Should you lose, teammates can still ‘buy’ your return, but requires them to first earn enough in-game money to afford it. For example, if you die, you will be sent to the ‘Gulag’ to fight with other downed players for a one-time chance to redeploy back into the game. Warzone offers some fresh takes on the traditional battle royale formula.

If that wasn’t enough, a wall of gas will force you into increasingly tight areas. The core game requires you to either drop in solo or as part of a team and duke it out with up to 149 other players, running between different points of interest to forage for weapons, tactical items and vehicles.

Boosting by interest during the pandemic, the free-to-play battle royale has persisted through numerous iterations of the Call of Duty franchise, with new maps, game modes and weapons helping to push the player base above the 100 million mark. Fortnite Battle Royaleįor years, Fortnite was the battle royale of choice for younger players, until Call of Duty: Warzone came along. At least until you figure out how to play Overwatch 2, you can marvel at how good it looks. The game looks and sounds terrific too, thanks to Blizzard’s trademark level of polish. There are many great (though often fairly expensive) new skins to kit them out with too.

The first batch of new heroes are all a blast to play. Now featuring a cast of more than 30 heroes, each with distinct abilities and playstyles, you’ll surely find a few Overwatch 2 characters that you can connect with. There's a greater emphasis on individual impact, but you'll still need to work well with your teammates to secure a victory. That, along with across-the-board character tweaks, has made gameplay faster-paced and more enjoyable than the original Overwatch. Blizzard reduced the number of players on each team from six to five. To the untrained eye, matches may seem like colorful chaos, but Overwatch 2 has a deceptively simple goal - stand on or near an objective and keep the other team away long enough to win. Overwatch 2 has a deceptively simple goal - stand on or near an objective and keep the other team away long enough to win.

Stick with it, though, and you’ll get to indulge in perhaps the best team shooter around. Even though Blizzard has improved the onramp for new players this time around, Overwatch 2 still has a steep learning curve.

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