Overwatch: Classic brings the 2016 game back as a limited-time event and promises to 'capture the charm' of its original heroes and maps
It's almost like all the popular shooters got together and decided that what they really need is a little bit of nostalgia. Fortnite brought back its original map last year, Apex Legends is doing the same thing right now, and tomorrow, Overwatch will rewind time in its own throwback mode.
Blizzard calls it Overwatch: Classic, a limited-time mode in Overwatch 2 that will attempt to recreate the original Overwatch experience as it was the day it launched. It won't be a 1:1 remake—maps, UI, and sound effects will remain as they are in Overwatch 2—but the heroes will all play like they did eight years ago: D.Va's exploding mech will take her out with it, Torbjorn will hand out armor packs, and Mercy will once again be able to resurrect her entire team at once.
«We want to capture the charm of what it was like to play Overwatch on release,» lead gameplay designer Alec Dawson said in an interview with PC Gamer. In other words: teams of six Symmetras frying their foes with a wall of laser turrets and deleting people around a corner with Hanzo's Scatter Arrow. «It can be a little chaotic,» Dawson said, «but I think that's what makes it really special.»
Overwatch: Classic, which will run until December 2, will also see a return to the original game's 6v6 format. Teams can have any number of heroes from each role, and for «the first few days,» won't have a limit on how many of the same hero people can play. Team compositions will be as chaotic as they were back in 2016.
Despite returning to the larger team sizes, Overwatch: Classic isn't part of Blizzard's upcoming 6v6 tests. Those experimental modes will be more focused on gathering feedback on hero balance and queue times. However, the development team will still be collecting data and listening to how players react to having more players in a match.
Overwatch players are hungry for goofy modes that shed some of the sequel's hyper-competitive hero design.
«I think that when players are asking for 6v6 they're asking for
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