cooperative multiplayer mode with a ton of new story content, as well as a perpetuation of the competitive environment in Overwatch. The specifics of what that exactly means, however, remain a matter of dispute. But one thing that's clear is that in Overwatch 2, heroes are getting a makeover.
Blizzard has confirmed that every single hero in Overwatch 2 is getting a visual update, in addition to several brand new heroes like Sojourn being added. During BlizzCon 2019's Opening Ceremony, Overwatch's game director confirmed that these overhauls were technical as well as visual. Blizzard clearly has bigger plans for its heroes' animation and customization. For now, though, Overwatch fans are only able to see how the heroes are changing in comparison to their original designs.
As part of Overwatch 2's debut, Blizzard introduced seven different heroes' visual upgrades. The heroes were showcased in Overwatch 2's announcement cinematic, implying that the visual changes are in part due to an in-universe time skip. It's not a large time skip, but more of a chance to say the heroes are entering a new era in the Overwatch story. As such, characters clothes and hair may be changing, but there aren't any particularly drastic alterations.
Only seven characters have had their visual changes revealed so far. It's unclear if these characters are special, but at the very least they're the seven that make up Overwatch's new group as of the time shown in the new cinematic trailer. The updated heroes include Lucio, Mercy, Reinhardt, Winston, Tracer, Genji, and Mei. While Blizzard's not making any huge changes to the characters, the difference in visual quality between the two versions is very much apparent.
One thing that's very cool about the changes that Blizzard has made for Overwatch 2 is that every character, despite their visual upgrades, keeps the same silhouette. It's not clear if original Overwatch players will still have the classic visuals while playing at the same time with Overwatch 2 players with upgraded visuals, but if they do, gameplay shouldn't be affected meaningfully. And that will be due to Blizzard's attention to detail.
Overwatch 2 has no current release date but will be released on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.