OverWatch this.

So let´s finally talk about OverWatch. Blizzards first real step in to the first person market. If you have not done so yet take a few moments to check out the cinematic intro (and if you feel you have the time, the gameplay demo) linked here.

So now that we are all on the same page I am going to try to explain why I feel that the hype for this game might be justified. You see I used to be a FPS gamer once, back when I was younger and had way more time and a lot better eyesight. I started like many others on DOOM and Castle Wolfenstein back in the days when an entire game took up less space than your average image. It was fun because it was bloody and violent and so very much not Super Mario, it was also 3d… or well to call it 3d is being very kind. But it was something and it was awesome. Ten came Quake and later Unreal. My friends and I never got all that much in to the scene back then but we kicked some decent butt. We gravitated more towards Co-Op gaming like Rainbow Six and the early Battlefield games against the best of what bots could offer up back then. It was relaxing and we could banter and joke while we rained death and destruction down on digital people. Then the genre sort of got away from me. I tried to keep up with the BF games but failing eyesight and more realistic textures is not a good mix. It was not better on the more arcade side of things as the demands on players increased with weirder and faster gameplay. So I simply resigned from the FPS genre and went over to the slower paced MMO scene.

Now I do of course know that there are both first and third person shooters that are better suited for a scrub like myself. But here is where brand recognition comes in. Blizzard have time and time again produced solid and well supported games and especially with their new games such as Hearthstone and Heroes of the storm they work hard to make the barrier of entry as low as possible. Now I am banking on this with OverWatch too. Making it easy for an old goat such as myself to get back in to a genre of games I always liked but felt was beyond my scope.

Blizzard have said that the goal of OverWatch is to take the design philosophy from World of Warcraft where you bring the player, not the class. For Overwatch this will equal each play style having their place in the game. No matter if you are a tank or an assassin. For people like me you have the typical engineer that build turrets and generally have a slow paced game by the way of area denial and really burst-y but short-ranged damage. Characters like Bastion and Torbjörn(whom I already feel a certain kinship with seeing as he is a short and somewhat portly Gothenburger) fill a less jumpy-shooty niche and focus more on finding a good spot to defend.

So what is OverWatch in the game then? Well we do not really know all that much yet. It would seem that OverWatch was a G-I Joe/Avengers like peacekeeping force that for some reason fell from grace, either they ran out of favor or things to do. After all the world always cry out for heroes in times of dire need, but in times of peace and prosperity the same people with amazing power that once saved you as a unstoppable force will look more and more like a potential threat to the established peace. After all what if they decide to turn on society. It is a bit unclear why OverWatch members are once again going in to action in the game but I am sure that it will be explored further at a later date. The world of OverWatch is set in a version of our own, as I mentioned you can play a Swedish armsdesigner or why not an Egyptian soldier in a flying armor… Or a talking gorilla from the moon.. just for the heck of it.    

And this is a big part of what makes me interested in the new world, there is so much room to expand and explore. This world could hold so many new games, maybe a Dragon Age/Mass Effect type RPG based on the crisis that actually cause the formation of OverWatch to begin with… Of course we will see OverWatch heroes crossing over in to Heroes of the Storm… The opportunities are endless and if you like Blizzard for what they do rather than being a fan of a specific setting this is a very interesting time as we might see what Blizzard does with over 30 years of experience now that they have a blank canvas to work with.

So to sum this rambling mess up.

I look forward to OverWatch as a chance to get back in to the genre since the setting captures me in a way that most others have not, and if you read my blog you might see how a setting with in essence superheroes might be to my liking, but I also think the new world is a very interesting one to build on for a long time to come.