I've been playing Overwatch on and off since its launch, and over the past eight years, it has provided some of the most exhilarating moments in my gaming career. Few experiences compare to the thrill of landing a quad kill with D.Va’s self-destruct, re-meching, and single-handedly securing a point. That rush remains just as potent now as it was in 2016.
Throughout the years, the Overwatch community has experienced many shifts, from the unbridled excitement of the post-launch period to the drudgery of the enduring GOATs meta, followed by renewed hope at the announcement of Overwatch 2, and confusion when the ‘sequel’ launched. It’s been anything but a smooth ride for fans.
No matter how people feel about the current state of the game, one sentiment echoes among veteran players: it just doesn’t feel the same. With an ever-expanding roster, eight years of balance changes, new maps, and gameplay adjustments, Overwatch has evolved significantly. The solution to the community’s nostalgic longing seemed simple to me—an optional mode that restored the game to its original state. Now that Blizzard has introduced Overwatch Classic, I’ve realized I might have been wrong.
Overwatch Classic is a limited-time mode that could become a permanent fixture, reverting the game to its 2016 launch state. The roster is limited to the original 21 heroes, team sizes return to 6v6, and hero abilities are mostly restored to their initial forms. For heroes with significant reworks, such as Cassidy, it can feel like playing an entirely different character.
It’s a surprisingly comprehensive recreation of the game’s early state and represents no small effort on the part of the developers. Overwatch 2 saw the game switch to a new engine, meaning it was no simple rollback of code—the conditions for even a facsimile of the original would have had to be meticulously crafted over months of development work.
One notable change in this mode is the removal of hero limits—teams can stack multiple instances of a single hero. Want two Roadhogs? Go for six! This leads to some amusing meme compositions; watching a turret-toting Torbjörn six-stack storm to victory is undeniably entertaining. However, it’s hardly conducive to cohesive gameplay.
This unrestricted chaos makes it difficult to find any real rhythm in matches, as players face constant interruptions and lineup changes. The tagline “relive the chaos” is apt—Overwatch Classic delivers on that front. Some fans have joked that this mode was created to remind players how far the game has come, and it’s hard to argue with that.
Blizzard’s long-standing reluctance to introduce such a mode stemmed from concerns about splitting the player base and siphoning players from standard quick play and competitive matches. If they wish to satisfy fans with a throwback experience, Blizzard needs to incorporate the fundamental improvements made over the years to maintain match flow and prevent total anarchy.
Perhaps this rollout is Blizzard’s elaborate way of thumbing their nose at fans who long for the “good old days.” Regardless, it’s clear that nostalgia alone isn’t enough to win back the hearts and minds of lapsed fans.
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