For the first time in 17 years, Blizzard Entertainment has announced new IP during this year’s Blizzcon called ‘Overwatch.’
Announced at Blizzcon 2014 with a cinematic trailer and some gameplay to go along with it, ‘Overwatch’ is a team-based multiplayer first person shooter that pits player into battles of six versus six. Similar to a multiplayer online battle arena game, players gain access to a variety of characters, each with their own unique offensive and defensive weapons and abilities that they can take into battle. For example, some have high offense and speed but with low defense while others are more defense-oriented or status buff-oriented in their skill sets.
As for the characters themselves, the game features a rather colorful cast like a heavily armored gorilla, a Samurai bowman, a purpled haired stealthy sniper, a peppy British time-manipulating dual-gun wielder, a floating Buddhist monk-like robot and even a hot-headed dwarf engineer. And this is only half of the game’s announced twelve different classes to choose from.
So far, two game modes in ‘Overwatch’ have been revealed. One is Payload, a mode where players work together as a team to escort a highly-explosive bomb to a specific delivery point on a map before time runs out all while defending it from the opposing team tasked with thwarting their efforts. The second is a mode much like a MOBA and is called Point Capture. In it, players must attempt to capture and defend different points scattered throughout a map.
“Our goal with ‘Overwatch’ is to create an awesome FPS experience that’s more accessible to a much wider audience while delivering the action and depth that shooter fans love,” said Mike Morhaime, the CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment.
‘Overwatch’ is coming out for PC and Mac. A beta for the game will be available sometime in 2015. As of writing, it has not been made clear whether or not it feature a free-to-play model or even if it will get a release on to Sony and Microsoft consoles.
