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Parents' Guide to

Overwatch 2

By Joey Thurmond, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Sequel has fun teamwork, great diversity; very rocky launch.

Game Nintendo Switch , Xbox One , Xbox Series X/S , PlayStation 5 , PlayStation 4 , Windows 2022
The cover art for Overwatch 2, featuring Tracer, Mei, and Lucio standing together with their weapons brandished.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 6 parent reviews

JustAUsernameOnWebsite
JustAUsernameOnWebsite Parent of 14-year-old
October 19, 2022
age 12+

Decent, but over-sexualized.

So I'm not going to be talking about how the launch was horrible, I'm just gonna talk about how the game itself plays. I think it's ridiculous that people think that the game should be judged on how much it added rather than how it actually is. While I do agree it doesn't qualify for a sequal, I'm still gonna rate it fairly. So Overwatch is a shooter game that is fairly family friendly. It doesn't have blood, you can optionally turn off voice chat and regular chat, and it even adjusts how hard the game is based off of your skill level, so you won't be matched against players who spend 90% of their day on this game. (Unless there's a smurf in your lobby.) Unfortunately though, there are some problems with this game, and I'm gonna talk about them. First off, chat. When you first try to play the game, it automatically turns on voice chat and text chat. While I, personally, turn on text chat, some people might not like it because the censors are easilly bypassable. Second, the characters. Many of the characters are made fairly sexually, such as Widowmaker or D.V.A. While there is no sexual things in the actual game, the character's designs are rather sexual. Third, the community. As I mentioned before, the characters are rather sexually designed. Because of this, that means there is a lot of... well.... "Not safe" art. Heck, this is so common, that if you go on youtube and search "Google Overwatch speedrun", you'll find people speedrunning finding "Not safe" art on Google for these characters. Last, and most likely least, the characters sometimes say swears. This doesn't happen very often, but the easiest to find example is for the character "Moira", where if her teleporter ball thing is destroyed, there is a chance she will say "Dammit!" Overall, this game is good fun, but can also be rather sexualized.
ryan C.
ryan C. Adult
December 22, 2022
age 16+
everything from 1 they took out they promised so much from the start and gave nothing where is the pve group finder 6v6 now we have battle pass like every game out there has that's ruins it its pay to win in a sense that you get charter in the battle pass but can't get it free to play blizzard as a whole is such a terrible company i hope you lose so much of your fan base overwatch/ blizzard such s--t marking for a game to give little to no stuff then want to shove content through a straw giving little by little i hop you lose every fan from the original overwatch
See all 6 parent reviews

What’s It About?

OVERWATCH 2 doesn't have a dedicated story mode, but it does have a rich universe primarily explored outside the game with animation shorts, books, and comics. The premise features the international task force called Overwatch, which was assembled during the Omnic Crisis: a world war between robots and humans. Once this conflict ceased, the group was disbanded after scandals broke out that exposed corruption from within the organization. In its absence, the terrorist group Talon sowed disorder and violence around the world for years. With old and new heroes wondering what can be done to push back, one of them sends out a distress call to reunite and resurrect Overwatch to stop Talon's plans to incite conflict. This has been the story premise since the first game in 2016, and the timeline hasn't gone forward much with the exception of several heroes showing up to answer the call in Overwatch 2; the game's relatively unconcerned with its present overarching story in contrast to emphasizing the backstories of and relationships between its characters.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (6 ):
Kids say (9 ):

To be clear, the first game and this sequel are largely the same. Overwatch 2 retains the core content and gameplay of the original, but has been updated more extensively than ever before. What's new are several maps, three characters, and the Push mode: a fun tug of war-inspired game where players fight for control of a robot and attempt to guide it farther into the enemy team's territory than they can with yours. Several existing characters have been reworked with new abilities and roles. Instead of six players per team, there are now five, and players need to commit to particular roles in matches. As a whole, Overwatch 2 makes quality-of-life tweaks and bold character balancing adjustments that aren't perfect, but refine an already stellar experience. Cooperation and coordination are essential to victory since characters have such diverse, pronounced strengths and weaknesses in objective-oriented mode. Few multiplayer titles can compete with how well designed and exciting Overwatch 2 can be with team-oriented gameplay.

New players have a slew of wonders to behold, but the launch of this new chapter of Overwatch will leave veteran players expecting more. More modes and cooperative story missions are promised but disappointing to not see yet. Weeks into its release, account migration and connectivity issues abound, including one character being completely taken out of the game for balancing, which never happened in the first Overwatch. The game's biggest mistake comes with overhauls made to its progression systems and digital store. Before, players earned free "loot boxes" at a decent rate from leveling up and completing simple challenges, which rewarded players with randomly generated cosmetics and in-game currency. It's nice that you can directly buy currency now to purchase particular items, but rewards are earned at a notably slower rate through gameplay alone. The new digital store and Premium Battle Pass also locks one new hero (and future ones) — who can provide game-changing advantages — behind paywalls unless you complete a steep list of challenges. The shift toward more monetization is from Overwatch 2 becoming free to play, but the current market skews unnecessarily predatory and restrictive in small yet unwelcome ways. In the moment-to-moment action, the game puts itself back on the map as a champion among multiplayer games with incisive improvements to its design and feel. But big technical issues, less rewarding progression, and relatively little content at launch prevents Overwatch 2 from being worthy of its status as a sequel.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Parents can talk to their kids about online cooperation. The game gives you a "communication wheel" to issue basic commands and observations without a microphone, but are you using this tool effectively to work with teammates? How can you adapt and communicate to help your team win, but also be patient and flexible with other players to kick back and have fun?

  • If you're using a microphone, what are some ways you can encourage teammates? When you meet someone who's being mean to you or others, how can you protect yourself, and stand up for others?

  • When you see digital items you want, are you checking to see if you can earn them through gameplay? How can you recognize when a game is prompting addictive behavior or impulsive buying?

  • What does it take to be a hero? What should we look for in our own heroes with how they treat people and whom they advocate for? Who is putting their words into action?

Game Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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