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These days, I’m lucky enough to work in games, and that means even if I don’t get a game code, I know that I’ll be able to write about a game and make money off it. In 2016 when Overwatch released, that wasn’t the case. I’d buy new games, beat them, then flip them at a second hand shop and use that money to buy another game, and so on. That’s a big part of why single player games, with a definitive ending, matter so much to me. The Witcher, The Last of Us, Horizon, Grand Theft Auto 4, Red Dead Redemption 2, and every FIFA from 09 to 19 all entered my life that way. Countless others, too. Despite this, I still have my old Overwatch disc, gathering dust on my shelf as it dwindles in value and my play time trickles up by a few measly minutes every six months or so. There’s just something very compelling about Overwatch’s existence that never quite translates to its gamep

Overwatch fans got a closer look at the complex RPG systems coming to Overwatch 2 that will allow players to customize each character with unique sets of passive and active abilities to really define their individual playstyles in story mode. Each character has three separate skill trees with abilities that can be mixed and matched to produce synergistic effects. One example given was a pair of perks for Soldier 76 that would allow him to move around with his biotic field and repel enemies that moved into the field, giving Soldier a unique "snowplow" bu

Paladins, a free-to-play shooter which took a _ lot _ of inspiration from Overwatch, has a battle pass, and it functions brilliantly. Now imagine this with Blizzard’s budget. I used to be filled with excitement when Overwatch introduced new seasonal events, hoping that my favourite trio of heroes would receive skins I could flaunt on the battlefield. Now, I’m just indifferent, rolling my eyes as the same optional modes, the same skins, and the same aesthetic are rolled out again and again to keep us ha

In total, I’ve probably played less than ten hours in Overwatch. That’s a pretty pathetic return for an online shooter that’s been out for five years. In fact, ‘an online shooter’ barely does Overwatch justice. For a while, it was the biggest hero shooter in the world, and despite increasing competition, it arguably still is. I know people who have hundreds, if not thousands of hours in Overwatch, and I’m still in single figures. Yet it’s a game I’m always thinking ab

Bulletstorm is the last single-player shooter I played that I had literally no issue with. Those Wolfensteins were great, but the level design was blah. Doom was fun, but got repetitious. Titanfall 2 just, ah... didn't do it for me, sorry! Bulletstorm , though? This was a non-stop jolt of pure adrenaline that went tearing out the gate and never let up until the credits started rolling. A mechanical marvel with a whip-smart script, they don't make games like this anymore - and they really sho

Prey was a poorly covered game because of the bugs it had at launch, but the game itself is a masterclass in player choice. Narratively, Prey is the only game to effectively solve the disconnect between player and player character, and it does it so carefully and brilliantly that when everything comes together at the end. your mind will be absolutely blown. I think about Prey once a week and the effect it has had on me as a player and a storyteller. My mission in life is to get everyone to play this g

I’ve been excited for Overwatch 2 for a very long time. Overwatch is one of my favourite shooters in history, as well as being my absolute favourite online game ever made. I’ve been excited about the potential a story with some of my most beloved characters in video games could have for donkey’s years, as well as the opportunity to run PvE gauntlets with my friends and all of the other mystery inherently surrounding Blizzard’s highly anticipated sequel to one of the most iconic hero shooters around town. 5v5, https://Overwatch2Fans.com though? Nah. I’ll stick to current Overwatch for competitive, tha

That’s an issue for another day though. Today, I want to focus on the Archives skins, particularly those of our queer characters, Soldier 76 and Tracer. The Archives event is running until April 27, and brings eight new skins to the game, each designed around a given character’s cultural history. Both Soldier 76 and Tracer are included in the event, but it’s extremely telling that neither of their cultural histories includes any reference to queerness. Soldier 76 is becoming Soldier 1776 which, I admit, is a good pun. The American soldier is donning the jacket of the Revolutionaries, these days probably best known from the musical Hamil

As a - very - casual Overwatch fan , the characters have always been my favourite thing about the hero shooter. They only tell vague stories, but they’re so well designed and are bursting with such life that they feel like bigger characters than they actually are. They’re similar to comic book characters; you don’t need to have read the decades long history between Batman and the Joker, you just see their iconic designs and you instantly feel as if you know them. Whether it’s Ashe and her Wild West gunslinger aesthetic, D.Va’s e-girl vibe, or Winston the science monke, the character designs tell their own stories. That’s why the recent Archives event feels like a big missed opportun