We’ve been hearing from the Overwatch 2 team for a long time now that the devs are trying to be more transparent with fans. I think they’ve made some major strides in the right direction, and that’s exemplified by the team offering an early look at gameplay for the DPS hero who will arrive in Season 10 (i.e. in April 2024).
Venture is a non-binary Canadian damage hero (I was hoping they’d be Scottish but alas). They are a “swashbuckling archeologist,” lead character concept artist Daryl Tan said. Venture has “an unquenchable thirst for past treasures and hidden secrets.”
The hero has a powerful drill that they can use to dig under the map, which sounds rad. That’s a fun, fresh take on mobility for Overwatch 2, given that so many heroes are capable of taking to the skies.
Venture will deliver damage when they burst out of the ground. They can’t be damaged while they’re burrowing and they can pick up health packs while they’re underground. Venture’s weapon fires a projectile that travels a set distance and explodes, game director Aaron Keller said.
Venture also has a dash ability that works pretty much anywhere — on terra firma, below ground or in the air. Team 4 didn’t give a sense of Venture’s ultimate just yet, but they look pretty fun to play based on first impressions.
Meanwhile, Blizzard revealed some more details about the support hero coming in Season 12. Codenamed Space Ranger (I hope that’s her permanent name, to be honest), she is a mobile support who comes from Mars.
Tan revealed that Space Ranger will have quite a bit of vertical mobility — she has thrusters on her suits and boots. However, Team 4 isn’t ready to discuss her kit in detail. That makes sense, since things could change between now and her planned arrival, which will likely be in August. In fact, her weapon has already been changed from what appears in this early concept art:
On that note, don’t expect Blizzard to shy away from its cadence of releasing a new hero every other season.
“This is actually the most amount of heroes that we’ve ever had in simultaneous development at one time,” hero design producer Kenny Hudson told the media in an interview this week. “I’m pretty confident, looking at the schedule — which is my every day thing — that we’re pretty comfortable with where things are, and pretty confident that we’re going to hit our targets for releasing a hero every other season.”
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