What's the Future of Overwatch Lore? (2024) | Hammeh

[@Hammeh]

Where would you like to see Overwatch 2's lore, world and story go next? And, in what *forms*? Let me know your thoughts below! I think there's many different paths, forms and media we could see the story progress in, both in and outside of game - fingers crossed! :) -Hammeh

[@assassith]

I don't really know what I would like to see next, but I would really like some sort of visual for the events that took place at the Overwatch HQ. I want to see the rebellion being set up, the fight between Jack and Reyes , and the part with them leaving the aftermath of the explosion. I don't care if it's a comic, a animation, a cinematic, or an in game mode. I just want to see it play out (aka anything other than a short story).

[@fateofsouls214]

For me, Overwatch has lost its appeal in a certain way. Especially how the current story is and with Nullsector. I am someone who values ​​the credibility of a story very highly and that is no longer the case with the story since 2019 and the OW2 trailer. Overwatch is currently a handful of heroes who operate illegally. And they are now saving the world on their own, like the Avengers? To be honest, that is quite boring and sometimes VERY unbelievable. I mean, how can it be that dozens of these huge helicarriers come out of nowhere and absolutely NOBODY notices anything about it beforehand. Even today, just one such thing under construction would be discovered pretty quickly and Overwatch is set in the year 2077. Where is all the military anyway? After the Omnicrisis, the military is likely to increase massively, especially the US. Shouldn't several nations also have such huge ships? Brazil yes, the military could be lack luster (but they had some Jets in the air doing absolutely nothing), but if Nullsector attacks Paris and Gothenburg, shouldn´t they be confronted with a massive military presence (if Nullsector even makes it to the cities) it is NATO territory after all. How can Brigitte survive the jump out of the Plane at the beginning of Rio? What I would have liked would be a story that revolves around Overwatch vs Talon at its core in the form of an agent thriller. Also that something is really decided and the whole thing is taken seriously. For example, there is no fixed division of which heroes do what in the story missions. I asked Jason Hill about this on Twitter/X. His answer was: "Whatever 4 person team you choose for the mission is the story. The others have things to do too. Pitfalls avoided." So basically, there is no canon version. Then the whole debacle with the age of Sojourn and Kiriko. The existence of the OW2 skins, which creates plot holes en masse. D.Va sets off for Gibraltar with her old equipment in the #5 New Blood comic. A few hours later, the heroes return from Rio and meet Cass's troops, and D.Va suddenly has her new mech and suit. How? Bastion and Orisa basically have completely new bodies. In Bastion's case, that could have caused him to no longer exist. Reinhardt's hair and beard would fit under his helmet in Paris, and why is he suddenly no longer wearing a helmet? In general, many heroes would use the original gear if they had the choice. Hardly any new skin has any improvement/development that would justify a complete redesign. How were they even made? It's not as if everyone has hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance something like that. Unfortunately, so much went wrong/unprofessionally (in terms of Story and Worldbuilding) for me that I don't really care anymore. The Story basically only consist out of Plotholes and Questions after Question. I have my own headcanon and will perhaps put it on paper and then consider it to be real canon. The thing is, What is canon and what isn't can change at any time, depending on who is working at Blizzard. With Star Wars we saw how this can happen. Sry for the small rant, got carried away. ^^' Oh one BIG wish I have: Widow joining Overwatch and getting her redemption.

[@patrickcarter2829]

​@@fateofsouls214 true. Overwatch lore is pretty a fill-in-the-blank story, I don't expect anything groundbreaking. The fact that the story writers have a bible but still make basic writing failures (character ages) is concerning, to say the least.

[@thesquirtlesquad8446]

Did I hear rumors awhile back on Rein dying in the lore? Say it isn’t so!

[@spacecore94]

Would be easier to give lore if they had a STORY MODE

[@TriNguyen-mu9ok]

Now this is where I play OW2 story mode; IF IT HAD ONE.

[@piccaro0901]

Feel like OW2 should’ve just been a dedicated PvE/Story game alongside Overwatch 1, wouldn’t call it ow2.

[@Hammeh]

There are many different ways - even different games and formats - that story could continue in, outside of Overwatch 2. Towards the end of the video, I talk about licensing the IP out to other studios as an example for games, but also just playable experiences within Overwatch 2 currently (Questwatch ramped up? something like DOTA 2's Crownfall). I'd have loved the story of PVE, hero missions etc to be complete in a sense, but it feels strongly that a mission pack like OW2 Invasion is very unlikely for the foreseeable future :(

[@trevordwyer8162]

Blizzard would have to actually care about putting forth a quality product for that to happen.

[@skeletor4436]

For that to happen that would require Blizzard to have to not go back on their promises but they can't do that so that's not happening

[@p4f120]

These characters and their interactions is what made me start in Overwatch and play it through the years. It's sad that Blizzard don't invest on the lore like before with Archives and more frequent animated shorts. They have to be passionate about the game's identity again.

[@jaytch6639]

Yeah I'd never played an online shooter before overwatch. Wouldn't've cared to even google it if I hadn't seen the Alive cinematic playing at a game store one day.

[@zc8673]

OverWatch will go down as one of the most tragic gaming franchises ever. I'm not sure if I've ever seen an IP be so mishandled. Even Bethesda was smart enough to make Fallout TV show.

[@Hammeh]

I think it's not at 'tragic' status. Some missed opportunities for sure - as I said, LoL only got an animated series at an older age than Overwatch - with Arcane taking a bunch of years to develop. Some things are possible still, it's whether OW does 'well' enough and the brand is strong enough still to justify these in MS and Blizzard leadership minds I guess.

[@olegdusov4273]

@@Hammeh Its not strong enough to mention OW in last Xbox Games Showcase. Somehow Sea of the Thieves was there, but not OW

[@rafaelmachado4913]

I still hope they can give continuity to the PVE Story Missions they launched with Invasion, I'm DYING to see what happens after that cliffhanger. But also, i think it's kinda difficult since they fired most of the PVE workers, i just want to see more of the universe🥺

[@Powermaster111]

Cancelled

[@Hammeh]

I think there's elements that could be worked on or resurrected in future - it may not be in a 3x mission playable pack like Invasion, however, and most likely isn't a priority anytime soon...hopefully if not, that story can continue to be told in other means or media ;(

[@floraazul7622]

​@@Hammehknowing we were SO CLOSE to seeing those PVE cinematics, only for all that lore to never see light of day.... hurts. I want to know why Zen was being targeted, and what Maximilien wasn't wanting to do but Doomfist was pressuring....

[@m.artifex2001]

​@@floraazul7622 the zen cliffhanger is how i KNOW blizz & ms are sadists. We probably would've gotten the shambali outfit too like sojourn's vigilante skin 😭

[@floraazul7622]

@@m.artifex2001 we still haven't gotten Laboratory LifeWeaver either.... sniffle. Maybe one day we will get these skins...

[@zc8673]

I literally just want an OverWatch cartoon/anime

[@Hammeh]

yeah, you and me both. For DOTA 2 - Dragon's Blood, Valve seemingly mostly handed it off to Netflix and Studio Mir as a project, so it's basically non-canon, but an adventure with DOTA characters in the DOTA multiverse anyway, broadly along existing lore lines. Not as integrated as an Arcane, but I enjoyed it! There's many different ways to do these things. League of Legends is a lot 'older' than OW when it got its first anime, so never say never...

[@The1andonlysharpshooter]

I’m waiting for a theatrical release.

[@dimonstools]

I don't know why Blizzard can't give us parts of lore inside Battlepass each season even in the form like it was in Questwatch. Just put some new files into Winston's PC each several BP levels, what can be easier?

[@Hammeh]

I think Questwatch was a good experiment! I shared DOTA 2's current version of that, Crownfall, later in this video, which I think works really nicely. Also - as you say, they could totally repurpose/update Winston's Invasion mission hub....

[@Alaylaria]

The biggest criticism I have about Overwatch lore is that it moves. So. Slowly. Updates come at a snail’s pace, which on its own I could deal with, but when they do come it never furthers anything a satisfying amount. Even the PVE missions we got a year ago felt more like the prologue that just… never really got followed up on. The Zenyatta teaser at the end really just made me disappointed, because like the Rammatra cutscene at the end of storm rising, I felt like it wouldn’t have any payoff for years. A story mode could’ve at least given a decent arc to follow, or a full comic, or something, but those don’t seem like they’re going to happen. I want to be able to engage with the story. I like the world and the lore they’ve got so far, but it’s really hard not to just check out. I feel like the backstory and character fragments we get have a similar issue as well, with the added problem in that they don’t also forward the timeline at all in addition to being unsatisfyingly small and sparse. :/

[@Hammeh]

Agree on the pace being slow. It also moves in fits and spurts - we have LOADS, then a lot less for a spell, then LOADS, as things slowly - surely - progress. I cut some chat from me in this video about the LOST effect- 1 question gets answered or progressed, then two new ones get asked to take its place. It feels by now that they've done most 'world building/development' with regards to the past and the omnic crisis, so everything else can move forward somewhat. Thing is - after the 'focusing on live service/updates' message, will lore be a part of that, and what will become of the planned Zenyatta / Genji onwards and any other followup to Invasion...:(

[@TrailtotheArtpocalypse]

It was so clear the pve team was getting better and better as they got to do more work (the cosmic crisis mode was so so good), and I so wish we got to play the next few missions of storymode. But I'd be just as happy with the lore continuing in the form of shorts/comics/short stories. The lore and characters is what got me into overwatch and I'd hate to see it's main appeal for me fizzle out into nothing. I'm hoping once the heroes ascendent posting is done we'll get some more new content.

[@Hammeh]

enjoyed a lot of the events! they were/are always working within the 'limitation' of the Overwatch engine - something that as far back as 2016/2017, that Jeff had said would maybe make making a new game easier than building PVE within the current Overwatch setup. Unsure what new was built for Overwatch 2 as opposed to the Uprising and Retribution days in terms of engine - we can see what PVE mobs do in the Invasion missions, the tech side is something I'd love to learn more about. Honestly - I feel we can get story and lore continuing in the forms they are now, and anything else could be a bonus - playable content mainly, and any larger projects. Things will continue it feels - just a question of in what forms :)

[@CryingCreeperMLG]

Mirrorwatch should've been an actual in-lore event that came about as a result of Overwatch experimenting with Tracers chronal stuff. Not sorry for this take.

[@Hammeh]

Fun idea! Why be sorry.

[@ElixoYT]

Don't forget the Anubis god AI containment clash map teaser at the end of the venture gameplay trailer. I think we'll see some lore through the map details

[@m.artifex2001]

14:05 this fact KILLS me as a zenyatta enjoyer. After 8 years of waiting for actual zen lore, we get so close and then get cucked by an indefinite cliffhanger.

[@Hammeh]

i feel you. I hope we see the followup at least, but it may well not be playable in the way people intended.

[@분노한마법사]

Zen will beat them pretty easily as they are in close distance(in actual game, if Som gets too cose to Zen, she loses.)

[@patrickcarter2829]

Honestly, Overwatch's narrative is giving me the same vibes as RWBY. It has potential, but it's not going to reach that in the hands of current writers/company. Maybe they'll have something at Gamescom, but I think Overwatch is considered a negligible/disposable IP in the eyes of Microsoft.

[@darkstar_57]

I really hope that they do something with the lore and PVE. Reading through the Heroes Ascendant book with the short stories only makes me even more annoyed that they cancelled PvE so ruthlessly like that. I really wanted to play the follow up stories in PvE! They did feel a bit like starter missions to something more involved and its a shame nothing was done beyond that. I hope one day we do get some added information there as to what was meant to happen and how much was done. Touching back on Heroes Ascendant, I am blown away by the quality of the writing for the short stories. I think the chosen writers did an excellent job so far (I REALLY liked the Efi/Orisa story as well as Sym/LW, I am on Ashe's story rn!). -- I'd like to see more PvE missions but without that, I would like to see more comics and short stories. Or hell, using something the playerbase have been screaming about for years. Get Netflix on board and have that discussion to have a series done. Or Disney... I think that would be an interesting investment because Overwatch captured interest for a reason and its painful to see it mismanaged.

[@SweetTaleTeller]

Forgive me if we already know what it is, but I've always been curious about the black blob in Oasis. It looks almost organic, and it makes me wonder if Moira has something to do with it.

[@00xgekkou]

For the people who loved the original overwatch lore, story, and characters. Remember that all of the original key writers and devs are gone. What ever comes out in overwatch 2 isn't the original direction that we fell in love with. It's also never coming back for that reason

[@Hammeh]

i get that sentiment - what i would say, is that there have been several changings of the guard (the eras/phases that I talked about), and we've still had cool new things and lore with each new set of stewards. So - as much as we can love the original, there's still new things that can be great also :)

[@jaegerlord4186]

The game lost its sense of identity when they added battle passes and when Jeff Kaplan left.

[@Malachiah_Y]

I wonder when we will ever more story from Talon, I would love if all of them are involved in one story and interact with each other.

[@chibigeek7197]

Overwatch really could just do what Apex does with their lore and just do small vignettes. Maybe a 8-10 page motion comic, or maybe more in game things like how Valorant does their "voicemails to Brim" to not only deliver lore but to also develop characters in a small way, but it can be called "Transmissions to Winston" or just" Overwatch comms" idk but the possibilities are there besides a PvE or Story Mode and i really hope the OW devs can take advantage of these different avenues to deliver lore

[@Hammeh]

Apex has had a solid formula - the comic, unlockable, the mini battle pass, the map updates, and quicker vignette/animatic/story board style lore videos with voice acting. Val as you say - little cinematic updates with in-map and in-battlepass teasing and storytelling, and I enjoy the range brim voicemails too - slow moving of the lore forward, I reckon that would be too slow for many Overwatch Lore fans - however, as VALORANT has done that from the start, the pace is set and people are used to it. there's loads of ways they could do it as you say chibi! Questwatch was a nice fun example, I shared DOTA's current example, Crownfall as well...treading that line between 'content' and keeping players engaged/of course buying something here and there!

[@Penamesolen]

Yeah, perhaps Overwatch' biggest mistake was trying to insist on a bigger story when they should have just been a quirky world with quirky superhero characters, at least for a while longer until they had better grip on what they could do.

[@ColeTanaka]

I think blizzard has missed one of the biggest opportunities for profit (since that seems to be what thy want) in merchandise, REAL merchandise. They should take cues from the anime industry because the majority of money that anime makes come from merchandise, and not the anime itself. Let overwatch be a game, not a product.

[@firebreak7961]

I genuinely think that the story might continue with Emre as the next Lore Hero after season 14 since not only was he mentioned after 5 years in Declassified but season 10 gave his name as a streamer mode name and the midseason update gave sojourn a new voiceline asking where Emre is. Him being the last og member who hasn't answered the recall and Reaper hunting down old agents where he 100% is on makes me believe that he will not only be a hero in the game but will also answer so many questions.

[@Midnightmiaaaaaa]

I remember feeling really exited for the universe of overwatch back when it felt like they had a story to tell

[@alpacawizardman6778]

I think an ingame codex would be a great way to document and add on to the lore, maybe with new tidbits being unlockable through accolades or map interactions each season.

[@sbjorka]

While I am sad that the story content seems to have taken a backseat, part of me is somewhat relieved as I've been more than a little disappointed in some of the new material to be honest. I don't know if I'm just being nostalgic, but I really feel something missing from the new writing, even looking past some of the awkward inconsistencies they introduced. Perhaps taking a little break from the story and reassessing might be healthy, just hope it's not a permanent thing.

[@floraazul7622]

My worry with overwatch is that they lost so much money, they will be focused on recouping money and that means more art stuff towards noncanon unrelated collabs, and a lack of narrative cohesion to overwatch heroes in a superhero-scifi setting ("magic is sometime technology we don’t yet understand")-- yet kiriko has a spirit fox that can possess humans? Sigma and Tracer have 'scifi magic' in time travel and gravity powers, but the kitsune still makes no sense, nor does Kiriko's age unless there was a 'lost in another realm' timeskip with Kiriko we don't know about yet, or something. Another concern especially is lack of character origin short. No origin short for Venture was really bad. Origin shorts are an iconic staple for each ow hero! A bio isn't enough bc a bio doesn't give us an idea of that hero's personal outlook on things ... We can cobble together lore that Venture studies omnic artifacts, and seemingly Venture found an anubis artifact? But the fact ilios lead to nothing and was Talon searching for "dog like artifacts" was SO LAME. I thought ilios and other spots like petra and that one area in thailand that Talon was targeting maybe had secret artifacts to further the lore, but it appears to just be spots with 'potential dog like artifacts(anubis artifact)'. I think I will be holding my breath for Space Ranger. IF space ranger has no origin short, and no real exploration of what mars is like, i will deem overwatch in the pits and likely on a road to shut down :( you don't launch mythic mercy unless you REALLY need cash, and the porsche collab is just. So unfiting for overwatch, screams "we need the money" I hope space ranger touches on Mars lore... is it like the lunar colony(unethical)? Has humanity given up on earth and is trying to build refuge in mars (lots of scifi have elites polluting earth and then escaping, leaving earth abd the rest of humanity behind)? Or is the mars station still a fledgling outpost discovering some new weird technology? Or maybe the mars station failed, and space ranger is the only survivor returning to earth? There are SO many possibilities for story direction for Mars in OW. So if they barely touch on Mars lore with space ranger, then that's a sign something is wrong behind the scenes... not to be a doomer but with the issues of overwatch not making enough money to the point devs didn't get any bonuses, i worry overwatch could potentially be shut down. I REALLY hope not! The ip is so rich for world building potential! I truly want to see Ramattra's motivations, i want to know why Zen was being targeted, what thing Maximilien wasn't wantimg to do but Doomfist pressured, and what the eye conspiracy is. I want to see what Oasis is cooking, especially if illari is involved... it implies maybe the explosion WASN'T an accident... i want to see visuals for the atlantic archeology and I want to learn what the eye conspiracy faction is!!! Heck, we have 2 projects of Mina Liao that we still don't know about! (The three we do are: aurora, echo, Athena. Declassified stated Mina had 5 projects.)

[@Hammeh]

thanks for taking the time to share flora! at the end of the day it's part of a business, so it's walking the line between 'making the project wash its face' financially speaking, as well as engaging/retaining players, and making stuff the devs would enjoy making too one hopes! Collabs are a part of that journey. They may well fund the game existing and other things we may enjoy more (personal taste pending). We'll get more lore, just remains to be seen in what forms it comes! The science vs magic piece has always been not hugely clearly defined. The Shimadas have more of a potential tech explanation hinted at in Hanzo's short Heroes Ascendant story, for example. Kiriko's kitsune in the very same story is described more as walking around as a distraction, not really described in combat at all. On the age piece - I think honestly that's probably just a slight art continuity slip as part of it, like the 'medals' image in the past. It happens sometimes, and without it, things can be rationalised together a bit more. Venture got a comic and an anime(ted) short, albeit a short fun one. Not every character will get the fully animated AAA treatment (EG Junker Queen- animated short, and comic book style origin story). She'll have time to be brought into the lore, similar to Illari. Space Ranger I am excited for, and as you say, could be many fun things they could do! Remember the team are (unless someone else has been promoted or given a title), a narrative lead down. That said, a lot of the work on things coming out soon will have been done months ago with the full team pre any redundancies. TL:DR - lore will come, I think Overwatch is in a solid-ish place, let's see what comes!

[@floraazul7622]

@@Hammeh oh yeah definitely! I only mention the age inconsistency because Soujorn's age was tweaked to be 51 so that Soujorn's sister's lore made sense, but Kiriko wasn't tweaked, and that has less to do with pictures and more to do with statements of ages. A 20+ year gap between Kiriko and Genji & Hanzo is hard to be "childhood friends" and tbh? 27 at minimum is what I expected for Kiriko before age reveals. I SWEAR there were statements from team members that there was no 'true magic' in overwatch, but maybe I'm remembering wrong. And yeah I honestly really enjoy Hanzo and Genji's explanations of the dragons as some kind of ornamental hard-light tech adjacent weaponry. What I dislike about the kitsune possibly being "actually magic/spirit" is that Kiriko would solidify a religion (in this case the Inari and Kitsune from Shinto and Buddhist beliefs) in overwatch as "objectively correct" -- no matter what religion, i feel its a bad idea to canonize specific religions as "objectively correct" in overwatch. Not only does it not embrace the diverse experiences of the globe by delegitamizing entire cultures as "wrong", it ruins the philosophical discussion of if omnics "have souls" if a kitsune spirit exists lol. Because then yeah, obviously omnics have souls and Aurora used Buddhist methods to ascend into Nirvana... and it creates uncomfortable implications for Ramattra, because if Buddhist systems exist canonically to ow, Ramattra is objectively correct in trying to remove the suffering of his people by removing thier consciousness, either reverting them to preawakening--or forcing a meditation state--or trying to force them into the iris, whatever those subjugation helmets do is technically 'correct' to save a soul from suffering. And I'm not too keen on that lol. I personally much prefer the 'super hero' scifi-magic stuff that we see with Winston being a super intelligent animal, Tracer having time powers, and the most I would push it is Sigma. He has a freaking singularity in his skull and can use gravity powers. Makes no sense realistically, but it's scifi first, magicy in the sense it COULD be technology, second. I don't expect full cinematics like JunkerQueen's 3d short, but I do expect those animatic-like 2d origin shorts. Venture's short animation was cool, but nowhere near the iconic hero origin short staple that unifies every hero on the roster together as distinctly 'belonging to overwatch'. They deserve a proper origin short, that art from the bio was too cool lol. I have worked in the animation industry before, so I agree, things can take a long while before release! But the turbulence lately has me very nervous about overwatch's future, because I see the red flags as someone who has worked in media production. I truly adore this series world building! I don't want Overwatch to end without telling its intended storyline. I think a good example of if Overwatch is in a good place is this: are those comets for space ranger? Or for the transformers collab. Because if it's the collab it will feel like the porsche ad getting a wonderful animation, yet Venture gets no proper staple origin short. If it's in game hype for transformers collab, and not world building for space Ranger, it feels like ads are where art is going and that's not why people enjoy Overwatch. I just hope the trend doesn't continue towards focusing good art for collabs over lore standards we have gotten previously. Because they can do BOTH. Heroes are the most important part of overwatch! That said, I am extremely interested in Space Ranger! I wonder what her personality is like, where she comes from, and what her goals are. Time will tell! Thanks for taking the time to discuss!

[@coomer8410]

Ooo, seeing your video pop up in my feed hits me right in the nostalgia. I used to play and consume so much Overwatch content, glad you're still around!

[@Hammeh]

cheers for stopping by again! still here, had a bit of a quieter time, but covering some things I enjoy and then perhaps expanding a bit to some new things too! how are you finding overwatch nowadays? enjoying some other games? :)

[@Penamesolen]

This is me speaking more from my heart, because I know nothing about how to make a game or distribute a story; all I know is that I played OW as my first FPS when it was released, and stopped when the scandals broke and only recently came back. But from 2016-2018, it felt like Overwatch was -IT- among new IPs, with so much potential. It was colourful, funny characters, hopeful and was centered around the idea of superheroes when the superhero craze was still going. People that didn't even like FPS tried the game because of the characters! We were exciting for anything about them that came out! We were looking forward to potential TV-series, cartoons or whatever! It seemed endless. Then, everything changed when Overwatch 2 was announced. When I bought the game, I bought an FPS with quirky characters that were superheroes and supervillains, in a futuristic setting. Some small lore was breadcrumbed around in the game but the actual story was through comics and shorts, and some lore articles. When they released the first archive event, it felt like a HUGE deal, because we saw a bigger potential for PvE that Junkenstein had tested, and it was amazing to do! People ate the archive events up, we loved them, and it was a great way to learn about past missions. However, at some point they would have to do something different, because there was a limit to what characters one could use for the archive missions of the past; we saw that in Storm Rising, where only Winston was a new character. At some point they would have to move on. They could have just skipped the story of OW straight to OW2, over the drama, and go "Overwatch helped the world in a robot crisis, then disbanded when controversies erupted, and now they are more like a club for heroes to help each other when trouble arises because of enemy organizations". That way, any new event could be episodic stories of heroes there coming over to help against enemies. Yeah, a loooot of disbelief must be practiced since we need mobs and such, but I think it could work. Could be as simple as Torbjorn's robots malfunctioning so Brigitte, Symmetra and someone else come over to assist taking them down. This is a cartoon world, they're allowed to be a bit quirky. I think, if the Story Missions had been announced in that fateful year, and not OW2, I think people would have eaten it up. Yeah, there are only three episodes every 18 months and yeah they cost extra money, but people bought the FPS first, this is an extra bonus they give when they were not prepared. In 2018, there was a LOT of goodwill in Blizzard, specifically the Overwatch team, and people would gladly pay some extra. But they didn't. Instead, they announced a sequel to a game that didn't need it, promised a bunch of stuff and said they would be quiet, and what followed was three years of nothing, then the game comes out after the controversies, and it has nothing of what it promised to have, what they gave as reasons for OW2's existence. When it finally comes, it is not what they promised, and most goodwill among fans have been burned away after years of silence, scandals and shortcomings anyway. And they were so ballsy as to end the story on a cliffhanger, when they now recently basically announced they would not make more story missions, and those people that did play it and like it get it unfinished, AND now the Story Missions section sits there, unbaked and stupid, taking space and forever reminding people of the game's failures for existing. My take is worthless because I just wish they undid the entirety of OW2, went back to how it was before and then added, as I said, Story Missions. Perhaps began with three episodes not connected, episodic stories of various heroes (and one with the villains), with some small hints of a bigger story. But don't end if a cliffhanger! Next trio of missions, also episodic but with different teams and bigger hints for a bigger story. Then, if it was proven that the first success wasn't a fluke and people want the story missions enough to buy them, introduce a bigger story. But that's too late now, isn't it? Now we must just follow short stories and comics that try to subtly move the story forward but not too much, and keep enough/too much hidden so that they have story left to tell. We are, basically, back to where we were with OW1, but WORSE. OW1 had FPS and free archive missions that were added every year alongside shorts, comics and the like. OW2 has no archive missions, story missions cost money, not many shorts and mostly comics and short stories. And I'm fine with that, but BECAUSE we were promised more, it will have that shadow over it for a long, long time. Forever, maybe. And all because that one dude wanted another yacht.

[@andrewhuerta7168]

I really want to get into Overwatch lore, but it feels all scattered. It doesn't feel welcoming and easy to get into the lore. I'm not saying you should, but I would love to see a video discussing all of the different comics, books, and animated shorts put together chronologically and discussing them and doing synopsis on them. Maybe even summarizing main points in each bit.

[@Hammeh]

It exists! I've done it and it's 1.5 hours long. It's updated as of late 2022 however to be clear, so a lot has happened since OW 2 launch, but, this is a good place to start! > kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqi5kqSFhrhgrrc

[@thesquirtlesquad8446]

Love the hat, thank you for the content

[@Hammeh]

Hah, thanks for watching! I need a haircut then maybe we'll take a break from the hat 🤣 do like them, cheers blizzard for it ages ago

[@caustin850]

No matter. I'll go with my own version of the Overwatch story missions.

[@Hammeh]

if in doubt, headcanon and enjoy it your way!

[@caustin850]

@@Hammeh Thank you, I will.

[@Ssoyokaze]

I wish sigma got some love he is such an underdeveloped character. His mercy voice interaction is so sad :( I also have no clue what they’re doing with illari. We’ve had characters before where they had no correlation to any other characters (dva & zarya) but eventually they got something. I posted a theory I had on reddit where I think moira had something to do with the solar ritual incident, judging by the amount of voice lines illari has about moira.

[@terrifyingai]

can't wait for another decade of "getting the team together"

[@rossvaljr.3852]

I find it absolutely funny how much lore Kiriko destroyed just by existing, even on the ones she has nothing to do with at all.

[@hugo-zi6gm]

She didn’t ‘destroy’ anything. She has so little to do with the main stories that her inconsistencies can almost be disregarded entirely

[@FaytVanguard]

Overwatch is dead. Killed by its own lack of MOTIVATION. Plus other factors.... like it's toxic higher ups, OWL, microtransaction focus over game play, lying about Story Mode, lying about game balance, lying straight to the communities faces, and just Aaron. When Aaron removed my ult teleporter (which I was actually good at).... I started know where this was going.

[@Hammeh]

I mean, it's not dead I'd say! I completely get that a lot has changed over 8 years - not all for the better, but, as games like this get older, they to a point need change and differences if they're going to attract new people and stay 'active' rather than fading away. You a Symm main? :D I miss my lock on photon projector. That was stupid, but still fun.

[@kingshibainu8846]

I have a hard time being hopeful about overwatch's story after Microsoft fired the whole story team a little bit ago...

[@hugo-zi6gm]

This is common misinformation… They didn’t fire the whole story team. There are still at least three narrative designers that we know of.

[@furioussherman7265]

Sadly, I don't see the lore going anywhere. With PvE officially canned, it seems as though the devs have simply no care for moving the story and characters forward in meaningful ways. Unless a new series of novels that do more than just fill in blanks and tell side stories OR an Arcane-level animated series comes along out of the blue, we're going to be stuck on the cliffhanger that ended the Ironclad mission just about forever and that deeply saddens me. I fell in love with this game because of the lore - and because of what Hammeh videos taught me about the lore - and seeing it just be left to sit around and collect dust feels like so much wasted opportunities.

[@Hammeh]

Cheers for stopping by as always! Some of the new season voicelines have a few fun bits in. I think we may get some slow movement on these fronts until 'whatever drops next' might happen - if, when. It's not PVE story most likely, but who knows - it will be ironclad cliff hanger for a while I think. Can still enjoy what comes, and enjoy other things too!

[@Mr0FunnyBunny0]

Considering what we got in the past 7 years, We won't get nothing more than a shoehorned trauma drop back story for new characters and a quirky 5exuality trait for them. That's been the formula so far. Game's lore is somehow shallower than a r34 fanfic

[@Often_Uneliable]

They realized they could milk the content in that graphic novel over a decade and canceled it lol

[@Hammeh]

I get where this comes from - they have retold a lot of the story over a longer time, perhaps in more depth and different media than that novel would? I'd love to sneak into Blizzard HQ and have a read, it must be there somewhere...:D

[@carndela7032]

I hope they atleast release the unfinished material

[@grimskull94]

Yeah i want to play the story in game and not read a comic or book like thing online

[@Sandman10032]

I means it’s obvious that the writers know what they’re doing. The best case scenario is blizzard going bankrupt and another company picking up the ip 😭

[@Hammeh]

Don't know if that's a best case scenario at all! Even less chance of any threads continuing if that's the case!

[@ShakeMilkyWay1]

They are owned by microsoft. There is 0 chance of they going bankrupt.

[@enderzone2002]

They never should have but the story as a pay to play if that was never the case then maybe we could have gotten more players into it and they probs gotten a bit more but then again this is blizzard I lost all hope for anything good they do. I was more disappointed when Microsoft took over both companies dropped the PVE staff

[@Hammeh]

I think by the stage it released, it had to be paid in some form. if the original plan was a '2' sequel in some form of separate release, then they bought the new heroes and everything forward with battle passes, then paid was to be expected. 'Overwatch 2' might have been a boxed price paid upgrade anyway. Microsoft and the redundancies were probably always a risk, to be fair. Common after mergers and acquisitions - and if a product isn't punching its weight (however that's perceived financially by powers that be), then even more risk :(

[@enderzone2002]

@@Hammeh fair enough

[@paigeshoneymoon]

lore next: Genji and Mercy canon cxxx

[@Hammeh]

hahahaha - you can rarely crown a 'ship, if ever, man, the ship wars have been painful enough at points over the last 8 years!

[@allisonn6027]

This has been retconned, because of the crazed pharmercy shippers. Another reason im disappointed

[@Powermaster111]

Missions were cancelled

[@Hammeh]

there's still content there they could polish up or work on in various forms. whether we'll get another pve mission pack, who knows - but, there's stuff to work with!

[@Star-ht2tz]

The conclusion: it's so over, blizzard hates making money. I don't know why they can't see that a good animated series can bring overwatch back to peak popularity

[@peacewalkr6942]

The way blizzards fumbled this franchise, from both gameplay and lore needs to be studied.

[@Hammeh]

there's a video essay in me about the life of Overwatch/2 somewhere. It's not all fumble (intentional, accidental, mismanagement or ability) - the industry and games have changed a lot, and in some ways, Blizzard hasn't adapted. In other ways, they've adapted but perhaps off trend or slightly late. I'm not a game developer, but from the sides I can speak more about, there's a lot of interesting stuff to chat about. Maybe one for the future. I'm not making an overwatch is dead video, at the same time, there'll be a natural point to actually explore what went wrong and right.

[@SandlerShephord]

Sombras story should be where shes arrested for extortion in Russia, and is thrown inna dungeon where shes never seen again and than shes removed from the game 😂

[@bakutie]

for starters they should get an actually new engine then salvage the cancelled mode please and make something that enables them to do large scale storytelling akin to fortnites methods I doubt microsoft cares enough to even acknowledge the game but oh well maybe when they start being unsatisfied with the money blizzard makes them they'll do something or at least kill the game and end my misery

[@lawrence9713]

they burried their overwatch lore with canceling the pve mode

[@philliptraum2788]

Who cares what the lore is now that we know it won’t impact the game? A few Easter eggs referencing a comic book in maps?

[@Hammeh]

how would you like it to impact the game?

[@philliptraum2788]

@@Hammeh that’s the thing, I don’t any more. The lore is a backdrop that dissolved under its own weight. Theres no magic until there is, nobody’s age is static, everyone is dead until they come out of hiding… the lore is no longer viewed as a concrete foundation; it’s a ball pit that can be swirled around in. If Blizzard wants to fly by the seam of their pants and follow the rule of cool, if there’s no impact, then toss the lore in the corner to rot. Give each new character a small blurb, maybe an animatic when they release, and that’s it. It’s a waste of resources that can go to balances, new character/map releases, and game-impacting mechanics like jump pads. I say this as someone who salivated at the character concept of a free DLC character in OW1 and ate up all their plot points hungrily. If there’s no point to it any more then it’s just a self inflicted handicap.

[@xlbthedemigod5662]

Nothing much, it’s completely killed off. The chances of more PvE missions is low.

[@xlbthedemigod5662]

We’ll just keep getting novels and some comics

[@whitegrill8809]

it wont go anywhere because they fired their entire story department. well eventually run out of story and itll stagnate and sorta just stop.

[@hugo-zi6gm]

Why are there still narrative designers on the team then?

[@whitegrill8809]

@@hugo-zi6gm where is the new narrative content in game then? voice lines and interactions... yeah for sure we are still getting story content. (sarcasm) besides putting out comics and small story content, there really isnt any new story content and we arent getting anymore high res cinematics like JQ or kiri. instead we get venture fighting off talon for .... something.

[@hugo-zi6gm]

@@whitegrill8809 That doesn’t fall solely on the narrative designers, that’s a complete team effort to make something like what you’re talking about. Game Production 101.

[@whitegrill8809]

@@hugo-zi6gm never said it fell on narrative leads. But tell me, what do you think we’ll get next? And when? In game. Not bonus material. People want more than just comics and non sensical minor cinematics. We are waiting for story developments to progress the world and it’s looking more and more like they don’t care about story and they only care about $$$. Because it’s not a good sign when majority of the narrative department got sacked.

[@hugo-zi6gm]

@@whitegrill8809 You implied it does fall on only them. If you are expecting in-game story content, and expect the quality of said content to be the same as the original, you will be let down. I won’t sugar coat this because it’s obvious they have a smaller and less experienced team than they did in the past. I’m not expecting PvE to be continued nor do I want it to continue. If you understand their situation, then you should adjust your expectations accordingly. Some people aren’t willing to do that and that’s fine, move on to something else then.

[@sindeviltrigger9268]

hammeh, love your videos and your formats but I haven't watched anything regarding OW for years. OW is dead and its time to leave it behind. Start covering lore from other games and i will come back.

[@JammyONE]

The only future Overwatch has is pushing "The Message" so more cringe.

[@Hammeh]

not sure what you're on about there!

[@JammyONE]

@@Hammeh Politics. Pushing progressive politics.

[@yoursnatchedweave641]

@@JammyONEcringe

[@JammyONE]

@@yoursnatchedweave641 Can you prove me wrong or you just going to me a "fascist"?

[@yoursnatchedweave641]

@@JammyONE why so defensive? i was agreeing with you