Blizzard has recently opened up about the cancellation of Hero Mode and has teased an unannounced co-op mode for its shooter Overwatch 2. This comes just days after it was announced that it would be scrapping its PvE Hero Mode.
Thanks to a Blizzard blog post, we know Blizzard plans to add Story Missions to Overwatch 2. These missions are described as “fast-paced, co-op gameplay, as well as story, cinematics, and cutscenes that expand the world of Overwatch.” The blog post also says that these missions will take place on huge maps and players will have new enemies to fight. Story Missions will become available to players during Season 6.
In addition to Story Mode, Blizzard talked a bit more about Hero Mode, which was a mode that would allow players to upgrade their favorite heroes via skill trees and has replayable PvE elements. From the very beginning of Overwatch, the dev team considered themselves an FPS MMO and had a “crawl, walk, run plan.” According to Blizzard, the crawl phase was the game itself while the walk portion was introducing PvE, and the Run would be the MMO.
When the game launched in 2022, the team began to talk about what phase of the game could be. Work had started on the PvE portions of the game, but they struggled to find their “footing with the Hero Mission experience early on.” The team had even built a hero talent, new enemies, and early versions of missions. Still, as time passed, they struggled “to bring together all of the elements needed to ship a polished, cohesive experience.”
Once the announcement was made, the dev team felt they couldn’t deliver on their promise. So because of that, the decision to cancel Hero Mode was made. Even though Hero Mode is no longer a thing, the team is still working on new content, such as Story Missions and unannounced co-op content.
For more Overwatch 2 news, check out our story on Overwatch 2’s Updated Roadmap and how the big PvE changes are not due to return-to-office policy.
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