Overwatch 2: Invasion feels like the start of the franchise’s redemption arc

❘ Updated: 2023-08-10T18:00:00

Blizzard Entertainment

PVE content is finally out the door, though it wasn’t without months of hardship for the dev team involved.

Overwatch 2: Invasion has launched, and we’ve played through the immense amount of content. Does the long-promised PvE live up to expectations alongside everything else in the season?

Overwatch 2’s shortcomings have not been a quiet affair. Last year’s launch saw a surge in interest and popularity, though also a lot of scrutiny. Due to the development team making a decision the year prior to getting a version of the game out rather than sitting in limbo and not releasing Heroes or maps, the scope of the sequel shifted. That ‘2’ has felt like an albatross around the franchise’s neck ever since.

While I’d say last year’s update was a big step forward, especially after two years without new, meaningful content, it still never justified its sequel status. It was, ostensibly, a big overhaul of PvP. That came to a very public forefront when the Overwatch 2 team announced that the long-anticipated PvE side of Overwatch 2, the thing that rationalized it as a sequel, was being drastically cut back and reshaped.

In the noise, many seemed to get it backward that the “PvE was canceled”. That isn’t true, but we’d still only be getting the planned campaign missions in portions.

What’s kept people going is the promise of Season 6, known as Invasion. In it, Blizzard announced we’d be getting the introduction of the first PvE missions, a new map type, two new maps, a new hero, Hero Mastery missions, and an overhaul to player progression. Understandably, doubt on if Blizzard could deliver has persisted. Could this hail mary pass really pay off?

We’ve had access to the game’s season 6 content for a couple of weeks now – and I can say, while Invasion isn’t redemption on its own, it feels like a significant step towards it.

Overwatch 2: Invasion’s campaign is great

Let’s jump to what you want to know, is the PvE in Overwatch 2: Invasion good? While it might hinge on your willingness to let go of the original vision – yeah, it’s great.

These missions are obviously the beginning of a broader campaign mode that has been planned for a while. Invasion comes with three missions, Resistance set in Rio de Janeiro, Liberation in Toronto, and Ironclad in Gothenburg. You’re thrown into the world of Overwatch 2 in the face of a new Omnic uprising. It’s a large-scale story that spans a good variety of the roster. That scale feeds into the missions too, with Toronto’s quieter, creepy feeling lingering, and Gothenburg’s sheer set pieces impressing

Importantly, this feels like a story campaign. Each mission is tied together with meaningful cutscenes that are a genuine joy for anyone who cares for these characters. It’s far beyond what the franchise has done with Archive missions in the past. However, it comes to life with the inter-character moments between the members of Overwatch. It also ends on an enticing note, centered around a surprising character who will likely be the lynchpin of this entire story.

There’s nice enemy variety too, with some mini-boss-type enemies that spice up play. Enemies also have some modular destruction making it fun to tear them apart. There’s nothing here about the AI that’s going to wow you, but it’s always great charging in as Reinhardt and swinging your hammer at a bunch of robots, or dashing through six or seven low-health enemies as Genji. There’s a decent level of challenge on offer here too. Getting a team together to do these at the highest level is going to be tough, and take a lot of coordination.

We’re PvEating

While it’s not quite on the level of unlockable Hero trees, there are also incentives to replay missions. Every time you complete a mission, you unlock new communications in the new Intel database. This is a new codex that houses a lot of new lore to read through and discover. As you complete a mission with one Hero, you unlock new lore specific to them. This is a light, but meaningful way to reward those who care most about the story with successive playthroughs.

The point is this though, if you’ve been waiting for an Overwatch campaign that tells the story of the franchise, this is it. This is that long-promised progression all of those animated shorts from seven years ago have all been leading to.

For those that only play through once, you may find these missions a little expensive, but they’re great content, and having played each around five times, I’d still enthusiastically jump in and play any of them again. The big question I anticipate when audiences finish them is “When can we get more?” That’s not a terrible place to be in for the Blizzard team. That said, please give us more by this time next year.

All and sun-dry – Illari arrives in Overwatch 2: Invasion

For any normal season of Overwatch 2, these missions would probably suffice. Overwatch 2: Invasion is absolutely enormous as it goes for a seasonal update though. Blizzard has more or less (excluding last season) kept to its ‘new map one season, new hero the next’ cadence. This season comes with three of those, in the form of Illari and two Flashpoint maps.

Illari is the newest support, making her the third to be released in less than a year. From playtesting her and seeing her in high ELO matches I can say this – she’s strong. I don’t anticipate anything like Lifeweaver’s cooler reception from Season 4. Her healing pylon is great, passive healing, and her secondary fire only adds to that potential. In most matches I played, she had the most healing. Her primary fire is a little strange compared to most of the roster, but it’s really a small footnote. Her upward dash really helps with her mobility too.

However, and it’s a small pool of matches I’ve watched and played in, her Ultimate seems ridiculously strong. Essentially, when she casts it, she flies, and then shoots a bomb that explodes. If players get hit by the splash they get a debuff that slows them. Then if enough damage is done to them, they explode. This usually sets off a chain reaction if a team is grouped up.

Hard to say how it will interact in live play, but her Ultimate almost always secured three kills when used. It also makes Illari a nightmare to hit as she can soar into the skybox before choosing to fire. In its current state, I think it’s one of the strongest Ultimates in the game, far exceeding a good chunk of the Damage Heroes’ in terms of lethality.

Flashpoint is Overwatch 2: Invasion’s new mode

On top of all that, there’s also a brand new game mode in Flashpoint, complete with two maps to go along with it. The best way to describe this new mode is it’s very similar to Control, except, instead of having to stop the match between points, you walk to them. The first to three captures wins.

These maps are easily the biggest Overwatch has ever seen. They’re quite confusing and the flow of movement isn’t always obvious. Games can become quite messy, but that also feels like the point. The fights that play out in those transitional moments before a new point feel key. Choosing when and where to engage is far more up to interpretation than in other modes where “fight on the cart” feels more defined. You may want to jump a team before a point opens up, or take a point and then send off your attackers to push out and explore the lanes to try and kill off straggling opponents.

It feels like a game mode that will be messy, to begin with, but will benefit smart players. Finding those moments and opportunities to push an advantage and when to show restraint feel key here. In my experience, the fights were less won on the point, and more in the lanes, so aggressive teams feel like they’ll do well here.

Overcoming – is this the new beginning?

There’s a lot else I didn’t get to cover here. Player Progression has overseen an interesting revamp centered more on the details of who you are as a player. Hero Mastery has fun obstacle courses that have promise (though the roster supported is currently very small). There’s also an Archive-like PvE event called Underworld that’s a neat distraction.

It’s all pretty great and it feels like a big win for the Overwatch 2 team. One it’s needed too. This year has felt like Blizzard trying to course-correct the original pitch into something sustainable. That has come with a lot of disappointment due to the downscaling of what was originally pitched.

However, where once there were a lot of question marks around Overwatch 2 and what it actually is, it feels like we now have a pretty solid handle on that. Underneath that headline-grabbing disappointment, the franchise has been releasing content at a very steady rate that parallels any of its early years. Outside of lost PvE dreams, Overwatch feels competitive in a market full of live-service games with equally disgruntled audiences. This is the shot in the arm that reminds us that Team 4 can deliver excellent and meaningful content still.

Some will be reluctant to forgive the sins of the past. Blizzard has burned through goodwill on this franchise. It’s fair to feel like you’ve turned a page on your time with the game. However, the game feels like it’s also turning a page of its own.

Overwatch has never released a season like this before. This feels like a statement of intent by the developers. The franchise has had moments like this in the past, namely the launch of Overwatch, the announcement of Overwatch 2, and Overwatch 2’s own launch, but this time, it feels a little different – this time, it feels defined with no unclear promises for the future.

Overwatch 2 players and the development team finally feel on the same page about what this game is. Hopefully, Overwatch 2: Invasion, and other releases like it, keep that harmony going.

Also, make sure to check out our in-depth guide content for the game and keep up-to-date with all the latest happenings in Blizzard’s Hero shooter: