Video Game / Overwatch

"Never accept the world as it appears to be. Dare to see it for what it could be."

"You know, the world could always use more heroes."

— Tracer, Debut Cinematic Trailer

Overwatch is a stylistically Pixaresque team-based multiplayer Hero Shooter by Blizzard Entertainment. It is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch systems.

Sometime in the mid-21st century, a global catastrophe known as the Omnic Crisis plunged humanity into war. Their enemy was a line of automated construction robots known as Omnics, who suddenly went rogue and militarised themselves. In response, an international task force of soldiers, scientists, adventurers, and oddities known as Overwatch was formed to end the uprising and restore peace. At its height, Overwatch served as a beacon of heroism and selflessness, a demonstration of what humanity could accomplish by working across race, creed and culture.

It is now thirty years later, and Overwatch has since been decommissioned after losing its reputation to internal corruption. Yet the actions of a mysterious terrorist organisation known as "Talon" threaten to re-ignite the flames of war and chaos across the world. The world needs heroes once again; it needs the rebirth of Overwatch.

The game's playable Heroes include^note * (asterisk) denotes that they were added after the initial release, ** (double asterisk) denotes that they were added following Overwatch 2:

• Damage: Ashe*, Bastion, Cassidy^note originally known as McCree until October 2021, Echo*, Genji, Hanzo, Junkrat, Mei, Pharah, Reaper, Sojourn**, Soldier: 76, Sombra*, Symmetra^note was Support until late 2018, Torbjörn, Tracer, Venture**, Widowmaker
• Tank: Doomfist*, D.Va, Junker Queen**, Mauga**, Orisa*, Ramattra**, Reinhardt, Roadhog, Sigma*, Winston, Wrecking Ball*, Zarya
• Support: Ana*, Baptiste*, Brigitte*, Illari**, Kiriko**, Lifeweaver**, Lúcio, Mercy, Moira*, Zenyatta

The game is centered around two teams of six Heroes each, with each team trying to fulfill their objectives while preventing the enemy team from doing the same. Objectives can vary from map to map:

List of gametypes and maps

• In Assault maps, one team takes the role of the Attack team and must try to capture two objectives — small regions of interest — in order by occupying them until the progress meter is filled completely, while the Defend team must block capture by getting on the objective to impede capture progress and eliminate enemies in the process. Attack wins if they seize both objectives within the time limit, while Defend wins if Attack runs out of time trying to do so. The game mode was retired from main map rotations as of Overwatch 2, though the maps remain accessible through custom games.
  • Hanamura^note Location: Japan. Home stage of Genji and Hanzo. Their story trailer, Dragons, takes place here, and evidence of the skirmish of that story can be seen in the stage. The Heroes of the Storm crossover trailer Hanamura Showdown, featuring Genji and D.Va fighting Diablo, also takes place here.
  • Horizon Lunar Colony^note Location: Moon. Winston and Wrecking Ball’s home stage. Parts of Winston's story trailer, "Recall", takes place here.
  • Temple of Anubis^note Location: Egypt. Home stage of Pharah and Ana. Pharah's comic, Mission Statement and the end of the victory cinematic of Storm Rising (featuring Doomfist and an unknown Omnic) also take place here. The (presumably) non-canon Katsuwatch short Bastet Rises, commissioned but not produced by Blizzard, also takes place on the stage.
  • Volskaya Industries^note Location: Russia. Zarya's home stage. Sombra's story trailer, Infiltration, takes place here. Zarya herself appears as The Stinger of the trailer.
  • Paris^note Location: Paris, France
• In Escort maps, the Attack team must escort a vehicle known as the payload by being present around it to move it towards its destination, while the Defend team must stop the payload by wiping out its escorts and occupying its general proximity to prevent its forward movement. Much like with Assault maps, Attack wins if the payload reaches its destination in time, otherwise Defend wins.
  • Circuit Royal^note Location: Monte Carlo, Monaco
  • Dorado^note Location: Mexico. Sombra's home stage. Soldier: 76's story trailer, Hero, takes place here.
  • Havana^note Location: Cuba. The Storm Rising game mode takes place on a modified version of the map, taking place set six years prior to the game's present day.
  • Junkertown^note  Location: Australian Outback. Junkrat and Roadhog's home stage. Their story trailer, Junkertown: The Plan takes place here.
  • Route 66^note Location: USA. Cassidy, Ashe, and B.O.B.'s home stage. Their story trailer Reunion and the follow-up short Roadtrip take place here.
  • Shambali Monastery^note Location: Nepal.
  • Watchpoint: Gibraltar^note Location: Gibraltar. Winston's base of operations. The story trailers Recall and Are You With Us? take place here.
  • Rialto^note Location: Venice, Italy. The Retribution game mode takes place on a modified version of the map, taking place eight years before the game's present days.
• Hybrid maps are a mixture of Assault and Escort; the Attack team must first capture one objective holding the payload, and then escort the payload, while Defend tries to stand in their way.
  • Eichenwalde^note Location: Germany. Reinhardt’s home stage. Reinhardt's story trailer, Honor and Glory, takes place here. First map to be added after Overwatch's official release.
  • Hollywood^note Location: USA.
  • King's Row^note Location: London, England. Tracer's home stage. Widowmaker's story trailer, Alive, takes place here, as does part of the Christmas comic Reflections. The Uprising game mode takes place on a modified version of the map set seven years prior to the main game.
  • Midtown^note Location: New York, USA.
  • Numbani^note Location: present-day Nigeria. One of only 2 maps to be represented by a flag which does not correspond to a Real Life country. Orisa's home stage.
  • Paraíso^note Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Lúcio's home stage.
  • Blizzard World^note Location: USA. A theme park that features rides and attractions based on Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, Heroes of the Storm, Hearth Stone, and The Lost Vikings.
• Control maps deviate from the above formats, with both teams in a symmetrical map each trying to capture a central objective and then maintaining possession of it to build a percentage meter over time. Each Control map has three sub-maps, one for each round in a three-round game. The first team to 100% wins the round. The first to two wins wins the match.
  • Antarctic Peninsula^note Location: Antarctica.
  • Ilios^note Location: Greece
  • Lijiang Tower ^note Location: China. Mei's home stage. A modified version was used for the Capture the Flag mode before Ayutthaya was developed.
  • Nepal^note Location: Nepal. Zenyatta's home stage. Genji's room can be found here for any mobile character willing to explore.
  • Oasis^note Location: Iraq. Moira's home stage.
  • Busan^note Location: South Korea. D.Va's home stage. Her story trailer Shooting Star takes place in the MEKA Base section. Not to be confused with Busan Stadium, a Lucioball map also set in the city.
  • Samoa^note Location: Samoa. Mauga's home stage.
• Push maps — introduced for Overwatch 2 — are based around fighting for control of a robot that spawns in the center of the map, which allows teams to push a barricade in the direction of the enemy's spawn. The objective is to cover the most distance in your team's favor before the time runs out, and pushing it all the way to the end of your path grants instant victory.
  • New Queen Street^note Location: Toronto, Canada. Sojourn's home stage.
  • Colosseo^note Location: Rome, Italy
  • Esperança ^note Location: Lisbon, Portugal
• Flashpoint maps — another new addition to Overwatch 2 — pit teams against one another for control of several ever-rotating capture points. Each of these maps has a total of five control points, with teams fighting for control of one at a time, and once a point is captured by a team, a different control point activates to fight over, with the winner being the first team to capture three points.
  • New Junk City^note Location: Australian Outback.
  • Suravasa^note Location: India.
• Clash maps — another new addition to Overwatch 2 — is similar to Flashpoint maps and are a direct successor to the deprecated Assault maps. Each of the maps feature a total of five control points, with teams fighting for control of one at a time, starting with the point in the very center and then shifting between points in a tug-of-war based on whoever assumes control first, with the winner being the first to capture all points or to achieve the highest score.
  • Hanaoka^note Location: Japan, located right next to Hanamura.
• Arena maps have no objective to complete by default, and as such are not included in regular map rotation.
  • Ayutthaya^note Location: Thailand. A symmetrical map made exclusively for Capture the Flag.
  • Black Forest^note Location: Germany.
  • Castillo^note Location: Mexico. An old fort directly overlooking the town of Dorado. Home of the Los Muertos gang and Sombra's base of operations.
  • Château Guillard^note  Location: France. Widowmaker's family home. A small map made solely for Free-For-All Deathmatches.
  • Ecopoint: Antarctica^note Location: Antarctica. Mei was the Sole Survivor of the last team of scientists stationed here. First of the four Mystery Duel / Elimination maps to be added, with the other three being simultaneously released for the game's first anniversary in May 2017. Mei's story trailer, Rise and Shine, takes place here.
  • Necropolis^note Location: Egypt. Ana's and Soldier 76's hideout. Their short story Bastet takes place here.
  • Petra^note Location: Jordan. The map features an area with a dynamic environment that progressively becomes more dangerous over time.
  • Kanezaka^note Location: Japan. Kiriko's home stage.
  • Malevento^note Location: Italy. A small town on an Italian hilltop, presently served as a base for Talon.

In addition to these standard gameplay formats, there are also some special modes available, exclusive to the Arcade category and custom games:

• 1v1 Mystery Duel pits two players against each other in a series of duels in which they try to eliminate each other. Each round, a Hero is chosen at random and both players must play as that Hero. The first to win five rounds wins the match. A variation of this mode, Limited Duel, allows each player to pick from a small pool of permitted Heroes every round.
• Elimination is another elimination mode, this time featuring two teams of three or six, although unlike in Mystery Duel each player is allowed to choose their Hero. There is no respawning until the beginning of the next round. First to three rounds of winning wins the match. A variation of this mode, Lockout Elimination, has Heroes used to win a round disabled for the round-winning team for the remainder of the match. Custom games of Eliminations can use Control maps.
• Capture the Flag has two teams of six going at it in a traditional CTF mode, reusing most Control maps. The flag can be taken instantly, but using any movement abilities causes the carrier to instantly drop it, requiring a delay before anyone can pick it up, including enemies, who can return it to its base by standing on it for a few seconds^note In its first year, movement abilities were not restricted, but it required 2.5 uninterrupted seconds for anyone to pick it up. This mode was introduced with the 2017 Year of the Rooster update as a limited-time mode, using a "winner determined by first to three captures or whichever team has more captures when time runs out" ruleset, but it was popular enough to be made into an Arcade mode, made available for custom games, and became a Lunar New Year mainstay.
• Deathmatch: Much like Elimination the goal here is to just kill your opponent. In Free For All mode 8 individual players fight each other battle royale style and the first player to 20 kills wins, though all 4 top players will be counted as a winner toward Arcade Loot Boxes. In Team Deathmatch, two teams of 4 players go head to head and the first team to 30 kills wins. Mercy's Resurrection Ability in this mode will remove kills.
• No Limits uses the four standard formats, but allows teams to each have more than one of the same Hero.^note During the betas and in the first few months of the game's release, there was no restriction on how many of the same Hero could be on one team, but player concerns regarding balance led to "Hero stacking" being banned in Competitive Mode and later Quick Play, with the update that banned stacking in Quick Play introducing this mode.
• Total Mayhem uses Escort and Hybrid formats, with ability cooldowns sharply reduced, faster ultimate generation, and health points doubled.
• Low Gravity uses the standard formats, with less gravity, resulting in higher jumps and slower falls for all heroes.
• Mystery Heroes uses the standard formats, but randomizes Hero selection for each player. When a player dies and respawns, they have a new Hero randomly picked for them.^note Only counts on deaths registered as being from enemy attack; suicide always results in respawning as the same Hero. Ultimate charge is reset even if the player respawns as the same Hero.

The game's official website can be found here. The game's cinematic trailer can be seen here, its gameplay trailers here and here, and a theatrical teaser here. The game launched in an invite-only closed beta on October 27th, 2015 in the Americas and Europe, with Asia following sometime after. An open beta took place—first for those who pre-ordered and then for everyone—on May 3 (pre-order) and May 5-10 (everyone), and the full game was released on May 24, 2016.

Outside of Overwatch Archives (see Seasonal events below), there's very little story in the game itself - most of it is instead being developed through an Extended Universe that, due to the sheer volume, has its own page.

Backstory is also revealed through character profiles on the official website. Blizzard has hinted at the possibility of more "linear" media in the future, hoping to expose Overwatch to new audiences.

Young adult novels from Scholastic have been announced. The first, The Hero of Numbani, released in June 2020.

Overwatch also features seasonal events, which draw upon real-life holidays and game lore. These events have a special game mode, skins, voice lines and sprays that can be unlocked during the span of the event. These include:

List of seasonal events

• Summer Games ^note Exclusive mode is a Rocket League-styled brawl called Lúcioball. The 2016 games took place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; the 2017 games in Sydney, Australia; and the 2018 games in Busan, South Korea.
• Halloween Terror ^note Halloween. Exclusive mode is a co-op PvE brawl, Junkenstein's Revenge.
• Winter Wonderland ^note Christmas. Exclusive modes are an elimination brawl called Mei's Snowball Offensive and a 1v5 elimination mode called Mei's Yeti Hunt.
• Chinese New Year^note Lunar New Year. The event name changes each year with the Chinese zodiac associated with that year. 2017 was Year of the Rooster, 2018 - Year of the Dog, etc. A Capture the Flag brawl was introduced, which was later turned into a normal Arcade mode.
• Overwatch Archives^note Lore-based events surrounding Overwatch's past. 2017 introduced Tracer's first mission as an agent, a co-op PvE brawl called Uprising. 2018 added another co-op PvE brawl focused on the original members of Blackwatch (Reyes, Moira, Cassidy, and Genji) called Retribution. 2019 adds a third mission called Storm Rising, focusing on Tracer, Mercy, Genji and Winston. 2020, instead of having a new story mission, added Challenge Missions.
• Overwatch Anniversary ^note Celebration of when Overwatch first launched. No exclusive mode was released; however, the 2017 event added three new maps for Elimination mode. The 2018 event unlocked all seasonal loot box items to pull and/or buy alongside new items, as well as added a new map for Free-For-All Deathmatch, and a Competitive 8-Man FFA Deathmatch mode.

Overwatch 2, a semi-sequel to the game was announced at BlizzCon 2019 alongside an animated short, Zero Hour, featuring new heroes, game modes, engine upgrades, and cross-platform support. Rather than being a traditional standalone sequel, 2 was made with the intent to directly merge the first Overwatch into it — all player data and previously-acquired content of Overwatch was transferred over into 2, with 2 becoming the new platform for future updates^note This is a similar concept of when IO Interactive added all the content (levels, unlocks etc.) from Hitman (2016) into Hitman 2 (and subsequently, both those games are able to be imported into Hitman 3), although that instance was for different reasons involving changes in publishing. After a few years of production delays, the game launched two closed betas for its PvP content in April and June 2022, and the game was officially announced for release on October of the same year, along with the announcement that instead of requiring the upfront price tag of its predecessor, Overwatch 2 would be free-to-play. As part of marketing Overwatch 2 as a standalone game to its predecessor, a PvE single-player campaign with a skill progression system was promised, though this never manifested, and the mode would be officially cancelled in May 2023, with the Story Missions acting as a successor instead.

List of Overwatch 2 seasons

• Season 1 (October 4, 2022 - December 6, 2022); Battle Pass theme: Cyberpunk
• Season 2 (December 6, 2022 - February 7, 2023); Battle Pass theme: Greek Mythology
• Season 3 (February 7, 2023 - April 11, 2023); Battle Pass theme: East Asian Mythology
• Season 4 (April 11, 2023 - June 13, 2023); Battle Pass theme: Starwatch
• Season 5 (June 13, 2023 - August 10, 2023); Battle Pass theme: Questwatch
• Season 6: Invasion (August 10, 2023 - October 10, 2023); Battle Pass theme: Null Sector
• Season 7: The Rise of Darkness (October 10, 2023 - December 5, 2023); Battle Pass theme: Halloween
• Season 8: Call of the Hunt (December 5, 2023 - February 13, 2024); Battle Pass theme: Beast Hunters
• Season 9: Champions (February 13, 2024 - April 16, 2024); Battle Pass theme: Cosmic Horror
• Season 10: Venture Forth (April 16, 2024 - ); Battle Pass theme: Mirrorwatch

The servers of the first Overwatch became defunct as of October 3, 2022, while Overwatch 2 launched the next day on October 4, officially taking over as the "current" incarnation of the game. Since the games are identical in all but name, tropes for 2 can be placed here.

In an unexpected move, the game was announced to be releasing on Steam, and did so on August 10, 2023, alongside other Blizzard titles.

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Tropes that apply to Overwatch:

• Tropes A-C
• Tropes D-L
• Tropes M-Z

Junkenstein's Revenge

• And You Were There: The framing device for the "Junkenstein's Revenge" Halloween event is a scary story being told by Reinhardt. Ana, Hanzo, Cassidy, and Soldier 76 take on the roles of the four heroes who repelled Junkenstein's forces. Mercy plays the Witch, who can bring people Back from the Dead, Junkrat plays the Big Bad himself, Dr. Junkenstein, with his bodyguard Roadhog playing his Frankenstein's monster and Reaper playing an undead monster under the control of the Witch (who had been friends with 76 and Ana's "characters" in his former life). The story borrows elements from people that Reinhardt actually knows, such as Jack Morrison, Gabriel Reyes, Cassidy and Mercy. However, it also involves people and events he couldn't possibly have known about, such as Junkrat, Roadhog, Hanzo, and Reyes becoming someone called "Reaper".
• Creepy Crows: Around the area, they do nothing but dissipate into purple smoke if you attack them.
• The Danza: In-universe, Jamison "Junkrat" Fawkes as Dr. Jamison Junkenstein.
• Endless Game: The endless variant used in the 2017 version of the event. The game is officially "won" after 12 waves, but players must keep going until they get wiped out, fail to protect the castle, or complete the 15th bonus stage.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: The player slays The Reaper as the first boss character. Shortly after facing other bosses, The Reaper begins returning. Gee, it's almost like there's someone bringing him back from the dead...
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The bosses are Junkrat/"Junkenstein" (Mad Scientist Villain Protagonist of Reinhardt's story), Roadhog/"Junkenstein's Monster" (Take a guess), Mercy (The forest witch who gives Junkenstein the final spark of life for his creation), Symmetra (the Summoner), and Reaper (Mercy's bodyguard/assistant); Reinhardt takes the announcer/narrator role over from Athena, and the only characters you can play are Soldier, Ana, Cassidy (All present at the party), and Hanzo. Torbjörn being absent despite being at the party is justified, as he would completely kill the balance of the battle if he was in the brawl.
  • The endless mode adds Torbjörn (the Viking), Genji (the Swordsman), Widowmaker (the Countess), and Zenyatta (the Monk), Tracer (the Will-O-the-Wisp), and Brigitte (the Shieldmaiden) in the mix. Of those, Reinhardt would definitely know Brigitte (Given she was born at some point shortly after Operation White Dome, where he met Torbjorn), and might know Genji and Tracer (depending on when this party takes place), but Widowmaker would have been married to an Overwatch official at that time, and Zenyatta is completely unknown to him.
• Halloween Episode: The brawl is a ghost story being told by Reinhardt decades ago, to entertain his friends on Halloween.
• Hold the Line: The Lord of the castle called for heroes to defend him and his subjects from the wrath of Dr. Junkenstein. The brawl tasks players as Soldier: 76, Cassidy, Hanzo, and Ana with fending off the wicked forces of a Mad Scientist until time runs out, then fighting off his allies in a Final Battle. Endless mode tasks the heroes with buying enough time for the denizens of the castle to escape, but they're on their own to survive the night (the 15th bonus wave.)
• Interactive Narrator: Reinhardt's narrations change depending on the player's actions. If one player gets a kill, he will narrate it happening. If they die, he narrates that, too.
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Given that this is a ghost story being told by Reinhardt, it's fitting that it takes place during such a night.
• Meaningful Name: The story takes place in Adlersbrun; Balderich von Adler was the leader of the crusaders before his death at the siege of Eichenwalde.
• "Psycho" Strings: Incorporated into the loading screen music for the Hollywood Halloween stage.
• The Smurfette Principle: During the initial 2016 event, both the heroes and the villains had only one female member. 2017 added Widowmaker to the heroes and Symmetra to the villains. Fully averted for the 2018 version, which added both Tracer and Brigitte to the heroes's roster.
• The Stations of the Canon: Despite taking place in a different setting altogether, Hanzo still murdered his brother and went on exile, Reaper is still an old friend turned evil of Soldier: 76 and Ana, Torbjörn and Reinhardt are old Bash Brothers and Genji is still Zenyatta's disciple. Tracer was still victim of an accident (here a magical one) leaving her between two worlds. Brigitte is Torbjörn's daughter. That said, Genji and Hanzo's stories are not connected, it's implied that Hanzo's exile was a decision from his clan rather than self-imposed, nor are Ana and Widowmaker's stories connected.
• Story Within a Story: This is a ghost story told by Reinhardt, but the characters and setting are given life in the brawl.
• Total Party Kill: While having the castle door be destroyed is one way to lose, another way is if all four team members are wiped out without anyone else to continue holding the fort in the meantime.

Uprising

• Action Bomb: The Detonators are large spherical Omnics that explode when they get close to the payload, dealing heavy damage. Fortunately, they don't explode when destroyed.
• Attack Its Weak Point: While most of the enemies can be headshotted, there are two notable examples: eradicators have a shield generator on their left shoulder which can be shot off, and damaging a detonator's surface armour enough will expose the core which can be shot at for headshot damage.
• BFG: The Eradicator untis have shoulder-mounted cannons that fire a triple-spread shot. Fortunately the shots can be dodged and it has a rather low rate of fire.
• Call-Forward: Overwatch's disbanding is near and the writing is on the wall. Blackwatch operations are completely suspended (not that Blackwatch cares) and the English prime minister doesn't want Overwatch operating in London even though he has lost control over King's Row and there's a massive hostage crisis with a religious leader and the London mayor among the hostages.
• Elite Mooks: B73-N units, which are more or less functionally identical to the playable Bastion. They pack more firepower and much more health than most enemies encountered.
• Energy Weapon: The weapon of choice for the Slicer Omnics - they don't hurt players that much, but they can melt the payload if left unchecked.
• Escort Mission: Like in Escort and Assult/Escort maps, there's a payload to escort...but it is not invulnerable and has to be protected from enemy Omnics until it reaches its destination.
• Final Death Mode: Unlike most other modes, there is no automatic respawning - fallen teammates must be revived by allies, either by standing next to them and holding a button or using Mercy's ultimate. If a downed teammate goes for too long without being revived, they're gone for good, and the mission fails, as they have to dispatch another team to retrieve the fallen hero.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: The OR14s fought at the end of the mission have all of Orisa's abilities at their disposal, despite it being heavily implied that most of her unique abilities were invented by Efie specifically for her. Though this was necessary to make them proper bosses.
  • The "All Heroes" variant is this in its purest form. You can have such things as Jack Morrison issuing orders to his future self, or Orisa fighting in a battle that took place before she was even created. Most of the heroes still have voice lines to call out enemy types though.
• Glass Cannon: All heroes become this in the Glass Cannon challenge, having their health reduced by around 60% and greatly increased damage.
• Harder Than Hard: Legendary mode ramps the difficulty up to such ridiculous extremes that even highly coordinated teams of pro players have run into trouble beating it. Unless you go in with a strategy already in mind and execute it flawlessly, you have zero chance of survival.^note When the event was over, this difficulty had a win rate of a mere 0.6%. In All Heroes mode, this percentage jumped to a whopping one percent.
• Hold the Line: After hacking the Anti-Air guns, the team must defend a payload for four minutes against four waves of increasingly difficult enemies. They must then continue defending it while escorting it to the power station.
• Hollywood Hacking: Hacking Null Sector's anti-air guns involves little more than a small drone hovering over a terminal for a few minutes.
• Infernal Retaliation: The Molten Cores challenge has enemies drop a pool of lava at the location they die, necessing the players to stay away from that position for a few seconds.
• Mission Control: Jack and Ana initially oversee your assault on Null Sector's forces. Once you start moving the payload, they hand off the duty to Reyes.
• Purple Is Powerful: All of the Null Sector Omnics are colored purple.
• Race Against the Clock: When the power station is breached, Null Sector attempts to detonate the reactor, giving a limited amount of time to take out the OR14 units inside.
• Replay Value: Winning several matches of this mode will result in new lines of dialog between the main four and command being inserted into the pool of voice lines; for instance, instead of Morrison giving the mission briefing, any of the four heroes can rattle off the objective as they're running down the tunnel at the start.
• Shield-Bearing Mook: Eradicators, which are larger, tougher versions of the basic Nulltrooper with more firepower and Deflector Shields that protect against damage from the front. However, the shield can be disabled by sufficient firepower from the front^note If you're not playing the Bulletproof Barriers challenge mode, dealing enough damage to the Eradicator from behind, or (in All Heroes Mode) having Sombra hack the Eradicator. They also turn slowly, making it easier to attack their exposed rears.
• Whole Episode Flashback: The mode is a reenactment of Tracer's first official mission with Overwatch seven years ago, defending King's Row against an Omnic terrorist group known as Null Sector.
• With Catlike Tread: Mercy may suggest that the group stay quiet so as to not attract unwanted attention from Null Sector. Reinhardt voices his thoughts.
  Mercy: Keep quiet, we don't want to attract any unnecessary attention.
  Reinhardt: (shouting) COME OUT YOU BASTARDS! I'll fight the lot of you!
• Wolfpack Boss: The four OR14 units in the power station come out firing with Nulltroopers and Eradicators backing them up. As you defeat them B73-N units in Sentry and Tank modes come out to play, and the final room after the second OR14 has the final two OR14s at the same time along with a B73-N unit in Sentry mode, one in Tank mode, two Eradicators, and several Nulltroopers.
• Zerg Rush: The preferred attack strategy for the Slicers, who are a little more than a nuisance on their own but can rack up damage on the payload fast when attacking in groups.

Retribution

• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • The revival mechanic from Uprising reappears here, but in a modified form. Instead of having to hold a button and be a sitting duck until your teammate revives, all you have to do is stand near them, allowing you to keep fighting. This was also applied retroactively to Uprising.
  • In the first week of the event, Retribution couldn't be completed without all four players boarding the dropship, meaning that a player could grief by refusing to board, thus losing the game for everyone. An update made it so that if a player went down after the dropship arrives, they are no longer needed to board to complete the game.
• Ascended Fridge Horror: The fans have asked before if Widowmaker was the only person brainwashed into being a Talon operative, or if there were more. The Ax-Crazy Assassin character, with her dialogue of insane giggling, rambling and moaning, suggests that more brainwashing is indeed occurring.
• A Simple Plan: The mission was intended to be a simple (if unsanctioned) target extraction meant to go under notice. Unfortunately, as Cassidy described it, things went horribly off-the-rails.
  Cassidy: Everything was going according to plan. We were going to get in, grab the target, then get out. But then all hell broke loose, it was like the whole damn city was trying to kill us.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Blackwatch team kills Antonio and fights their way through Talon's forces to escape. However, the whole event blows Blackwatch's cover to the world, possibly starting Overwatch's downfall. Additionally, Talon appears to have suffered very little in the long term from the setback.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Talon Assassins have long red blades protruding from their arms.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: Heavy Assaults are immune to knockbacks and stuns. Mei can freeze him, but Snowball can only keep him frozen if she freezes him first. Graviton Surge in particular has almost no effect on any type of Elite Mook. Ana has no issues with using a sleep dart though.
• Darker and Edgier: Falls into this when compared to Uprising. Uprising had players playing as a straight and conventional set of heroes from Overwatch. In Retribution, players play as the morally questionable Blackwatch, with an Anti-Hero Team (Future Talon members Gabriel Reyes and Moira among them). This is cemented as Reyes kills the criminal they were supposed to apprehend in the intro. Also, this is the first PVE event that has you killing actual human enemies as opposed to omnics, and it's further implied by the Assassin character type that some of your enemies didn't willingly join up with them, making things darker than the Uprising event that preceded it.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • "All Heroes" mode in Uprising allowed for some truly broken team combos that could easily beat the mode on most difficulty levels. Retribution changes up the enemies encountered based on the team composition.
  • Reaper's voicelines are still usable by Reyes in Retribution, but have been altered so that Reyes says them with his pre-Reaper voice.
• Elite Mook: Enforcers, Snipers, Assassins, and Heavy Assaults serve as this for Talon.
• Faceless Goons: Double Subverted. The basic soldiers wear a mask protecting their faces, but shooting it off (by killing them with a headshot) is possible, which reveals them wearing a balaclava underneath.
• Flash Step: Assassins can instantly jump from locations, leaving a brief after image behind them.
• Gatling Good: Heavy Assault enemy wields two of them.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: The mission was simple: take Antonio in for questioning, but it quickly went awry one point-blank shotgun blast later...
• Guide Dang It!: If an Assassin is ripping an ally to shreds and you don't have the time to kill her, you can save them by simply shoving her off with a melee attack. Unfortunately, this isn't mentioned anywhere in-game.
• Hold the Line: Towards the end of the mission, the Blackwatch team needs to hold the area around a restaurant against waves of Talon forces until their dropship arrives. However, unlike many traditional missions of this type, the dropship's arrival is triggered by downing a certain number of minibosses, not by a strict timer, and once the dropship arrives you need to actually get everyone aboard to win, something that can be difficult since more Talon mooks and minibosses keep spawning until everyone is safely aboard or you lose.
• Lighter and Softer: Not the game mode itself, which as mentioned earlier is much darker than Uprising. However, the changing dialog during subsequent playthroughs can add a great deal of humor. Some examples:
  • The Blackwatch members apparently infiltrated as servants. It turns out that Cassidy got fired from his cover job because he started sassing a woman.
  • Apparently Reyes' original plan for sneaking in was to disguise themselves as the band.
  • Reyes can play an instrument, but whatever it is he can't play it well.
  • We get to hear Cassidy try an Italian accent. Moira tells him to never do it again.
  • There is one interaction which isn't humorous on its own, but can be pretty funny due to timing. Cassidy mentions that their intel was a little spotty and Genji says that they could have sent him into spy. However, it is very likely that this interaction plays when the Heavy Assault first shows up, so Genji is bragging about how stealthy he as as he's getting shot at by double machine guns.
• Obvious Rule Patch: On initial release, the mission didn't end until everyone boarded the dropship at the very end, which was unfortunately prone to griefing as one uncooperative teammate who simply chose not to board it would pointlessly extend the mission, possibly going off alone to fight the endless enemy horde and die, thus losing everyone the entire game. Blizzard has since made it so those who end up incapacitated are simply left behind, completing the mission.
• Replay Value: As with Uprising, winning more matches of this mode will result in new dialogs between the four.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Antonio tells Blackwatch what was originally stated in the "Retribution" comic: It doesn't matter if he's arrested or imprisoned, because he has deep-rooted connections throughout the government that would get him out in no time.
• Single-Stroke Battle: True to form, Genji can have one with enemy assassins when they sprint at each other. Unless the assassin is heavily wounded, she won't be killed, but it will keep her from pouncing on Genji and give the rest of the team a few seconds to finish her off.
• Start of Darkness: The whole mission could serve as one for Gabriel Reyes (Reaper), considering his choice to execute Antonio in cold blood rather than capture him as per the plan, the fallout of the operation leading to Blackwatch being exposed and the organization taking a big hit to its credibility.
• Tempting Fate:
  Reyes: It should be smooth sailing from here.
  Heavy Assault shows up
  Cassidy: You just HAD to say it, didn't you?
  Reyes: I withdraw my previous comment.
• Traveling at the Speed of Plot: No matter how long the restaurant defence lasts, the Blackwatch aircraft doesn't show up until all the minibosses are defeated.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The restaurant at the end is manned by a single omnic waiter. Unlike the ones at Oasis, this one isn't shielded and can be attacked and destroyed.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Reyes and his team were supposed to bring in Antonio, but Reyes just shoots him instead. Cassidy is not impressed.
  Cassidy: This is all your fault, commander! We had a plan! We could have walked Antonio right out of the city. I didn't sign up for this.
• Wham Episode: After Reyes's team made it out of Venice, the fighting that had spilled out onto the city's streets led to Blackwatch's existence being exposed to the public, which played a major part in Overwatch's downfall. Cassidy even suggests this may have been the entire point of the Venice mission...
  • It's also implied that the extrajudicial slaying of Talon boss Antonio not only leads to their stronger, more dangerous iteration in the current timeline, but also acts as a Start of Darkness for Commander Gabriel Reyes, setting him on the path from being an antiheroic black-ops soldier willing to get his hands dirty for the greater good to becoming the nihilistic supervillain Reaper.

Storm Rising

• Battle in the Rain: The team takes on Talon in the middle of a hurricane.
• Blinded by the Light: Mercy uses her Caduceus staff to blind the driver of Maximillien's car.
• Call-Back: The last mission involving Gabriel and Cole is mentioned, saying they're on rather bad terms since then.
• Every Man Has His Price: In the trailer, Maximilien, a high-ranking Talon member, says that everyone has their price.
  Maximilien: Everyone you know... everything you do... can be bought and sold. The price of loyalty is always changing.
• Offhand Backhand: Genji tosses two shuriken into the wheels of two cars speeding toward him without looking in their direction.
• Ship Tease: The event is a goldmine of this for Genji/Mercy shippers, from mentioning he enjoys talking to her, readily agreeing to buy her dinner, to her saying she likes him...
  Mercy: I do seem to be making a habit of saving you. It's a good thing I like you. Buy me dinner when this is over.
  Genji: It would be my pleasure.
• Tag Line: Teasers for the event use the tagline: "Chase the Truth."
• Unflinching Walk: After Genji takes out two cars with shuriken, he stands and faces away from them as the flaming, exploding cars careen towards him, simply lifting a hand for a passing Mercy to take and lift him out of the way about half a second before he would have been obliterated by the oncoming debris.

Zero Hour

• Absurd Cutting Power: Genji's sword, when empowered by the Dragonblade, proves strong enough to cut through the heavily armored giant mecha's arm.
• Avengers Assemble: After The Cavalry arrives, it's practically Overwatch Assembled.
• Big Damn Heroes: With Mei badly injured, Tracer forced to evacuate civilians, and Winston making a Last Stand that will almost certainly end with a Heroic Sacrifice, Genji, Reinhardt, Brigitte, Echo, and Mercy arrive to save the day.
• Call-Back: In Reunion, Cassidy told Echo, "Say hi to the monkey for me." ^note Which he followed up with "Scientist, whatever...", itself a Call-Back to Recall when Winston retorted to Reaper calling him a "monkey" with "I'm not a monkey, I'm a scientist!" In Zero Hour, the first thing Echo says upon her arrival is: "Hello, Winston!"
• The Cavalry: Just as Winston is at the mercy of the massive Omnic, Genji jumps in and deflects the blast, neutralizing its best weapon in one fell swoop. Then we see the familiar weapons of Reinhardt and Brigitte, and the two appear saving the day with a smile while Echo flies by with air support. Finally, Mercy arrives from the heavens within a pillar of light to save Mei and provide a much-needed Heroic Second Wind for round 2.
• Chest Blaster: Hitting all the giant robot tropes, the Titan Omnic has this, which it uses to effortlessly slice the Orca dropship in half and tear up a good chunk of road, then almost roast Reinhardt and Brigitte when they block it with their barriers.
• Combination Attack: The large mecha is only put down with Tracer's pulse bomb and Mei's freezing container exploding inside of it. In an inversion, Reinhardt and Brigitte were able to combine their shields to block its attacks while they did this.
• Failed a Spot Check: No one noticed that giant Null Sector Omnic until it literally walks through a BUILDING shorter than it!
• Humongous Mecha: The tide really turns when a Null Sector bot the size of a building makes the scene.
• Killer Robot: Null Sector is still active since the events of Uprising, with an entire army wreaking havoc in Paris.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Reinhardt says it's "ice" to meet Mei. Brigitte groans in response.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Titan Omnic launches one in an attempt to destroy Echo while she's distracting it. All it hits are buildings and the ground.
• Male Gaze: As before, Tracer has a tendency to turn away from the camera in a manner that puts her skin tight pants on display.
• Took a Level in Badass: Null Sector, the evil Omnic group from the Uprising King's Row event that took place several years before the game's modern day. Thought to have been neutralized, they're sporting much more intimidating designs, stronger weapons, and even titanic building-sized units armed to bear.

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Soldier: 76: We're all tropers now.

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