You’d better sit down before I tell you this: in Overwatch 2, Bastion no longer stays still while turreted. Yes, the infamous party-wiping mounted chaingun of a character can now move around while in turret form. Bastion is completely transformed – and is not the only one.
I’m playing the Overwatch 2 closed alpha PvP test ahead of the closed beta on 26th April, which will invite members of the public in. It lets me try a small slice of PvP and play as new character Sojourn – who’s great and I’ll come back to in a moment – as well as test significant reworks for existing heroes Bastion, Doomfist, Orisa and Sombra. There are new maps and modes, a new ping feature, five-versus-five team sizes, a graphical facelift and a new user interface, and they all combine to make Overwatch 2 feel refreshing if not remarkably new.
First, Bastion. The robot has been redesigned with the philosophy of becoming more of a skirmisher that moves around and fights on the go, rather than one that finds sneaky places to mow teams down from – and it’s a philosophy you can feel running through a lot of the character reworks and Overwatch 2. The vibe seems to be to keep the pace up and keep things moving.
Bastion can still turret, but the turret moves, and you can only turret for a short time. It’s very like the old tank Ultimate that Bastion used to have, only with an infinite-ammo chaingun and not a cannon. And as you spend more time on your feet now, Bastion’s arm gun has been buffed (it’s more accurate) to reflect that, meaning you’re more feasible as a damage dealer in between. Aiding this is a throwable bouncy bomb in place of Bastion’s old repair/heal.
Bastion’s new Ultimate, meanwhile, locks you in place as a chunky stationary artillery cannon, which fires up to three shells in a circular area.
Orisa feels significantly different now too, and has gained a lot of offensive moves to make her much more viable in her own right rather than as a buffer and shielder. She doesn’t have a shield now at all, in fact, and her damage-buff Ultimate has gone.
Instead, she has a fancy new spear, which she uses in a number of ways. The first is thrown: she hurls it like a javelin to damage and knock-back enemies, and this works particularly well if you smash them into walls. The second is spinning the spear, which destroys incoming projectiles, pushes enemies back, and gives a little burst of speed. The third use is part of her new Ultimate: she holds the spear in the air and charges up a ground-targeted area attack that seems to ensnare and hold any enemies caught in it.
Orisa’s gun has changed too. It’s still broadly the same thing – capable of a constant stream of fire – but it works differently. It now has infinite ammo and is regulated by an overheating mechanic. Use it too much and it will jam and need to cool down, so frequent bursts are a better way to go. Orisa’s updated Fortify ability helps keep your gun running cooler, too.
This brings us to Doomfist who, on the surface, doesn’t appear that different at all. He still seems to have most of the same moves. But the big difference is he’s now , not a glass cannon, so his health has gone up from 250 to 450. He also gains temporary health when dealing damage, and he has a new block ability where he sweeps his big, chunky mecha-arm across his body like a vampire wearing a cloak, and blocks frontal damage.
Gaining this block means losing an existing ability to make room for it, and the ability lost is the uppercut that enabled him to get easily into the air, so in a sense, he’s now been grounded. His charged punch and leaping ground-pound still give him some air time but nowhere near as much. He spends much more time in the fray, on the floor now.