Overwatch 2’s Mirrorwatch Event Shows How Fantastic PVE Could’ve Been

Overwatch 2 has recently released its Mirrorwatch event, which gives players a glimpse into what the title’s PVE modes could’ve been. The event features a new 5v5 game mode. In this, gamers can play as alternate versions of the game’s iconic characters, who’ve had their roles swapped from heroes to villains and vice versa. But it’s not just a visual change.

Alongside new looks to represent these role changes, the characters have also gotten tons of new abilities to spice up the gameplay. It didn’t take long for players to point out that many of these abilities were likely the leftovers from Overwatch 2’s scrapped PVE mode. The fact that many of these are so fun to try out only goes to show that the PVE mode had tons of potential. If only Blizzard didn’t decide to trash it. Here’s why.

Some Of These Changes Have Breathed New Life To Old Heroes

While Blizzard did adjust most heroes when Overwatch 2 came out, many of them still felt like they played the same way. Mirrorwatch, in a lot of ways, feels like what heroes should’ve felt like when Overwatch 2 launched. It dramatically changes up just about every character involved in the mode. For example, Tracer can choose to infinitely dash in this mode. But, it comes at the cost of her health taking a hit if players choose to spam it.

In the Mirrorwatch mode Tracer basically has unlimited blinks but it hurts you if you use more than 3, up to 5 at once before it stops you. But with a Harmony orb you have basically infinite… Also, you can blink forever in spawn for fun.
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Similarly, Reinhardt gives allies who fire through this shield a Baptiste-like damage boost. This actually gives a reason for damage dealers to stick close to Reinhardt. And seems like a fun idea that should make its way to the main game. There are loads of other changes to go over, but you get the idea. All of these abilities would have made their way to the PVE content.

But unfortunately, because it got scrapped, players can only sit by and guess what could’ve been. The original plan for Overwatch 2’s PVE content included a diverse skill tree in which players could invest their talent points. This would allow for tons of customization and replayability, with wacky builds and different combos being possible. 

The Storytelling Potential Is Crazy

While the idea of multiverses is a bit overdone at this point, the Mirrorwatch event does give us a glimpse at a fun “what if” scenario. Basically, what if all the good guys were bad and vice versa? It’s not the most unique concept, but still has tons of implications for Overwatch’s story. While there hasn’t been any comic tie-in or cinematic for this event, some morsels of lore have found their way to players.

This is mostly through voice lines that Blizzard has added for characters like Widowmaker. After killing Tracer with the new skin, a player discovered Widowmaker calls Tracer a monster for killing Rammatra. This means that in the mirrored universe, Tracer assassinated Rammatra for Talon, instead of Widowmaker killing Mondatta as seen in the Alive cinematic Blizzard released back in 2016.

Twitter is going nuts with Mirrorverse Fan Art (@breikka)
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It’s a small change but is enough to make players curious about what other changes could be present in this new timeline. Some fans have even made their own art depicting the possible interactions in Mirrorwatch. Sadly, because Blizzard has all but given up on developing Overwatch’s story, we might never see a fully-fledged look into these storylines. 

Limited-Time Game Modes Could Reuse PVE Assets

Having developed PVE for quite some time, I imagine Blizzard has tons of unused assets that never saw the light of day. With that in mind, its current route of reusing these assets to make fun limited-time modes is at least better than nothing. It allows players to see what they missed out on, not just in terms of maps and skins, but also new gameplay abilities and storylines.

Should Mirrorwatch Become More Than a Event?
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Sadly, while these limited-time modes are fun to try from time to time, they only make me sad that after stringing the playerbase along for so long, Blizzard decided to give up on the PVE side of Overwatch 2 entirely. Even if it was difficult to release all at once, I still think fans would have waited to try it out, especially if the quality and replayability were the same as this Mirrorwatch event.