Overwatch (2016)

4.13 from 118 votes
A sci-fi multiplayer first-person shooter from Blizzard, in which players can choose from a wide range of Heroes with unique weapons and abilities. It was later discontinued in 2022 for the free-to-play sequel.
First released
May 23, 2016
Franchises
Overwatch
Developed by
Blizzard Entertainment
Published by
Blizzard Entertainment
Platforms
PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Genres
First-Person Shooter
Themes
Sci-Fi
Rating
ESRB: T
Releases
  • NSW - Overwatch (Legendary Edition) United States
  • NSW - Overwatch (Digital Legendary Edition) United States
  • PC - Overwatch (Origins Edition) United States
  • PC - Overwatch (Collector's Edition) United States
  • PC - Overwatch (Legendary Edition) United States
  • PC - Overwatch (Game of the Year Edition) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Origins Edition) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Game of the Year Edition) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Legendary Edition) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Legendary Holiday Bundle) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Collector's Edition) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Headset Bundle) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Digital Legendary Edition) United States
  • PS4 - Overwatch (Digital Origins Edition) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Origins Edition) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Game of the Year Edition) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Collector's Edition) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Legendary Edition) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Legendary Holiday Bundle) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Headset Bundle) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Digital Origins Edition) United States
  • XONE - Overwatch (Digital Legendary Edition) United States

Community reviews

 
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Good shooter, but too confusing for me in terms of visuals.
Overwatch is an Online FPS with a unique art style. It is fast paced, intense and reminds a bit of Team Fortress 2.

In Overwatch, you can choose a trillion different heroes or characters to play as. You join one of the two teams and work together to complete a shared goal, while blasting away other players. It was actually a lot of fun, although I was (like many competitive shooters) not very good at the game.

The maps are fairly large and the many buildings, alleys and small areas make for a real witch hunt between players.

I always complain in some games, that graphics and art style are blend and could use a little more color, but Overwatch overdid it a bit in my humble opinion. There are more colors in one gun or character than in some entire games. This is not a bad thing normally, but in Overwatch, the many colors and different colored textures, made me not see enemy players very well. For me personally, they kind of blended in the surroundings sometime. I saw a street lantern with a bench in front of it, and emptied my gun, only to realize that I was seeing ghosts.

In terms of sound, Overwatch is all right. Guns sound fine, effects and explosions are good enough.

Overwatch controls very easily and smooth and the mechanics are easy to understand.

I am a little disappointed that games today just close their servers in favor of the next installment, forcing you to play and making the old game inaccessible. Blizzard is the prime example for this, in case the hint was not clear. Nothing lasts forever, but when you have some kind of solid player base, you should not do this.

After dying for the hundredth time, I was kind of done with Overwatch. It is not a bad game, but for me, it was just a little confusing, hard to read and overall, not that special. It also does not help that I just suck too hard for competitive online play.

In the end, I would recommend this game, if the servers were still up for the first game.
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My impressions
When I first heard of Overwatch was in reviews that acclaimed the game.
At the time, a non-story multiplayer only game getting that praise was unacceptable for most gamers, me included.
Then it was either a Open Beta or a free play week that took place, when I played the game I got instantly hooked by the original gameplay and amazing feeling of play.

Packed with enough variety to for the very first time encourage me to play with different characters and change my way of play in the process.

One of the highest quality experience I had in a Multiplayer game.

Played it none stop the free weeks it was available, first on Xbox One and then couple years later on Nintendo switch.

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Met the love of my life on this game
Its a long story, but its actually a pretty good game and when the second part comes out it’ll be even better
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Favorite Competitive Game of All Time
What can I say about this game other than the number of hours I've poured into both PC and Xbox One versions. This is my favorite competitive game of all time and easily cracks the top five, possibly the top three ever. You can gripe about balance issues and directions Blizzard took the game but it always has me coming back for how well it's designed and the fun ceiling is the highest it can be. My only complaints are it is very tilting when team coordination just doesn't go your way so the overall happiness level is very volatile.

5/5
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