On April 1, Blizzard Entertainment updated their massively successful first-person shooter game, Overwatch 2, with a patch reflecting the mischievous holiday of April Fools Day. This has been a yearly tradition for the franchise that fans look forward to each year.
To see the changes that the patch had made to the game, players could access the new content by selecting the “Balanced Overwatch” option in the Main Menu. After selecting the option, players could discover the various ways that the studio had “unbalanced” its heroes. For example, D.Va’s “Self-Destruct” move can knock players hit by it back by 900%, Reinhardt can deflect bullets with his hammer and the character Mauga, who is usually bulking in size, has been shrunk down significantly with his health value being dropped down by 75%.
And, of course, they gave all of the heroes googly eyes again, which has been a fan favorite “tradition” for Overwatch‘s “April Fool’s Day” patches. They also ensured that these changes did not affect the quick-play and competitive game modes, much to the preference of serious players.
Blizzard also included some new abilities for heroes that some fans want to remain in the game after the holiday, such as Mei’s new “Avalanche Launch” jump, which can launch players up into the air. However, in the official patch notes for this update, the developers requested that players not use the new ability to “get to spots on the map you’re not supposed to get to.”
The studio also added several comedic notes to each of the heroes’ update logs. Some of the most notable notes were that they referred to the smaller character model of Mauga as “Smallga,” Tracer’s cryptic message for her notes, and their recommendation for players to “start blastin'” with Bastion’s updated shooting mechanics with the patch.
