Overwatch 2 Will Have Separate Progression for Campaign and PvP

Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 is a long ways off, to the point that director Jeff Kaplan famously proclaimed that he had “no idea” when it’s releasing. Thankfully, before the development team goes dark, we’re still receiving new details about the new story missions, progression and much more. Lead writer Michael Chu and assistant game director Aaron Keller recently took part in a Q&A with PlayStation Blog to answer some burning questions.

For instance, the story mode will indeed have a proper structure. As Chu states, “With story missions, we’ll have a more traditional way to tell a story in the Overwatch universe. A complete story with beginning, middle, and end. In addition, we’ve finally moved the story forward after Winston’s recall, and we hope to continue to push events into the future in the stories to come.” This is good news for fans who have been left forever wondering about Overwatch’s return, Talon’s plans and dozens of other remaining plot-threads.

As far as the story missions go, the maps seen are twice as large as current multiplayer maps. Keller noted that they have “way more advanced technology to show dynamic weather, lightning, explosions, and more.” He also revealed that progression is separate for the campaign and PvP. “Our goal is to make a robust meaningful progression system that feeds into our Hero Missions where players can play and replay for many hours or as their main mode of play after they complete the Overwatch 2 story.”

Keller also provided a bit of new information about the new heroes coming besides Sojourn. He said that the developer has “lots of heroes in the works” though, “We can’t get into who they are exactly, or what their gameplay might be like.” Keller did say, however, that “They will help round out the world of Overwatch and give us new gameplay mechanics we have not yet seen.”

Overwatch 2 is currently in development for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch. It will serve as a major update for owners of the first game, who can access all of the new PvP modes, heroes and maps for free. Story missions require a separate purchase though and Blizzard has assured that the campaign is “a complete story experience like you would expect from any AAA blockbuster game.”