Overwatch 2 is in a rough place at the moment. Gameplay-wise, Season 5’s update had been a mix of popular and divisive changes. While Hanzo and Widowmaker's one-shot kills being adjusted is long overdue - especially for those in high competitive tiers - the reintroduction of CC for Cassidy and Mei is proving to be a nightmare for Tanks. As far as new content goes, Season 5 is also looking quite barren, which is an even tougher pill to swallow after the recent news about PvE.
Though it makes some neat improvements to Watchpoint Gibraltar and the returning On Fire system, and there are some exciting event modes on the way like Prop Hunt, the fifth Season of Overwatch 2 lacks any major additions. Blizzard broke a promise of orienting between maps and new hero releases with each Season, as Season 5 lacks a new map or a new hero. This is likely because Season 6 will be the biggest content drop in the game’s history, making the current season feel like the calm before the storm. Because of this, all the free goodies that are on the way feel less generous and more like an attempt to keep players engaged during a big content drought.
Overwatch 2’s Free Content is Great on Its Own
To be clear, Overwatch 2 Season 5 giving players a massive variety of free goodies is undoubtedly a good thing. At launch, the game came under fire for having almost no free unlockables, something that Blizzard has slowly been improving upon. Seasonal events have started to offer better free rewards like skins, and Blizzard is taking things up a notch with the Season 5 freebies.
Right now, Overwatch 2 players can complete some challenges for Battle Pass XP, and if they complete enough, they will get 1500 credits for free. This is enough for most Legendary skins in the hero gallery, essentially giving players a choice of any non-shop skin that they desire. On June 20 and July 4 respectively, players will be able to grab Sprinter Tracer and Sprinkles Mei free of charge from the item shop, two popular designs for the Damage heroes. A Mercy-themed weapon charm will also drop in between on June 27.
The free skin drops continue in July, with players able to unlock a beach-themed Tropical Doomfist for Summer Games 2023. Another free skin will be unlockable during Magic and Mischief, AKA Prop Hunt, and serves as a gold and red recolor of Ana’s Bastet outfit. On top of this, Twitch Prime bundles for June and July will grant players five Battle Pass tier skips and the Conductor Reinhardt skin, while Twitch Drops in those same months will provide four skins and 5 more tier skips. If that was not enough, August will see players unlocking cosmetics based on Sojourn, tying in with her new Overwatch 2 animated short.
With Context, Overwatch 2’s Free Content Feels Less Like a Kind Gesture
All of this content is excellent, and it deserves to be celebrated to an extent. After all, this is the closest the game has felt to the original Overwatch in terms of free cosmetic unlocks to work toward. However, the timing of this free content makes it hard not to think about the real purpose that it serves: distracting from the current state of Overwatch 2.
The cancelation of Hero mode and talent trees, as well as the decision to make Overwatch 2 players pay for permanent story mission access, has led to a boycott, with multiple big content creators stepping away from the game. Season 5 also feels more empty than any season before it, with the charming Questwatch Battle Pass and a creator mode being all there is to do at launch. Though Season 6 looks like an exciting time for Overwatch 2, the same cannot be said for Season 5, with community morale at an all-time low right now. As such, though the wide array of freebies is welcome and should be the norm going forward, it is hard not to feel like it is merely a distraction from the PvE situation and a lack of playable Season 5 content.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
