Highlights
- The first story mission in Overwatch 2 focuses on the fight against Null Sector and sets up future missions with Zenyatta seemingly captured by Talon operatives Widowmaker and Sombra.
- The boss battles in the current story missions are predictable and lack challenge, but future missions could feature more interesting and challenging boss fights with unique skills.
- The inclusion of Talon operatives as bosses could add depth to the story and create intriguing interactions through conversations and cutscenes, making the gameplay more engaging.
The first event of the long-awaited story missions in Overwatch 2 has finally dropped, and they’re chock-full of updates surrounding the current events of the game’s lore. The Invasion story is split into three missions that involve taking down swarms of Null Sector enemies in different locations, from Toronto to Rio de Janeiro. It even has a limited-time event that explores the Null Sector invasion in King’s Row called Underworld. It’s free, and its lore and gameplay perfectly complement the paid missions. All the stages and events culminate in the ending, wherein Zenyatta gets seemingly captured by Talon operatives Widowmaker and Sombra. It’s the perfect setup for the next set of Overwatch 2 story missions, as they may improve on what the current one lacks.
Overwatch 2’s first story mission revolves around humanity’s fight against an Omnic liberation group called Null Sector, led by Ramattra. Its main goal is said to be to create an Omnic nation, free from the oppression of humans. The group initially had the belief that coexistence was possible, but found that this was just not sustainable after many failed protests and negotiation attempts. Their uprising started in King’s Row and soon spread as far as South Korea. Overwatch agents were sent to deal with the threat, but the organization was soon disbanded because of atrocities done by its clandestine unit, Blackwatch. Winston recently reunited the team to fight once more and put a stop to Null Sector’s global terrorism.
The Overwatch 2 Zenyatta Story Mission Could Improve Boss Battles
So far, the boss battles in Overwatch 2's Invasion story missions involve taking down a large bullet sponge that charges quite predictably toward its enemies. As such, some cooperation with teammates, even AI ones, can easily take the enemy down. There’s also the large Omnic mech that players have to stop by using Torbjorn’s Mega-Cannon. While this offers an interesting end to the arc, it could pale in comparison to the possible characters for the boss fights in future missions.
The main enemies in Zenyatta’s story mission could be his captors Sombra and Widowmaker. It only makes sense that they would be the final bosses as well. This is fascinating because the heroes have unique skills that could make fights more challenging. For example, Widowmaker's grappling hook could place her in hard-to-reach areas and have her zipping from cover to cover. A boss stage featuring Sombra could restrict hero skills, forcing the Overwatch agents to fight on her terms.
Overwatch 2’s Bosses Could Also Make Story Missions More Interesting Outside of Combat
Apart from having unique skills, another advantage of Overwatch 2’s new story mission bosses could lie outside of combat. They’re not just large silent drones; they’re human operatives with real beef against the main characters. As such, they could engage in interesting conversations with the player’s characters. For example, Widowmaker's assassination of Mondatta could be a talking point between Tracer, Zenyatta, and the cold-blooded sniper herself. Sombra also could make fun of the heroes when they’re having trouble with her hacks. Cutscenes could hold more drama, as the Overwatch members won’t be just talking among themselves, they could end up negotiating with the enemy for Zenyatta’s safe release.
The sky’s the limit when it comes to having Talon operatives as the main bosses for the next story mode release. Their conversations with the Overwatch agents will be intriguing to hear both in combat and through cutscenes, as their interactions have mostly been limited to pre-match banter in PvP. The new bosses could also things up gameplay-wise, as Widowmaker and Sombra have unique abilities that can make fights significantly more challenging. Players may have to wait until 2024 to see if they will be the big bads of the next chapter. Either way, another Overwatch vs. Talon event will definitely be fun to see.
Overwatch 2 is available now on the Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
