Overwatch Classic is an surprising reminder of how good Overwatch 2 is

While it’s easy to convince yourself that live service games are a recent trend, the truth is the most popular games have been around for a long time. Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode has been rocking for over seven years, Overwatch is eight years old, and even the comparatively spritely Apex Legends is coming up to six years old.

That’s long enough to invoke a sense of nostalgia across these games, something Fortnite capitalised on last year with its OG mode. As is often the case in live service games, where Fortnite marches, others follow. Apex Legends is in the midst of Launch Royale, its return to the original King’s Canyon layout, and Overwatch is not far behind.

Earlier this week, it launched Overwatch: Classic, an event where players can play the game in its original launch state. For many, that will sound like a godsend. There’s a lingering consensus that Overwatch ‘used to be good’ and that somehow Overwatch 2 ‘ruined’ the franchise. So, developers offering players the chance to go back puts that to the test.

Classic is a very novel mode and a surprisingly deep recreation of the original experience. Even with changes to the engine over time, Blizzard has been able to replicate just about everything in the game as it originally was – yes, including a 6v6 environment.

While there are more serious tests planned for the future, to explore that format, this is the first Blizzard-endorsed taste of a return to having 12 players in a lobby since the launch of Overwatch 2 last year. It’s an amazing snapshot and one of the most interesting modes introduced to the game. And man, it feels awful – and that’s perhaps the most interesting thing about it.

For only being a limited-time event, a lot of work has been put into Overwatch: Classic. These characters have changed so much over time. The move from Overwatch 1 to Overwatch 2 also came with an engine overhaul, so reverting everything to how it was will have been a much more complex endeavour than just reinstating a previous patch state.

When you jump in, you’re bound to have stark reminders about some of these heroes and their initial states in 2016. Play as D.Va and you will quickly remember how slow you move when shooting, that Defence Matrix is a one-off ability, and that, of course, your D.Va bomb can kill you.

Lucio’s wall-riding is significantly worse, as it feels like you’re skating with boulders in your shoes. Also, the first time you try to use Transcendence as Zenyatta will make you feel like you’re moving through molasses.

For the opening few days of Classic, there’s no hero lock, in order to mirror the original Overwatch 1 launch. This means you can have as many of the same heroes on your team as you want. That includes the nightmare of six Torbjorns, or the hilarity of six Winstons causing primate chaos from the sky.

It’s all hilariously weird, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. This is a really neat way to play Overwatch in 2024. It’s a mess of broken abilities and an absurd regression of the quality of life in the game now, but that’s part of the charm.

That said, it is still a mess. Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Its whispers always try to convince you that things were better in the past. Often, the stuff we love feels like it ‘used’ to be better. Things restored from yesteryear still have to exist in the context of today though.

As we get older, our responsibilities grow. No matter how much something improves over time, it’s always going to feel better when you were younger, less jaded, and could interact with it for hours on end instead of having to go to work.

Overwatch: Classic is a rare chance to see the stark reality of how things were. It feels bad if you’ve put any significant time into the modern version of the game. In the ensuing eight years since the franchise launched, the game has improved so much through quality of life aspects but also balance and flow.

Overwatch 2, while certainly able to throw out some head-scratching patch notes, is just a better experience. Classic is a well-realised celebration of the history of the franchise. It also feels like Blizzard slyly demonstrating, ‘you have no idea how good you have it’.

And that’s not wrong. Overwatch is getting more updates than ever right now. Heroes are releasing faster, and the audience has never had a more content-rich environment. While Overwatch 2 has its issues, it’s ultimately a game built on eight years of learning.

Sadly, we can never go back to 2016. Overwatch was something completely new then. We weren’t really living in a world of live service titles yet. There’s a reason it won a lot of Game of the Year awards. It was special, but bringing back the game in that state can’t recapture that magic. The reason it worked back then was there was nothing like it.

Importantly, no one had any idea what they were doing. The player-base hadn’t spent years learning the flow of games. You can take Overwatch back, but you can’t revert the player-base as well. Unfortunately, modern players have learned how Overwatch is played. We know if Reaper is wraithforming into six players recklessly, he’s probably going to use his Death Blossom. Alas, our ignorance was bliss, and our whimsy has hardened with the burden of knowledge.

Still, Overwatch: Classic is an awesome exercise by Blizzard and one that should continue in the future. The developers have already said that it would explore other metas from Overwatch’s past, such as ‘moth Mercy’ and the infamous ‘goats’.

These might be more interesting comparison points for the modern day, as Overwatch changed a lot and quickly in its first few years. Even so, seeing the game as it was in May 2016 is an amazing relic to have access to. It’s a chaotic mess and there’s fun to be had in that. However, it’s certainly much easier to appreciate where the game is today after just a few rounds of Classic.