Fans might be hyped for the upcoming Overwatch 2 Story Mode, but we’ve just got our first bit of bad news: some of the 31 currently active heroes are not going to be playable in Overwatch 2‘s story missions — at least at launch.
“We already know the arc of the story experience and not every one of the current 31 heroes is playable,” Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan said in an interview with AusGamers. “It just doesn’t make sense for some of them. Their stories just don’t align.”
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For those of you who are not super familiar with the Overwatch universe, not every hero fits neatly into a “good guy” or “bad guy” role. Yes, there are clearly some people in the resurrected Overwatch and some villains in the terrorist organization Talon, but there are also several characters who have smaller or no affiliations.
Ashe, for example, is the leader of the Deadlock Gang in the vicinity of Route 66. While she’s certainly antagonistic to Overwatch member McCree, she also hasn’t thrown her lot in with Talon, either. Similarly, Symmetra works for Vishkar Corporation and Pharah works for Helix Securities.
We had previously heard that story missions would only focus on certain characters, but this is the first time that we’re learning that not every one of the heroes will be playable. Although we won’t see some of our favorites in the Overwatch 2 Story Mode, Mr. Kaplan says that there will still be plenty of characters for us to play.
“Now, there are a lot of heroes in the story experience,” he continued. “And that’s one of the things that we think is really-cool about Overwatch 2. We’re also exploring this idea of opening-up player choice. In the Rio mission, we limit you to Reinhardt, Mei, Tracer, and Lúcio. If you think about it, Lúcio is the most central character to that story, and he has to be there.”
Mr. Kaplan went on to explain to AusGamers that they’re toying with the idea of letting you do a limited amount of hero switching for these story missions. Brigitte is always with Reinhardt, so it would make sense that she would be available to join the team. Still, due to the complexity of the cinematics and extra voice acting, it’s not very likely that the Overwatch 2 Story Mode would have a lot of choices for each mission.
It might be disappointing to hear that not all 31 heroes will be playable in Overwatch 2’s story missions, but let’s not forget that this is a game that’s constantly cranking out content. It wouldn’t be surprising if everyone in the game got some time in the spotlight in the future.
