When Overwatch said it was returning to the story, I did not expect its most genius decision: Reworking maps for the fun of it
Overwatch's story is a bit all over the place; there's no denying it. Nearly a decade on from the launch of the first game, we're still more or less where we began—Winston's recalling old agents—only, finally, there's an actual villain: Vendetta's Talon. Sure, we've had Talon, Null Sector and whatnot causing trouble in the lore before, but now it's actually moving towards something. It's all part of Overwatch's new focus on narrative that will guide the years to come, beginning with Season 1: Conquest, kicking off the Reign of Talon arc.
Of course, when this was all announced back at the Overwatch Spotlight, I expected this story to be told through more-themed events, comics, and shorts tied in with new hero and map releases to push the narrative forward. That's all the case, but what I did not expect was for Team 4 to return to old maps and touch them up just for the sake of it.
In Season 1, Watchpoint Gibraltar and Rialto have been updated based on the events in the story. Talon rules Rialto, so there are statues of Vendetta, banners, and cameras everywhere, but the biggest changes are to Gibraltar. After being attacked by Talon, the base is in ruins, opening up new sightlines and flanking routes. Deemzies from The Omnic Post has done a tour of the changes:
While some have called for reworks of Watchpoint Gibraltar in the past (it's an OG Overwatch map, after all), I wouldn't say it necessarily needed significant changes. In fact, what's so great about these changes is that it's almost unnecessary—it feels like it was revamped just because the developers could.
We've had maps react to story events in the past, such as adding Juno's pod to the attacker spawn on Dorado, but nothing on the scale of the changes to Gibraltar. It's a cool, clever way to put a spin on old arenas to freshen them up every so often while also serving the narrative. It's dynamic, in much the same way (I hate to say it) as Fortnite continually refreshes its map.
For a long time, I've wished Team 4 stuck to its original plan for one hero, one map alternating every season. While it was being adhered to, it worked. But I never realised how much even slight tweaks to old maps can really be when it's following and developing an overarching plot.
We're still getting new maps (which will presumably also play into the story), but I'd love to see this trend continue throughout the year, with old maps getting new decorations or even small layout changes when the story calls for it, even if the map works fine as is. Perhaps we'll see Watchpoint Gibraltar be repaired later in the year, leading to more tweaks to the historic map. Plus, I imagine it's much easier to tweak existing maps than create new ones, so it's the best of both worlds, really.
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