To inexperienced players, Overwatch 2 is a first-person shooter through and through. However, while there are first-person shooter elements in the game, Overwatch 2 borrows just as much from MOBA titles, platformers, and even fighting games. The amount of things going on at once is what usually throws new players off, and is a big reason why it is so hard to get into the game.
But despite the number of things that players have to learn in Overwatch 2, those who are familiar with first-person shooters will find a lot of the genre's elements missing. Not all heroes can aim down sights for instance, as this feature is usually reserved for long-range combatants like Ana and Widowmaker. Sliding, a feature that has seen widespread use in today's shooters, is relegated solely to Sojourn. But one of the biggest first-person shooter omissions in Overwatch 2 has to be the near-total lack of sprinting.
Sprinting in Overwatch is The Exception, Not The Rule
The only Overwatch 2 character who has a true first-person shooter sprint ability is Soldier: 76. Sprint gives Soldier: 76 a 50 percent movement speed buff that lasts as long as he is moving forward. Stopping or using other abilities cancels the burst of speed, but luckily the ability does not have a cooldown and can be used anytime. There is also a 0.3-second delay after Soldier: 76 ends his sprint before he can fire either his Helix Rockets or Heavy Pulse Rifle. Players should be cautious of when and where they decide to stop running.
Barring Soldier: 76, many other Overwatch 2 heroes have abilities that give them a momentary movement boost. Examples are Lucio with his Wall Ride, Crossfade, and Amp It Up abilities, as well as Tracer with her Blink ability. While some of these abilities are passive, most movement abilities in Overwatch 2 have relatively long cooldowns to keep the game balanced.
Letting Everyone in Overwatch Sprint Would be a Bad Idea
First-person shooter aficionados may be turned off by the fact that not all Overwatch 2 characters move as fast as Soldier: 76 and other quick heroes. They want to be able to get in and out of fights easily, and chase down enemies that are trying to escape. Yet giving all Overwatch 2 heroes the ability to sprint would require a lot of time and effort.
Looking purely from a hero standpoint, characters like Reinhardt and Roadhog would benefit the most from having a sprint ability, as they can easily push with their team and escape when things get too hot. Having a Reinhardt who can run toward an enemy team is a scary thing to see because of how much damage he can do in close-quarters with his Rocket Hammer. His primary weapon would require a nerf to make up for his increased mobility. Likewise, Reinhardt's usual Support companion Lucio would require a buff to offset the roster's faster movements.
Speaking of Lucio, giving every Overwatch 2 character the ability to sprint would dampen movement heroes' overall effectiveness. Slow characters like Cassidy can easily catch up to a Tracer provided she has no Blinks available. Mobile tanks like Wrecking Ball would also find themselves beset on all sides by enemy fire. Adding a hero-wide sprint feature would require a drastic rework of every hero. This includes their abilities, health pools, and hitboxes, just to name a few things.
Overwatch 2's maps would also need to be reworked. Linear locations like King's Row and Junkertown would have to be much bigger to account for heroes' increased movement speed, with new health pack placements, high ground, and properly spaced rotations. That doesn't even account for the massive changes that would need to be made to the different game modes to keep them fun and balanced.
Adding this one gameplay change to Overwatch 2 might be a fun idea, but doing so would inevitably break the game. There is a ton of user-generated content in Overwatch 2 that implements a default speed boost, but they seem to work best within the confines of Arcade mode. Sprinting may be a first-person shooter staple, but the feature seems to fit best with just Soldier: 76 in Overwatch 2. Not only is he an easy character to pick up and play, but he also serves as the quintessential FPS hero in a roster filled with many overwhelming abilities.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
