When “Overwatch” was restarted, Blizzard promised to push the story forward. In the second season, it finally began to release content at a fixed frequency, instead of the past rhythm of occasionally short films and relying on players’ brains to fill in the rest. For players who have been following lore for many years, this is a long overdue but definitely noticeable change.
The amount of information on the Vendetta incident is more dense than in years past
The previous season opened with Vendetta overthrowing Doomfist, followed by major events such as base attacks, faction alliances, and the forced transfer of the Overwatch team. Although part of the plot is still in the development stage, at least it is no longer a carousel of character biographies, but there is a clear main line running.
This time Blizzard isn’t just relying on in-game narratives
In addition to the dynamic comics, audio content and cutscenes in the game, the official team also cooperated with Webtoon to launch “Overwatch: Undivided”, which will continue to write about the aftermath of the Talon attack among the characters. The point is that it not only focuses on the new character Sierra, but also slowly brings a group of old characters who have not been seen for a long time back to the stage, so that the entire world view no longer revolves around just a few new faces.
The point of paying for it is not that the story is too good, but that it is finally updated regularly.
The biggest problem with Overwatch’s plot over the years is not poor setting, but interruptions, jumps, and lack of continuity. Nowadays, there is a digestible new lore almost every week or two. Even if it is not long, it can build a greater sense of involvement than the previous “wait half a year for a short film”.
The old spindle is forced to give way, and the new spindle will take time to prove
The article also reminds that as new conflicts increase their proportion, the old main line of integrating human rights issues in the early days has indeed taken a back seat. Blizzard said that it will make up for it in the future, but what players care about is whether you will actually make up for it, rather than giving another verbal promise. To put it simply, the direction is right now. What remains to be seen is whether it can be delivered stably in the long term.