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at Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, California, a week ago Wednesday Surveillance by lights During the screening, I sat with other journalists from around the world in a room full of computers to play the film Five new Overwatch heroes early. Well…to play most Of them, because I tragically ran out of time before I could play as Jetpack Cat in a full match. But I felt it on the training range.
A few caveats: I’ve only played one game or round as each of the other four playable characters, and Gibraltar’s competitive play is split between the two new damage champions. This is not enough time to fully understand the complexities of their groups. And every match I played pitted the five new heroes against those same five heroes, so my observations on strengths and matchups are limited to very specific team composition.
However, there was enough time for some key points. I’ve broken down my initial experience and analysis of each hero below, along with a minute or two of gameplay. But if you just want to watch the action, here’s the full game I played on the updated Watchpoint: The Gibraltar map, split between damage heroes Anran and Emre.
Jetpack Cat will appeal to creative players and people who enjoy a “pure support” game.
Jetpack Cat is real, and she’s at the top of the list of newly released heroes. Although I wasn’t able to take the jetpack for a spin in an actual match, its combination felt intuitive while also allowing plenty of room for creativity. Its elemental fire fires Biotic Pawjectiles that seem to deal notable damage and healing.
Its ability to select a Lifeline kit sets up a line that allies can interact with, allowing you to fly them around the map, opening up a lot of creative possibilities. Allies must participate in the lifting process: “We prefer this to be a cooperative thing,” said game designer Scott Kennedy, referring to frustration with the Life Weaver’s ability to forcibly move teammates.
But if your first question, like mine, is “What about… Bob“You can fly Ashe’s all-encompassing servant at will,” Dawson confirmed. (I like to imagine that BOB has a choice in the matter; he always does.) Jetpack Cat’s regular abilities are a resource-limited boost ability and a purr that instantly heals allies and knocks out enemies around her.
As for the ending…look, you’ll like it. You have to understand and accept that now. decent. It actually happened to me.
Activating your ultimate pulls out a laser pointer, and confirming with elemental fire sends Jetpack Cat hurtling toward the laser and grabbing the nearest enemy. It took playtesters nearly zero seconds to realize that you can move forward before the end, giving people almost no time to react before being dragged away to their doom.
I think Jetpack Cat has meaningful offensive abilities, especially up close, where she can reduce the travel time of her projectiles or just knock people off the map with her purring. But her kit also looks like it will appeal to the type of player who just wants to pump healing into his team without taking on the responsibility of being an aggressive threat. Her basic ability to fire and purr can quickly heal a tank of low health, and the combination of always flying with a significant speed boost allows the hero to heal teammates without having to directly confront enemies.
Domina allows tank players to close down important angles and unleash serious firepower
Domina is designed to act as a poke tank, competing with Sigma in combinations that aim to deal lots of ranged damage from different angles and take down teams before they get close. She can do this with a beam weapon that has an impressive range and deals extra damage on the last tick of each shot.
She has a curved barrier that she can deploy from a distance, allowing her to cut fire from a certain angle or protect an enemy tank from healing. But its armor is curved with square plates that can be destroyed individually. She can also push enemies back and stun them, or fire an explosive crystal that she detonates manually. Her ultimate ability sends a wide-ranging projectile – any enemies it hits are trapped in a barrier and take massive damage if they don’t explode before a short delay.
In media playtesting, the well-supported Domina was a threat. Her passive ability restores her shield’s health, and one of her perks activates passive healing when she deploys her barrier, which combines the ability to remain meaningful as long as she can maintain her distance. Her explosive ability stuns heroes who crash into a wall, making her difficult to chase down one-on-one, and her basic fire felt very threatening, especially when hitting the head with the final damage burst.
If you like Sigma’s general gameplay but don’t like his dual projectile weapon, or if you prefer more proactive abilities, Domina might appeal to you. I think her more finely tuned attack abilities would make her more vulnerable to being overwhelmed by proximity to Sigma, but also more reliable against flying or fast enemies. It’ll also be fun if you enjoy fantasizing about Overwatch’s hard lighting tech or just playing a villain who’s fancier than you.
Mizuki rewards highly skilled support players who want to participate in the battle
Mizuki was the most complex hero I tried in playtesting. He heals the area around him, similar to Brigitte, but the amount he heals increases the more damage he deals and heals. It’s designed to be a support hero that allows or even forces you to play in different, more vulnerable spaces than other supports, who tend to prefer to be a little disconnected from the team, assistant game director Alec Dawson said in a pre-Spotlight group interview.
Mizuki’s primary weapon does not heal allies, but it can seriously hit enemies and bounce off rooftops. His alternate fire causes him to throw his hat, which bounces around a few allies to heal them and Mizuki when he returns. His Link Chain ability releases a chain that briefly incapacitates the enemy. Katashiro’s Return ability drops a small paper doll while granting Mizuki a small dash and increased movement speed, and can reactivate the ability to return to the doll’s location. It’s a great tool that can be used to play mind games with your enemies or just quickly retreat to safety.
His ultimate, Kekkai Sanctuary, creates a cylindrical area to heal allies and absorb enemy projectiles. It’s not a massive healing spell, and any weapons fired from within the sanctuary are not absorbed, so it’s not a “things in this circle can’t die” statement after all. But it’s a solid protection against long-range threats and was ultimately effective against Emery in the playtest.
Mizuki felt like the type of hero who scaled strength with familiarity and skill, meaning that a bad Mizuki would be close to useless, and a good Mizuki would be a terror. Landing obstacles and maintaining a high healing multiplier will be important, as will throwing the hat at the right time. His relatively low healing throughput but decent utility seems particularly threatening when supporting a damage hero with an angle – landing on the obstacle and extra damage will help secure kills, while throwing his hat and passive healing will help them hold the angle longer.
Anran is one of the fun and fiery characters and should be a favorite for anyone who prefers fast-paced battles
Anran will be playable on Thursday in the Champion Experience ahead of the Season 1 launch. She’s the sister of support hero Wuyang, and joins the new sub alongside damage heroes like Genji, Sombra, and Tracer. Like them, Anran moves quickly around the map and attacks from unexpected angles. Her combo is designed around inducing the Burning condition, which she can further exploit with secondary fire that deals extra damage to burning enemies. Fueling the flames also burns enemies from other sources, such as Ashe’s Dynamite ability.
Like most wingers, she has mobility and another ability that can be used more defensively. Her Double Dash ability helps build up the Burn status, and her Dancing Blaze ability makes her invulnerable for a brief period while dealing damage to enemies in a small radius.
Anran’s ultimate ability is perhaps the most unique part of her kit. She can use it offensively in battle to jump into the sky and fire an explosion that instantly damages and burns enemies. Or, if Anran is killed during her final charge, she can use it to revive herself in a small explosion. I think it would generally be better to attack with her ultimate, but trading one-on-one to one side and then using it to revive yourself seems viable as well.
Playing Anran was my favorite part of the playtest. It took me a few minutes to put together her tool flow, but once I did, I loved the smooth gameplay loop of getting in and dealing quick bursts of damage before getting out. While I struggled with the short range of her secondary fire and was constantly overestimating how well she danced, her range seemed interesting and dynamic. I expect to be playing a lot of Anran very soon.
Emre is a deadly super soldier with tactical gameplay and a terrifying ending
Emre is another damage hero who fits the Soldier archetype, but unlike Soldier: 76, his deck features less running ability and more weapons. Its primary fire is a three-shot blaster rifle with remarkably little recoil. Aiming downward does not slow down Emery’s movement speed, making him difficult to take down in a 1v1 match from a distance.
One of Emery’s abilities draws a semi-automatic pistol that deals life-stealing explosive damage. He can also run faster and jump higher while the gun is out. His other ability is to throw a grenade that bounces once before exploding, allowing you to confirm kills around corners or chip away at an enemy’s health at the start of a skirmish – or just add a little height to your jumps. His passive ability makes his health regeneration start sooner, with 30 HP when it starts.
Emery’s ultimate gives him the ability to fly where he pulls out a massive cannon to bomb enemies below him, constantly firing light shots and launching larger explosions on a short cooldown. These large explosions are particularly devastating, especially to enemy groups or anyone trapped in a small space.
Emre felt strong in playtesting, as he was able to confirm kills from a distance with rangefinders, while being very self-sufficient up close thanks to the lifesteal rounds of his pistol ability. His ultimate goal was the second scariest thing in the hallway (behind the screaming of a certain cat), and he was capable of wiping out entire squads if they didn’t have an ultimate goal to fight back with. Overall, Emery brought back memories of the glory days of Halo, throwing gear and mowing down enemies with a battle rifle.
The new heroes arrive just in time for Overwatch’s big year-long narrative
Overwatch has never released this many heroes at once. Even the launch of Overwatch 2 only brought us three new heroes – one from each role. It’s an exciting time for the game, with heroes being released once a season as the game introduces a new, ongoing Reign of Talon story that each of the new heroes will be connected to, on one side of the Overwatch vs. Talon conflict or the other.
The new first season begins on Tuesday, with all five heroes here.