Overwatch 2: Invasion Launches Today – Are You Ready to Answer the Call?
Summary
- Overwatch 2: Invasion includes all-new Invasion story missions, a support hero: Illari, permanent game mode: Flashpoint, and more!
- Xbox Wire gets an exclusive look at New Junk City, one of the biggest and most epic Overwatch 2 maps to date.
- Game Pass Ultimate members can claim a perk and receive the New Heroes Starter Pack, featuring instant access to all six Overwatch 2 heroes, a Legendary skin for each, and additional cosmetics.
The biggest update to Overwatch 2 since the game launched is upon us, ushering in a massive new map, a support hero: Illari, permanent game mode: Flashpoint, Invasion story missions, and much more! Plus, there’s new cosmetic rewards, an all-new hero progression system, and a Game Pass Ultimate Perk you don’t want to miss!
As a player fascinated with the hero backstories and learning more about the lore of the game, I was particularly interested in focusing my attention on the story missions, before exploring some of the other content included in the Invasion update, which I’ve summarized below.
Story Missions
Overwatch 2: Invasion features three all-new co-op campaign story missions. Team up with friends, matchmake with random players, or try your luck with bots as you choose from a handful of available heroes (each mission has specific heroes you can choose from) to take on swarms of Null Sector bots and more fearsome adversaries, like the Stalker and artillery war bots. These story missions are like Overwatch Archives missions, but on a much grander scale, with each occurring on its own unique map. These are the biggest maps ever featured in Overwatch and Overwatch 2, and they are swarming with Null Sector bots. As you progress through the missions and listen to the characters interact, you’ll discover more about their individual relationships and the lore of the game.
- Resistance (Rio de Janeiro)
- The new Overwatch team answers a distress call in Rio do Janeiro.
- Liberation (Toronto)
- Overwatch goes to Null-Sector-Occupied Toronto in search of an old friend.
- Ironclad (Gothenburg)
- Brigitte and Reinhardt head to Gothenburg for a family reunion.
Additionally, each mission includes a list of challenges, and you will earn rewards for completing them. But be warned, even on normal difficulty, they are quite challenging (and seemingly impossible on the harder difficulty levels). Depending on the difficulty setting and how well your team does, and how much you stop to enjoy the view and explore, each mission will take approximately 20 minutes to complete, and completing each of the Story Missions unlocks a new Legendary skin and access to Sojourn as a playable hero in your PVP games.
It’s important to note that while the core game of Overwatch 2 is free, the Story Missions require you to purchase the Invasion Bundle, which includes access to all Invasion Story Missions and 1,000 Overwatch Coins. There’s also an Overwatch 2: Invasion Ultimate Bundle available, which includes the Story Missions, plus Null Sector-themed Legendary skins for Cassidy and Kiriko, and the Invasion Premium Battle Pass, featuring 80 tiers of rewards to level up your look.
Event Missions
Event Missions are free co-op experiences and will be released each season. Each week the event will update with new challenges, heroes, and ways to play – so the experience will be different each week. To kick off the event missions, Overwatch 2: Invasion includes the King’s Row: Underworld event mission.
King’s Row: Underworld
King’s Row: Underworld is a co-op event mission included in the Overwatch 2: Invasion update and will be available until September 4. Team up and prevent Null Sector from taking over the Omnic Underworld in King’s Row. It will be up to you to reactivate and bring the combat-modified TS-1 push bot to the bunkers that hold innocent Omnics hostage.
Hero Mastery Missions
Coming later in the season, Hero Mastery Missions are free single-player experiences designed to help you learn, and ultimately master, each of the Overwatch 2 heroes and their specific skills. Performance is tracked via leaderboard, which is sure to add a competitive element and bragging rights for those looking to be the best.
New Game Mode – Flashpoint
Flashpoint is a new game mode incorporating features from other modes into a brand-new game type. Flashpoint uses randomized control points, and each time a Flashpoint is captured, the next will immediately unlock in a random location on the map. Capture three before the opposing team does and you win the match.
New Junk City
New Junk City is a Flashpoint map where each of its Flashpoints will have a different theme and mood that help to distinguish one from another – including a mech-crunching battle arena, the ramshackle living quarters of the ducts, and the polluted and broken-down refinery. This scrapyard metropolis features tons of unique environmental art designs, including posters, graffiti, and signs, all exploring the unspoken story of the Junkers and their leader, the Junker Queen, showcased in one of the biggest and most epic maps to date.
Players will need to stay sharp in New Junk City as they play Flashpoint. Both teams will be rushing from their spawns to get to the Hammer Mill, the starting point in the center of the map, as the starting control point to capture. It’s a nonstop, chaotic run-and-gun shootout between both teams as they work to capture three of the Flashpoints and be crowned victors of New Junk City!
New Junk City and the Flashpoint game mode are available in unranked today, with it also coming to competitive play at a later date.
New Support Hero – Illari
The newest hero to answer the call in Overwatch 2: Invasion is Illari, a support class hero with healing abilities, but also combat ready and able to dispense with the damage. Her Solar Rifle fires a precision beam of sunlight that can either do heavy damage to enemies or heal allies. Illari is also equipped with a deployable Healing Pylon, which can be used at opportune times, like when the team is pushing the objective or to keep an outnumbered player or two alive until reinforcements arrive. Plus, Illari can knock enemies back and propel herself to safety with her Outburst ability and unleash a massive ball of solar energy with Captive Sun, her ultimate ability, which will leave those affected by the blast vulnerable to lethal explosions if they take too much damage.
Game Pass Ultimate Perk
Unlock Illari and the rest of the Overwatch 2 heroes when you claim the Game Pass Ultimate Perk – New Heroes Starter Pack. This unique bundle for Xbox includes instant access to all six Overwatch 2 heroes, a Legendary skin for each of them, and additional in-game cosmetics. You can also unlock Illari instantly with the Invasion Premium Battle Pass for 1,000 OW coins in the in-game shop.
Overwatch 2: Invasion is out now! Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate battlefield brawl. For more information on Overwatch 2: Invasion, check out the official website and follow @PlayOverwatch on Twitter.
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