Overwatch 2: Invasions is officially out and playable now, and while the three missions are clearly well-built and a lot of fun, I can't help but think that something's missing.
Overwatch 2 Season 6 doesn't only bring a new omnic-themed Battle Pass, but it's also brought three new story missions. Each three follows a group of the roster who fight for Overwatch, assembling the team to face the new omnic crisis facing the world.
The first mission sees players arrive at Rio only to find Lucio fending off a seemingly-never ending flood of omnics from his local neighborhood. Four teammates will then have to navigate the alleyways of Rio all the way to an omnic battleship where you'll sabotage the engines to bring it to its knees.
The subsequent mission sees the team aid Sojourn at New Queens Street as she protects citizens whilst evacuating the city. While the last one lets players follow Brigitte and Reinhardt as they return to Gothemburg to seek help from Torbjorn and his knowledge of mechanics.
Players have been waiting a very long time for any sort of resemblance of PvE missions in Overwatch 2. Originally this feature looked like it would be part and parcel of the FPS game's content, but unfortunately, it was never meant to be.
There's been a lot of controversy surrounding if Overwatch 2 is actually getting PVE, especially after executive producer Jared Neuss tweeted out that Blizzard will be cutting Hero Mode and Talents earlier this year. While it wasn't possible to create an entirely new PvE campaign, the team still promised some scraps of content in the now available Invasions missions.
“We have a whole new type of PvE content that we're releasing with our single-player Hero mastery missions”, Neuss said. “On top of all of that, we've got the start of our new story arc with new story missions, cinematics, and other lore content such as a lore codex.”
Pleasantly surprised
I didn't have high hopes for Invasions; after all that has happened since the beginning of Overwatch 2, I've learnt not to raise expectations. However, I was happily surprised with the outcome.
All three missions are smooth running with intense fights, brilliant settings, and engaging cutscenes, which breathe some much-needed life into these long-standing characters. I had a lot of fun playing alongside my team against intelligent omnics in brand-new spaces.
This being said, replayability hinges on the four various difficulty settings and playing as different heroes. Therefore, I'm not sure how much use players will get out of these story missions alone. This factor is made all the more crucial as everyone will have to pay an extra $5/ £2.99/ AUD$6 for the privilege of PvE on top of the Premium Battle Pass, which is $10/ £8.39 / AUD$14.95.
Beyond the story mission, there's now a ton of extra content to enjoy. Starting Season 6, players can enjoy a new progression system which gives detailed descriptions of all heroes played, including elims, players saved, and wins. The system will also evaluate your skill level and allow you to unlock new player banners and titles the better you get. However, this is unfortunately not retroactive, so you'll only get to see all your stats like this starting now. There's also new Flashpoint maps which involve two teams fighting across a large map capturing points in a best-of-five type scenario.
If Overwatch 2 isn't what you're looking for, then check out these best shooters on PC and the best FPS games.
