Kotaku game logThe last thoughts of a Kotaku staff member about a game we’re playing.I have a confession to make: despite the fact that I am KotakuIt’s number one Overwatch fan, I haven’t played it in two years. But hit by my optimism for Overwatch 2 and being unable to get me Overwatch fix it because Overwatch League won’t be back for another month, so I decided to play again, hoping to recap what I liked about the game the first time.
Cooperative shooting has never been my job. In my mind, they had a reputation for not forgiving in terms of the player’s qualification requirements and toxicity. However, helped by the fact that it was made by Blizzard Entertainment, a company that I grew up loving for many years of gaming World of Warcraft, when Overwatch arrived in 2016 i thought this might finally be a shooter for me. And it was. Overwatch it was the game that took me out of more comfort zones. Not only did I play a cooperative first-person shooter, but I gravitated toward the supporting heroes – something I had never done in any class game before. Overwatch just clicked for me. I didn’t feel any unwarranted pressure to be good, and the diverse cast, bright colors, and hopeful message reassured me in the way the brown seriousness of the water Modern Warfare et al did not.
Overwatch League arrived in 2018, galvanizing my commitment and love for the game. I had a serious case of esports fomo. I was endlessly thrilled that video games get the same treatment as meat sports – ultimately a competitive thing. I I want to participate! But all the most popular esport titles –League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Dota 2– There are no games that interested me or that I could really understand. I would watch The International, Dota 2The annual competition tournament, which ends the season, fuels the infectious energy of the crowd, the players and the players, without understanding anything that is happening in front of me. What the hell is a BKB? I don’t know, but everyone seems pretty excited about it. Overwatch League became the bridge that connected me to something I was desperate to be a part of, but I couldn’t understand. I bought to the end and while the League is in trouble acquiring interest, lack of players, and player protections, I really feel like it’s a community that I’ll stay with until the end – whether I play the game or not.
Almost three years ago, I just stopped playing Overwatch. While my love of watching the game through Overwatch League was at its peak (and it is still there), in fact, the game had become a chore. Arcade and Quick Play modes were old, workshop it wasn’t a thing yet, the newest heroes weren’t excited and we avoided the competitive ladder because it contained the worst “git gud” elements of the community. There was also racism. Although it has a good overall experience, Overwatch has the dubious honor of being the game in which I experienced the most racism. Chatting in the word-filled game was not a common occurrence. Reddit and Blizzard forums have threads that ask why harmless meme phrases like “GGEZ” are banned, but if you turn off the language filter, the word n becomes a correct game. As I fell in love with the game and before I stopped completely, I remember talking to myself before connecting. I would weigh as much as I wanted to play against my strength to deal with any racist or misogynistic nonsense that might result. And as my coping power waned, my desire to play waned and I finally stopped. My friends noticed my absence. They were jokingly sending me screenshots of their Battle.net friends list with the “Offline” timer under my name growing larger.
G / O Media may receive a commission
Last week, I decided to play again for the first time in years. There was no real incident that would cause me to return – I just did. It took a while for a few months of updates worth installing, but I’m back in the game. It has changed a lot. There are few quality of life adjustments that are pleasing to look at. The “Mark all as seen” button for any new cosmetic product is nice (although sometimes I liked to manually delete the notification, just to spend time with the characters.) I like that the game tells you how long you can expect to queue and that you can spend time in the training interval while queuing for a match. The role queue is a blessing. In the early days, I spent a lot of games fighting for crash heroes or tanks because all the support slots were full. The role queue eliminated anxiety. It’s hand down, it’s the best thing about returning to the game.
Coming back to Overwatch it didn’t seem like much to me, but rather it was a collection of smaller moments that reminded me of why I fell hard for this game in 2016. I remember opening the game for the first time, hearing the trumpets sounding. “The world could always use more heroes“And feeling my lips automatically slip into a smile – as if you heard a greeting from an old friend. I was delighted with the muscle memories that came up while playing Zenyatta. I didn’t have to remember the connections for his healing damage and blindness, shooting them everywhere, without fear of approaching the heart of the battle. That fearlessness was rewarded with gold and silver medals in the healing done and the assistance of the murder. It seemed to me that I never stopped playing – although my final schedule is still a bit rusty.
Overwatch, it seems, is still my fun game in the comfort zone. I feel more empowered to try other ways that I have ignored in the past. I experimented with different heroes in Team and Solo Deathmatch for the first time and I was quite surprised by how well I did. I’m really thinking of giving Serious Competitive a try. One of the best things about Overwatch is that I do not have to commit at this time. I can get everything I want from a session in 20 minutes or less, making it a perfect cleaning product for the palace when I need a break from endless hours of Final Fantasy XIV. Although I needed some time away from Overwatch, It feels great to come back.