The Overwatch 2 beta began yesterday, giving players their first chance to get hands-on with the new PvP mode of the team-based shooter. So far the reviews have been mostly positive: new character Sojourn is lots of fun to play, and making matches 5v5 (instead of 6v6) means games are a lot faster and more tactical. Others believe there isn’t enough new content, making it feel like an update to the first Overwatch game.
One of the biggest changes is the addition of a scoreboard. The first game used a medal system to show players how well they were performing against their teammates — a gold medal for healing, for instance, meant you had healed the most hit points on your team. Silver meant second-most and a bronze medal meant third-most. Importantly, no one else on your team could see your medals. This was a deliberate move to reduce the amount of abuse players received in games: toxic players couldn’t harass you about not getting enough kills if they’re not listed on a scoreboard.
Overwatch 2, however, has traded in the gold medals for a traditional scoreboard that lists every player’s eliminations, assists, deaths, damage dealt and healing. The scoreboard stops short from ranking players based on their stats, but it still gives toxic players more ammunition to use against people who just want to have fun.
But overall, people are having lots of fun with the Overwatch 2 beta. Classic heroes like Mercy, Tracer and Baptiste have been given new looks, and the new game mode Push is already proving popular, giving players plenty of chances to get sneaky with their plays.
If you’d like to check it out for yourself, you’ll have another to secure an invitation on April 28 between 3am and 11am in Australia. Just watch at least four hours of Twitch in that time period and you’ll receive an invite in the form of a Twitch Drop. The catch is that you need to have your Battle.net account linked to your Twitch, and only selected streamers count towards your time — there’s a full guide on how to get into the Overwatch 2 beta in Australia here.
Of course, as people were jumping into the beta after waiting years to play the game, they also made some excellent memes about the experience.
