Blizzard Entertainment shocked the industry back in 2014 when it announced that its next MMO, Titan, was canceled and that they would instead be developing a brand new IP in a genre they had never developed for. That game is Overwatch, a team-based multiplayer-only first-person shooter. Overwatch stands out as not only Blizzard’s first foray into the first-person shooter market, but also as Blizzard’s first brand new IP in over seventeen years. Has Blizzard crafted a masterful entry into the genre, or is this one giant mistake?
Heroes of the Storm is bringing back the Heroes Brawl as Brawl Mode, opening up dozens of discontinued maps for the first time in almost five years. This new version of the classic Heroes Brawl game mode is available to play on the Heroes of the Storm Public Test Realm now and will ostensibly officially return when the patch goes live in about a mo
Blizzard wanted “Project Titan” to be unlike other superhero-themed MMOs, such as City of Heroes and Champions Online, with new elements like forcing players to alternate between superhero activities and the day-jobs of their secret identities . The project struggled, was completely rebooted, and eventually dissolved, with Blizzard concluding that the game simply wasn’t fun to play . This led to a new design philosophy for Overwatch Halloween Event : above all, everything has to be fun. If reviews are any indication, it seems like the game lives up that philosophy and then some, by cutting out unnecessary chores and leaving only the exciting core beh
It’s really that feeling of working as part of a team, mastering the characters and controlling the map that makes Overwatch such a joy to play, even without getting the content you want for your favorite character. In one match, my team and I made a last defense on a capture map. Our Bastion entered turret mode to spray one entry point, and Reinhardt held up his shield at another with Zarya close behind, supplying him with a personal shield. Soldier 76 sprinted to the front to deal heavy damage with Mercy flying behind providing a damage boose. All the while, a Widowmaker hid at the very back, ready to snipe enemies that somehow made it past our defenses. In a world filled with so many “go-it-alone” multiplayer shooters, having a game like Overwatch that offers so many unique ways to play as a team is refreshing and fun.
There are many superficial similarities between Overwatch and Battleborn , Gearbox’s character-based shooter released just a few weeks before Blizzard’s: both feature large rosters of cartoonish, over-the-top characters, and both are multiplayer-focused games with an emphasis on teamwork and roles. But there are significant differences between the two games that actually make the comparisons a little unfair. For starters, Battleborn does have some single-player offerings, but its main differentiator is in its inspiration. From the structure of its maps to the low-ranked AI units serving as cannon fodder to the way players slowly level up over the course of a match, Battleborn is clearly trying to blend first-person gameplay with frantic MOBA elements perfected in games like League of Legends . Overwatch is far more similar to Valve’s legendary class-based shooter Team Fortress 2 . It takes that game’s concepts (learning a class, wildly differing roles based on attacking, defending, and support, and changing roles constantly to adapt to new situations) and cranks them up to eleven, as more characters means more slight tweaks on the same central id
Of course, no Heroes of the Storm update would be complete without some balance changes . Chromie and Tracer all saw buffs and nerfs to a few of their talents. Johanna and Zul’jin did as well, though the former’s Shield Glare had its mana cost increased, while the latter’s You Want Axe? trait was improved. Auriel, on the other hand, received buffs to her Bestow Hope trait and several of her talents that will aid her healing, damage, and survivabil
Heroes of the Storm has officially rolled out the first update of 2025, featuring some balance changes, bug fixes, and the return of Brawl Mode. Players can enjoy these special game modes on a rotating, biweekly basis in Heroes of the Storm right now, starting with the Lunar Rocket Racing minig
Heroes Brawl, initially introduced as Arena Mode, was a Heroes of the Storm game mode introduced in 2016 that featured weekly rotating challenges with drastic changes to the game. Inspired by Hearthstone ’s Tavern Brawls, Heroes Brawls introduced unique map layouts, alternative objectives, and zany rulesets, such as an all-Nova Ghost Protocol sniper duel, action-packed Arena versions of several battlefields, and the Escape from Braxis PvE mission. Unfortunately, due to the popularity of single-lane maps, and the difficulty of maintaining the mode, Heroes Brawl was permanently replaced by ARAM – All Random, All Mid – in 2
The lack of strong story elements doesn’t overshadow what the game does do well: gameplay and map design. The 21 characters aren’t just diverse in their personalities, but also in their different abilities. Each character has two unique abilities that are assigned to the bumpers on Xbox One, R1 and L1 on PS4, and Shift and E on PC. A few characters, like Widowmaker and Soldier 76, have a third special ability assigned to LT/L2/RMB. Widowmaker can ADS her sniper, and Soldier 76 can use his assault rifle’s grenade launcher. Overwatch looks deceptively simple from the outside, but mechanically has a large amount of depth.