One of the most influential FPS games inspired the new map in Overwatch 2 season 4
The underwater map has giant fish, jump pads, and death pits.
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Overwatch developers havecited Quakeas an inspiration for the hero shooter’s design for years. It has jump pads and a hero who can rocket jump. But in its upcoming season, it’ll finally have an entire map that looks like it was ripped straight out of the classic arena shooter.
Earlier this year, Blizzard held aTwitch streamwhere viewers helped design a map for the game’s goofy arcade modes. That map, called Talantis, will be fully playable in a limited-time arcade mode starting on April 25.
Talantis is an underwater map consisting of suspended platforms and jump pads that can fling you between them. It’sQuake’s The Longest Yardmap, but with giant fish circling around it. No matter where you go on it, you’re always a few steps away from falling into the abyss. Lucio and Wrecking Ball players keen on booping enemies off the edge will surely thrive here.
Season 4 will have a space opera-themed battle pass, including a customizable Galactic Emperor mythic skin for Sigma on its final, premium tier. And to help introducenew support hero Lifeweaver, you’ll be able to play him (whether you’ve unlocked him or not) on a team of three other Lifeweavers in B.O.B. and Weave, a team deathmatch mode where both sides get to raise and pull Ashe’s robot butler around to help them score kills.
Support players will also get to try a reworked Brigitte. The shield-bearing healer has a new ultimate that increases the size and health of her barrier and allows her to bash into enemies for a short stun. The recent changes toMercy’s healing output and flyinghave been almost completely reverted, and Sigma, Reinhardt, and Cassidy will have their “lethality” tuned down a bit, according toBlizzard’s blog post.
Along with a new space opera-themed arcade mode set on the Horizon Lunar Colony map, Overwatch 2 season 4 will see the return of the Battle for Olympus mode—this time with both a free-for-all and team deathmatch version.
The previously promised removal of rank decay fromthe game’s competitive modewill come with the new season too. Competitive players won’t start at a lower rank at the beginning of a season anymore, hopefully alleviating the discrepancy between visible ranks and the invisible MMR.
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Overwatch 2 season 4’s roadmap looks like this:
Overwatch 2 season 4 will begin on Tuesday, April 11 at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET.
Tyler has covered videogames and PC hardware for 15 years. He regularly spends time playing and reporting on games like Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Overwatch 2, and Final Fantasy 14. While his speciality is in action RPGs and MMOs, he’s driven to cover all sorts of games whether they’re broken, beautiful, or bizarre.
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