Overwatch: Fans believe this friendly fire concept mode would add more strategy to the game

David Purcell

A crazy game mode concept has been put forward by one Overwatch fan, which would see friendly fire enabled in order to add more layers of ‘strategy’ to the team-based multiplayer game. 

Reddit user IWishIWasATurnip posted a fairly detailed plan for this concept to the Overwatch subreddit and it’s fair to say that it has already split opinion. 

“Friendly fire Mode would be a game mode in which players are not only able to kill members of the enemy team but also members of their own team,” IWishIWasATurnip explained. “I believe this mode would add a new and important layer of strategy and thinking to the team-based element of Overwatch.”

Overwatch’s Support Hero, Moira.

Teamwork is a major key to victory in Overwatch, as each Hero brings a different dynamic to battles which can be used to secure the win. This concept would force teams to rely more on communication and make decisions more effectively, with little margin for error. 

“Though low-level players would be more severely punished by this mode, it would teach everybody to think differently about their positioning, ult-timing, mechanics, and grouping. In short, it would take Overwatch as a team-based shooter and bring equal emphasis to teamwork,” the plan states. 

This concept includes not only team mates being able to kill their own team mates, but Support Heroes would not be able to heal enemy players, shields would allow friendly fire through the back but not the front, ultimate abilities damage would damage players (except Moira’s ultimate) and auto-target attacks would not target friendly players. 

While some Redditors have already posted their concerns about the concept, it’s fair to say that in Overwatch’s chaotic shooting environment, a game mode such as this might be more suited to people who have played the game for quite some time, but would make for an interesting change to gameplay.