The recently released Overwatch 2 has proven to be popular when looking at its high player counts, but it remains that many fans are left wanting more unique content to further establish the sequel and its identity. While some significant changes have been made to the title's core multiplayer PvP gameplay, many fans are looking toward the game's upcoming 2023 PvE mode as one of the most attention-worthy aspects of the release.
The PvE experience of Overwatch 2 will seemingly foster a great environment for more grounded storytelling aspects of the franchise and its characters, being a more narrative-driven space in which the lore of Overwatch can be fleshed out and taken to its next stage. That being said, it is important that this anticipated mode does not outshine and dampen the newly added content to the core multiplayer experience, such as the ambitious new Push game mode.
Overwatch 2's Upcoming PvE Mode
Overwatch 2 is currently available to play in early access, becoming available to fans on October 4. Due to this early nature of the release, much of the core content that the game is set to bolster itself with is currently unavailable and will be instead slowly added as it progresses through its life cycle.
That being said, many massive changes are already present within the core PvP gameplay of the release, despite its overt similarities to the original Overwatch and its hero-based arena shooter formula. For example, the game has already set itself apart significantly from its predecessor by reducing the number of players on a team from six down to five, as well as drastically changing many pre-existing heroes.
Along with the new additions of Junker Queen, Sojourn, and Kiriko, familiar heroes like Doomfist have completely changed combat roles, while others like Orissa have been changed from defensive characters to decidedly offense-based ones. The PvE mode for Overwatch 2 will come in 2023 in the form of short, replayable missions which will hold massive levels of narrative potential and storytelling opportunities.
With how important the lore of Overwatch has become to fans of the franchise, it is no wonder why the PvE mode is so highly anticipated. However, it remains important that the eventual implementation of this mode does not overpower the relevance of ambitious new game modes that have been added, such as Push.
The Push Mode of Overwatch 2
Push is a brand-new objective mode to Overwatch 2 that involves two teams fighting over control of a robot within the middle of a given map. Once controlled by a team, the robot will then push a payload towards the opposing spawn. Whichever team pushes their respective payload the furthest at the end of a match wins the game.
Given the early state of Overwatch 2, new modes like Push are currently quite popular, although the eventual implementation of the title's PvE mode could threaten this. Blizzard needs to continually tweak and add additional maps and variations of the Push mode leading up to and extending beyond the eventual addition of PvE, to make the new mode as popular as other objective types that are synonymous with Overwatch, such as Escort and Control.
While Overwatch 2 was heavily marketed for its eventual PvE experience, it is undeniable that the core PvP multiplayer of the game is a massive selling point to fans, especially given the massive recent popularity of the release. As long as modes like Push get the attention they deserve in the form of continual content updates, Overwatch 2 should be able to find harmony in relevance between its ambitious new PvP and PvE experiences.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.