Overwatch has been with us for a while now and it's impossible to deny its popularity. Before its official launch it was being lauded as Game of the Year from multiple sources and it's smashed records and expectations consistently since then. Defining why Overwatch is so popular though is a more difficult matter as there are so many reasons that players and fans give as to why they love it.

Competitive Mode

Although Season One wasn't implemented quite the way it should have been and perhaps didn't reflect the skill levels being displayed in game as transparently as it could have done there is no denying that the competitive scene for Overwatch is a really exciting one. However, the launch of Season Two looks poised to allow the competitive scene to continue to develop and become a thriving eSport which will undoubtedly attract more players to the game. Watching professional competitive games is genuinely exciting as matches can turn suddenly due to the dynamic nature of Overwatch's gameplay making it a thrill to watch. The accessibility of the competitive game also encourages players who may normally have not ventured into that side of a game like Overwatch to push out of their comfort zone a little. By utilising some of the great guides here on the Team Dignitas website on how to get yourself into the right headspace and how to make the most of solo queuing for competitive that opportunity to shine really does open up even for players who may not have extensive competitive experience in other games.

Gameplay

For a 6v6 game from a company not exactly renowned for their first person shooters Overwatch surprised a lot of people out of the gate by feeling very different than other games on the market. The fact that having a "main" hero that you keyed into was discouraged by the way the game worked was unusual enough but the level of coordination and teamwork required to truly excel at Overwatch made it really stand out. Being able to swap heroes to counter team compositions quickly and fluidly ensures a pace to each match (whether in quick play or competitive) that you control yourselves. Whilst many of the elements of Overwatch are familiar - being a team based shooter, the types of maps implemented, the ability to practice against AI in custom games and the quick play versus competitive mode - many of the elements of Overwatch don't and it is the freshness that forms part of Overwatch's appeal.

There is a significant portion of the Overwatch community who don't play other FPS games and in some cases never have, demonstrating a level of accessibility that may be missing from other more traditional titles. Another element is the absolute, no holds barred approach to cheating and the improvements recently made with regards to poor community behaviour. By ensuring that you get to have a game which you can fairly win, by ensuring that the toxic elements of the community are controlled Overwatch has proven that you don't have to accept this sort of thing in this genre. Something that very few other games companies have taken on in any serious way and certainly not to the same extent so quickly.

Being a Blizzard Fan

There are a lot of people who love Blizzard Entertainment as a company and play all of their games, they love them for their creativity, for the richness of environments and for the quality of the games that Blizzard produce and that's a perfectly valid reason to play and love Overwatch. As Overwatch rose from the ashes of Titan (Blizzard's intended second generation MMORPG) being scrapped there were many people who just wanted to know what Overwatch was going to be like. We knew from various interviews and documentaries that Overwatch as a concept was originally intended to be Titan's "police force" and that some of Titan's development team worked on the game and helped bring it to life. There is nothing wrong with being a fan. It's a perfectly legitimate reason to enjoy something and to be happy that it exists. The fact that the game itself supports this and there are nods to other Blizzard games within maps and spawn points is just a beautiful recognition that Blizzard fans are very loyal and often play more than one of their games. The nature of the Blizzard community is part of the reason that the recent chat changes were made to remove sarcastic comments and replace them with humour. Blizzard players expect a good community feeling and respond in kind to it, by generating a community that people want to be a part of.

The Lore of Overwatch

Image from tisbutahumbug via Reddit

From short videos, teaser trailers and comics to a full on alternate reality game (ARG) Overwatch has covered nearly every base when it comes to the lore of the game. The backgrounds of each hero are being brought to life in multiple ways and the stories woven around each other in such an intricate pattern that you almost forget that this is an FPS game not an MMO. It is this depth of layering, this creation of an entire universe that makes Overwatch so unique within the FPS genre and for me it is the element that contributes the most to Overwatch's success. Right now there are people who have never played Overwatch looking for clues related to Sombra as part of the complex ARG that is taking the Internet by storm. The comics that have been produced are both beautiful and insightful and have showcased some truly stunning styles, true works of art and of course, there wasn't a person alive who didn't cry when watching The Last Bastion the first time. All of these pieces of additional flavour bring something to the game that's extra, whether it's giving a context to the voice lines between Ana and Reinhardt or hyping us up for the next hero to be released.

Overwatch is successful primarily because it's different from everything else in its genre. Not by being so different it doesn't fit into its category or feel familiar enough to play but because it's different enough to stand out and stand alone in a market that is very heavily contested.

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