Overwatch Classic is coming, but only for a limited time

A fun fact about me is that I once… terribly good at Overwatch. I started as a support lead at Moira (so basically a damage dealer), moved to DPS, and quickly established myself as a Master-tier player. But that was many, many moons ago. As a scathing (redacted) game writer who can’t quite compete with the zoomers anymore, I often find myself reminiscing about the good old days of the original Overwatch, and now it’s coming back to life in the form of Overwatch classica new, temporary mode for OW2.

Taking us back to patch 1.0, Overwatch Classic is exactly that: the original version of Blizzard’s iconic FPS game, with all the same bells, whistles and Hanzo Scatter Arrows. The four original classes are back (attack, defense, tank and support), as well as the 12 original maps (no Paris here), attack mode and of course the original hero skills. It’s only the OG 21 characters that are offered without their fancy skins, and there are no limits to the number of the same hero in a group, with no fixed division of roles. As I write this, I’m giggling maniacally.

“We approach Overwatch Classic as a snapshot of what the game was,” said Alec Dawson, Overwatch 2’s lead gameplay designer, in an exclusive roundtable discussion. “We don’t necessarily balance it for the modern era because I think that’s part of the draw. There’s a bit of craziness, it can be a bit chaotic, but that’s what makes it really special.”

Game director Aaron Keller echoes this, noting: “When we look at Overwatch Classic, the point is that we’re just looking at a snapshot of what this game was like before the development team spent the next eight years developing the game into what we believe us is the best version. from Overwatch.”

I ask how the team ensures Overwatch Classic remains familiar while modernizing it. “The most important thing is that the heroes feel as close as possible to how they did when we first launched the game, that was goal number one,” says Dawson.

This is something Keller also thinks. “Overwatch is essentially a game about its heroes. When people think of Overwatch, they think about it in terms of the hero they play or the ones who really resonate with them. The goal of Overwatch Classic was to return those heroes to their original state and make the game play like that.”

Overwatch Classic will debut as a limited-time mode, but the team states in its official launch blog that it “does not intend for this to be a single event.” I ask Dawson and Keller what future versions of Overwatch Classic will look like, and whether we’ll see the return of controversial maps like Horizon Lunar Colony and Paris.

“It really depends on how players stick with Classic and what they want to look like. What snapshots do they love? What times in Overwatch history do they want to relive? We have a few eras in mind that could be very exciting – or even terrifying – for players to go back to.”

Keller notes that Overwatch Classic won’t take a patch-by-patch approach similar to sister title World of Warcraft Classic, noting that the team wants to make “fairly large leaps in time to have a really significant difference ( between Overwatch Classic runs). I don’t think we want to move forward three or four months and only add one hero at a time; we want to make some jumps and really look at some of those moments that players are talking about.

“If we were to do another one after this, we might look at a meta where Mercy was really dominant, which happened about a year after launch. I don’t think we’re quite ready to talk about what exactly that looks like, even though that was a pretty big clue!”

It’s worth noting that Overwatch Classic is different from the Overwatch 2 6v6 tests mentioned in the Thursday, October 24 Director’s Take. Both are independent of each other, but Keller does note that Classic is a “great stress test for our engine.”

Blizzard has confirmed that Overwatch Classic’s launch date is set for Tuesday, November 12, with the mode available until Monday, December 2. It’s housed in Overwatch 2’s Events Hub, so unlike WoW Classic, you don’t have to download a whole new game.

In the meantime, though, check out our Overwatch 2-tier list to get back into the swing of things, but keep in mind that a few of our favorites will be absent from Overwatch Classic. If you’re looking for something new to play with friends, here’s our guide to the best multiplayer games.

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