Overwatch 2 launches its biggest expansion yet with the arrival of Season 6: Invasion

Overwatch players have been on a rollercoaster of emotions over the past few years. Since announcing a sequel 4 years ago, fans have been waiting for the promises and content to elevate the franchise. The arrival of Overwatch Season 6 has been teased with preview announcements, animations, and a campaign that seeks to restart the engine of this team-based shooter.

Ahead of its arrival, we played with some of the many elements that will cover Overwatch Season 6, Invasion, and reviewed the new game modes coming, as well as the new character in one of the biggest changes Overwatch has seen since its launch in 2016.

What’s in store for Overwatch 2 Season 6?

Invasion represents a major change in structure and direction for Overwatch, particularly in its story. Since its launch, Overwatch’s narrative, presented in animated shorts, comics, and even themed in-game missions, has remained static. When you think about it, we’ve really been told the story of who these heroes and villains are, what the Omnic Crisis was, the rise and fall of a group that tried to inspire, and where they are now. Three years have passed from the Recall short films to Zero Hour, and another four from the last trailer, which introduced us to the aesthetic shift of Overwatch 2 to today. It’s not that nothing has happened in between, it’s just that the story has barely progressed.

However, Invasion suggests that Overwatch 2 will take a step forward in its story. What drives Overwatch to break an agreement that dissolved them in order to come together again? How will the relationship we already know about these characters really evolve? This is where the first part of the content comes in, the story missions.

Overwatch 2 Story Missions

Part of this update introduces 3 new missions. If you are a fan of the series, think of the Archive missions, but improved, with larger maps, a higher level of detail and a narrative that was not considered before, thanks to the development of new technologies for the game.

These three missions will take us to Rio, Toronto, and Gothenburg. The maps are familiar, but they expand in ways and places we’ve never seen before as we battle the advancing Null Sector, making them the largest maps ever created for Overwatch. These missions also tell the story of how some of the members of Overwatch came together. Yes, we’ve played with Lucio and other agents before, but this is where they canonically meet. Or how some of the younger members got integrated.

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Story missions are not just play through, complete the mission and move on to the next one. There is a level of replayability, with objectives to complete, lines of dialogue to listen to, and little details to unlock. This is where one of the most interesting aspects comes in, which is Winston’s computer. This will be our control center, where not only will the missions be launched, but we will have access to a database with some of the lore we have seen so far already integrated. We will also have access to emails and voice and text messages that show the personality and interactions of the characters. Part of the replayability is that there are characters that will write down their experiences after completing a mission, so you will have to replay the mission to get their perspective on what just happened.

Keep in mind that this portion of the PvE content is behind a $15 paywall. Is it worth the money? For those fans who enjoy the story of Overwatch, it’s something they’ll want to try, and the level of replayability is a good incentive to give it a try.

Other PvE missions

However, for those who feel like paying too much, there will be other PvE content coming along with Invasion. Other missions will be coming as part of the content, the first of which will be an event mission called Underworld, which we are told will take us to a whole new part of the King’s Row map. This is promised to have more replayability than other missions the game has had, due to the series of modifiers and weekly changes that change the way the mission is carried out.

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On the other hand, we have the Hero Mastery missions. This is where all those years of gameplay will pay off. In these missions we will control a hero while the player will test his skills and knowledge of the character to complete a circuit, face enemies and earn points. When you finish the mission you will receive stars that show your level of mastery of the character to move to the next category. There are a total of 3 levels per character with a challenge to test your mastery of the character. This will be released in the middle of the season.

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Hero Progression System

As part of the feedback received from players, Blizzard has implemented this progression system to recognize the time and skill that fans have invested in the game. In addition to tracking how you play with each of the heroes through certain categories, each of those categories will level up and you will receive new emblems and even name cards that will also level up.

New game mode, Flashpoint

The integration of new game modes into Overwatch is something to celebrate. Even though Push was the mode that Overwatch 2 debuted with, it is not something that happens all that often. This new gameplay experience is coming to both Quickplay and Competitive modes, where on larger maps than we are used to, we will have to capture some of the five checkpoints that are spread across the map. This is not so easy as the game will randomly decide which point to take, making it the first non-linear game mode in the series.

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Flashpoint debuts with two new maps, Suravasa and New Junk City, which feature not only a different map design, but force the player to be changing their hero configuration depending on the type of point and situation. Something that we were told is that this game mode really seeks to increase the limits of the players’ abilities.

“Quemo como el Sol” Illari, the new support hero

With this new season comes a new supporting character. This time we meet Illari, a character of Peruvian origin, the second from South America. Illari’s powers come from the sun, with a balance that can make her an offensive healer in the right hands.

Illari’s design is quite unique and distinctive, as you wouldn’t think of any other Overwatch character. Her personality is a far cry from the other support heroes, being a bit more sarcastic and harsh.

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Her abilities include her giant weapon, the Solar Rifle, which can be used to fire long-range shots with the main button, while the secondary button can be used to fire a healing beam at medium range. Illari’s healing abilities don’t stop there, as he can launch a healing pylon that will slowly heal the most damaged teammate nearby. This pylon will remain in the same location until the player removes it or it is damaged by enemy fire. Another of Illari’s abilities is Outburst, which allows him to hurl himself in one direction and push the enemies he hits. Finally, we have her ultimate power, Captive Sun, with which he fires an explosive fireball that may not do much damage on impact, but the enemies hit by this explosion will be slowed down and if they are damaged enough, they will explode.

This is a summary of everything that is already available in Overwatch 2: Invasion, a huge amount of content with which Blizzard wants to bring back players of the shooter to continue the mission to save the world.