Overwatch 2 is set to release its newest update, Invasion, on August 10, 2023, which will see the game’s heroes face off with the enigmatic Null Sector yet again. The update will also feature sweeping changes to its core features and new training modes. In anticipation of this event, the Overwatch 2 team has added Null Sector ships hovering above all its PvP maps.
The Overwatch 2 Invasion event will take place in Rio, Toronto, Gothenburg, and Underworld. There are still some things left in the air, such as how the precise gameplay and story beats of the event, but that hasn't stopped the hype train. Indeed, the Null Sector ships seem to be retracing the way the original Overwatch game used to tease developments, which makes it all the more exciting.
How Overwatch 2’s Invasion Event Can Make The Game’s Teasers Exciting Again
This franchise is no stranger to teasing new content through in-game clues. It does so consistently with its new heroes, like how Overwatch’s Kanezaka map teased its fox hero Kiriko almost two years before she was officially revealed for the Overwatch 2 launch. Most of Overwatch 2’s new content is outright revealed through trailers and official informational videos and posts, however, which still builds hype but not as much as previous teasers did.
One only needs to look at Sombra’s ARG back in 2016 to see how Blizzard creatively built hype around its new releases. The teaser had players scouring the game’s maps, YouTube videos, and even Blizzard’s discussion forums for solid clues regarding the new hero’s identity and background. It required tedious guesswork, programming language proficiency, and immense patience, and the final clues only showed Sombra’s iconic skull symbol and nothing more. Fans enjoyed the thrill of uncovering information about the hero, and the Overwatch 2 team could replicate this feeling for its Invasion event.
Overwatch 2's Return to Form for Teasers
The Null Sector ships in Overwatch 2's maps are hopefully the beginning of a series of fun clues leading up to the event missions’ launch in August. It’s interesting to speculate on what the developer has in mind for future reference. It could plant another post in the Overwatch forum as Ramattra announcing Null Sector’s invasion of the maps, or the maps could even have additional information, like evacuation announcements on various billboards and screens.
Overwatch 2’s GENESIS anime series is also tied to the Null Sector missions. As its name suggests, the series is a documentary about Omnica Corp.'s creation of the first Omnics and how robotics prodigy Dr. Mina Liao gave them sentience. While it showed that Omnics could be as empathetic and kind as humans, it also tackled how a flawed piece of software called “the God program” turned them against humanity. The series gave fans a glimpse of the creation of Overwatch in response to the Omnic uprising and their early efforts to win the war as well.
Ultimately, every teaser from the Null Sector ships hovering over the maps to the GENESIS series signals a return to form for the Overwatch franchise. However, only time will tell if the new event can live up to the hype it has produced so far.
Overwatch 2 is available now for the Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
