Overwatch in 2020 – Firstly, how is this game still so popular 4 years on? It’s held its own during some quite significant shifts in the market, namely battle royale (wow that is old!). Blizzard have evolved it like most of their titles into something with legs, longevity and flexibility. The choice of game modes and the huge array of Overwatch characters, makes this a major force even 4 years later. Forever being given it’s last breath to a community of adoring fans and eSports teams that just can’t leave it alone.
The timing of the Overwatch release was key for such a rich multiplayer game. 2016 also brought Pokemon Go, Fallout 4, Doom and Battlefield 1.
World of Warcraft meets Counter Strike
Overwatch had been built on complex principles never seen before in an FPS, and one of the key reasons it is drawing people back in, time and time again. The array of characters and the balance applied, genuinely, to each one allows for a positive experience regardless of your preferred character.
The key objective is to utilise a balance of the 3 main Overwatch character groups;
- Tank – A heavily armoured and large health-ed character for absorbing the front-line damage.
- DPS (Damage Per Second) – A powerful consistent stream of damage to pick out opposing players and supporting the tanks.
- Healer – Trying their best to keep everyone alive!
You have a number of choices for characters within each of these categories, see the Overwatch character list below;
| Healer | DPS | Tank |
| Ana | Ashe | D. Va |
| Baptiste | Bastion | Doomfist |
| Brigitte | Cassidy | Junker Queen |
| Kiriko | Echo | Orisa |
| Lucio | Genji | Ramattra |
| Mercy | Hanzo | Reinhardt |
| Moira | Junkrat | Roadhog |
| Zenyatta | Mei | Sigma |
| Pharah | Winston | |
| Reaper | Wrecking Ball | |
| Soldier 76 | Zarya | |
| Sojourn | ||
| Symmetra | ||
| Torbjorn | ||
| Tracer | ||
| Widowmaker |
Overwatch set the tone for the likes of Apex Legends, with their class-based character selections adding a unique and repeatably enjoyable experience time and time again. A game that influences beyond itself, just shows the class the game originally had.
Overwatch in 2020 – The gift that keeps on giving
Overwatch in 2020, for me, is all about the doing, getting stuck into some competitive play, trying your best to produce the goods with your character and having a huge amount of fun with friends.
We all have bad days with gaming, but Overwatch beats the trend on this, the array of characters mean, even on a bad day, you can slay by just changing to a different character or if you are feeling particularly fruity, class.
They’ve changed up major parts of the game, brought things back, nerfed and meta’d, cried and cheered, but they have kept the core of the game in tact. Delivering a quality team-based game, that doesn’t get boring, doesn’t wear thing and continues to bring out the competitive spirit in many people in a fun and enthusiastic way.
Let people choose their weapon, let them try to hit things, dodge things, release havoc with a last minute ultimate and deliver a huge smashing gauntlet of fun consistently – Overwatch for me, could be one of the greatest team games we’re likely to see (You hear that Overwatch 2!)
The game keeps growing, trying new things, and continues to bring a smile to mine and my team mates faces, however, the shrieks of dying, the gawks at massively unimpressive plays of the game, and some banter with other players is the key and base of this game.
Don’t let us down Blizzard!
apoth0r’s star rating
4.5 – It has the legs to continue to be popular, I personally can’t wait for the anticipated second instalment. Overwatch in 2020 continues to deliver.