The dawn of a new era for Blizzard Entertainment's free-to-play, decade-old PvP hero shooter Overwatch has now officially risen, with the studio dropping the "2" from its title, releasing five new hero characters at once, and kicking off a relaunch today that revamps several different aspects of the game.
First revealed last week, the Overwatch Season 1 update is now live, and kicks off the game's next chapter. With Season 1 — dubbed "Conquest" — the Reign of Talon begins, which is the first of the franchise's new year-long story arcs that develop over the course of six seasons. Vendetta defeating Doomfist and taking control of Talon serves as its starting point.
Season 1 also brings the start of a five-week long meta faction war of sorts, with players able to declare allegiance to either Overwatch or Talon and then complete weekly missions for rewards, with the side that finishes more netting themselves a bigger prize. At the end of the event, you can swap factions to complete the other side's objectives as well as a Double Agent, or remain loyal and progress through a Prestige Pass for loot boxes.
Of course, the big highlight is the fact that Overwatch has dropped five new heroes, expanding its roster to 50 playable characters. These include Domina, a ranged poke tank with beam weaponry, a shield with individual segments, and knockback to keep foes away; Emre, a former Overwatch soldier with a burst-fire rifle and bouncy grenades; Mizuki, a Japanese support hero with a healing aura, ranged blades, and a kasa hat that bounces between allies and heals them when thrown; Anran, Wuyang's sister and a damage character that hurls fire and can even revive herself phoenix-style if killed in her ult; and Jetpack Cat (yes, Jetpack Cat), a friendly feline with the ability to tether allies to fly them around (or enemies, with its ult).
Additionally, five more heroes are coming later in 2026, with Blizzard committing to releasing one new character with the launch of each new season. It's unclear if that cadence will continue in 2027 and beyond, but at least for the rest of this year, that's the plan.
Some other noteworthy changes and additions to Overwatch now live with this revamp include sub-roles for heroes and sub-role specific passives, an overhauled UI, Post-Match Accolades (an evolution of the game's original voting cards), new "Praise" voice lines for complimenting teammates, Vendetta's arrival in the MOBA-style Stadium mode, and a set of Overwatch x Hello Kitty & Friends collab skins, along with plenty of other cosmetics. Each season's Battle Pass will now feature two Mythic skins, as well.
All in all, this is a colossal update for Overwatch, and represents the biggest shot in the arm it's gotten since the game became Overwatch 2 in late 2022. The "sequel" was infamously poorly received due to the lack of planned PvE story content that was later canceled and a transition to a free-to-play, microtransaction shop-driven model that was decidedly less player-friendly than the original loot box system.
The move to 5v5 and the removal of one tank from each team was controversial as well (in the end, I do believe it was the right call), as many felt Overwatch was at its best played in its original 6v6 format. Blizzard did go on to offer permanent 6v6 modes, though.
The hero shooter has been struggling for years in Overwatch 2's fallout (competition from Marvel Rivals hasn't helped), but by shedding the "2," introducing a new live-service structure, and ramping up content additions significantly, Blizzard is fighting to bring it back into mainstream popularity — and so far, it's kind of working. Even before the Reign of Talon, Overwatch has surged on Steam, surpassing Call of Duty and Battlefield 6's concurrent player counts, and it's rising on Xbox's most-played list too.
Personally, I'm not coming back, as I've gotten my fill of Overwatch over the years and have moved on from the FPS entirely. If you feel differently, though, there are certainly plenty of reasons to come back right now. Give it a shot if you're interested.
What do you think about this new era of Overwatch, and everything added in its new Season 1? Are you excited to jump in, or are you not that interested? Let me know in the comments.
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