I’ve been slacking on Overwatch lately, which means it’s the perfect time for a new season to inject some life back into the game and get me pushing payloads. Season 2, the second in the hero shooter’s post-2 era, is introducing a new hero, updated maps, and a new Diablo collaboration. But it’s also giving Soldier: 76, my grumpy gay grandpa main, his first Mythic Skin, and after nearly four years of waiting, I’m sad to say I’m pretty disappointed by the direction Blizzard went with it.
To start off with the good, season 2 is adding Sierra, a new drone-using damage hero, to the roster. She’s the 51st playable character in Overwatch, and is part of the Helix security faction that Pharah once belonged to. Maybe the two of them will have interactions about shared missions, or maybe Sierra will only know Pharah by reputation now that she’s joined Overwatch.
Overwatch is also bringing back post-match accolades spotlighting player achievements like high damage, skillful ability use, and being the only person who keeps their foot on the objective at all times. This will also include a match-wide voice chat lobby that I hope to god there’s a way to disable for those of us who try to avoid speaking to randos at all costs.
Also coming this season is a rework for the Antarctic Peninsula map, a bunch of skins, Ramattra joining the Stadium mode, and a Mythic weapon for Genji. But the headliner vying for your Mythic Prisms is Soldier: 76’s new Volted Overdrive skin. This new look makes Soldier look like a cyborg, with flashy neon lights coming off his armor and guns. Which, I mean, that’s pretty much what Sojourn’s was last year, but that’s not my real issue here. My bigger problem (other than just kind of being underwhelmed by it in general) is that Soldier: 76 is supposed to be a 58-year-old man, but Overwatch is obsessed with giving him throwback skins to when he was a young, blonde heartthrob instead of the gruff, white-haired vigilante he is in the game’s present day. The first version of Volted Overdrive that Blizzard showed had him sporting blonde hair like in the good ol’ days. The other two shown in a Blizzard blog post only age him up in hair color, but he’s still got a full head of luxurious locks and looks like his younger, clean-cut, and chiseled self.
His shift from the palatable face of Overwatch to a shadowy, gruff gunman fighting conspiracies is a pretty important part of his character in the series’ lore, and I wish the team hadn’t gone in this direction when giving him one of his biggest highlight moments. Just let him be an old man, Blizzard.
Overwatch’s new season begins tomorrow, April 14.