game

There are characters who improve map visibility, soak up incoming damage with shields, or throw out armour for teammates to pick up. There are characters who lay traps, or debuff or stun enemies. There are characters who use a jetpack, teleport long distances, or boost movement speed for every teammate within an area of effect. It's a wide and varied roster with a plethora of styles and abilities.

Balancing that, some systems are more streamlined than you'd expect from a class-based shooter. Only a couple of heroes carry multiple weapons, but even that is mostly a choice between attack and utility. Only some heroes have an alternate fire mode. Even beyond specific loadouts, there's no ammo management. Most guns need to be reloaded, but they have an unlimited ammo pool to draw upon. There's still plenty of complexity, though, and, by using abilities, Overwatch feels distinct from its competitors.

I particularly love how varied the movement is between characters. Not just Tracer's Blink, but also Genji's vertical scaling, Lucio's wallrun, Widowmaker's grappling hook and, most of all, Mercy's glide. Mercy, Overwatch's medic, is the perfect example of how every aspect of a character can, in the best cases, support a specific style. Alone, she's vulnerable and slow – easily ambushed and dispatched. But, with line-of-sight to a teammate, she can spread her wings and fly towards them. It's fun to do, and also reinforces the symbiotic partnership between healer and healed: Mercy needs her teammates as much as they need her. It's masterful design.

Part of the process of playing