Overwatch 2 needs a win — the Invasion event, at best, is a draw

10.08.2023 - 18:01 / theverge.com / Best

Overwatch 2’s Invasion event, which goes live today, is the game’s biggest update since penciling in the “2” in October of last year. The event, which coincides with season 6 of the battle pass, offers a new hero, a new game mode, and, perhaps most importantly, new story missions that, for the first time, advance Overwatch’s story. And while I appreciate and enjoy all the new coming to Overwatch 2, I can’t shake the feeling that this all feels too little and too late.

Flashpoint is Overwatch 2’s newest game mode. Teams fight to control one of five points spread out equally on maps that are the largest in the game. Each point unlocks sequentially, and once a team reaches 100 percent control, the next point unlocks. The first team to three points wins. 

That’s… all I can really say about it, as it doesn’t feel productive describing what it feels like to play. Firstly, my experience in early access was just custom games filled with bots and is, therefore, not really representative of what live matches will feel like. Secondly, it’s just the control game type on a much larger map. Instead of fighting for control of one point, resetting, and fighting again, you do all that on the same map — no resets. 

Flashpoint is Overwatch 2’s newest game type after Push was introduced at the game’s launch as a replacement for the Assault game type. Because Assault was unfairly reviled, Push didn’t have to be much to make players happy again. But even with that low bar, Push seemingly hasn’t really succeeded in the court of player opinion. If one team gets an early lead, it’s really difficult for the opposing team to make a comeback, leading to demoralizing blowouts. So while Flashpoint’s been in development for a while, its addition to the game comes at a time when it feels like it’s meant to respond to the disappointment surrounding Push. But with Flashpoint’s simplicity and its similarity to an existing game type, it doesn’t work for me.

Flashpoint’s high…er point, though, was playing as the new support hero, Illari. She’s a powerful, offensive healer who didn’t feel intimidating to learn like Lifeweaver was. I’m a support main — my job is making sure my teammates don’t die. So while my role is vital, it typically goes uncelebrated in a match in favor of the big team wipes tanks and damage heroes do. Not so with Illari. Her presence in a match is much more pronounced than other healers because she’s so offensively stacked in addition to her healing.

Illari feels similar to but much more powerful than Moira offensively and with respect to her healing output. In addition to her secondary fire being a direct healing beam, Illari can also place a powerful healing turret anywhere on the battlefield. With precise