Summary
The old Overwatch Archives missions will probably never be brought back inOverwatch 2, as they broke during the creation of the PvE content in the sequel. In order to resurrect these popular PvE missions,Overwatch 2would need to rebuild them from the ground up – a task Blizzard is not sure would be worth the development time, despite what fans might think.
Overwatch Archives was a yearly event introduced toOverwatch 1in 2017 that featured unique PvE scenarios that told stories from the game’s history. The Uprising, Retribution, and Storm Rising missions were added between the event’s launch and 2019, with the 2020 and 2021 versions simply adding achievements and rewards. The events, and their associated PvE game modes, have yet to return inOverwatch 2– an especially unfortunate circumstance, given completionists are currently unable to earn the achievements associated with the Overwatch Archives challenges.
Now, Blizzard has finally revealed why these popular missions never returned in the sequel. In an interview with game director Aaron Kellerduring theOverwatch 2Spotlight event, content creator Emongg asked about these elusive missions and received an unfortunate answer. “As we were working on everything with the PvE side of the game, you end up building all these new tools, you have this whole new code base to where everything gets refactored,” he explained, “and [the Overwatch Archives missions] all broke.” He went on to explain thatOverwatch 2would have to completely remake them in order to bring them back and that the developers aren’t sure if it would be worth the resources to do so.
Overwatch 2 PvE Missions “Broke” Overwatch Archives
Keller also spoke about PvE in general during his discussion with Emongg. “It’s probably no secret we had a big setback to the way we wanted to tell stories in the game,” he admitted. The dramatic reduction of scope to PvE content, the lukewarm reception to the Story Missions from Season 5, and the loss of themajority of key PvE developers during the Microsoft layoffs of 2024spelled disaster for the story ofOverwatch 2.
However, Keller still hashope for PvE inOverwatch 2, even if the Overwatch Archives missions never return. “Internally, we have this intention to get back to narrative and to get back to story,” he said. “There’s nothing to announce at this point, but we’re really hopeful that we can get back to not just storytelling, but hopefully a way of moving the world state forward.” He cited thatOverwatch 2is currently full of “a lot of disparate stories after some of the stuff we were doing with PvE didn’t turn out the way we wanted” and that pushing the narrative forward in a cohesive way is how he would love to see the story continue.
“There’s nothing to announce at this point, but we’re really hopeful that we can get back to not just storytelling, but hopefully a way of moving the world state forward.”
PvE and storytelling inOverwatch 2are in a precarious place right now, but at the very least, Keller’s words confirm it is not completely dead yet. Though fans may never see the return of Overwatch Archives, they may yet see other PvE missions – or possibly evenanOverwatch 2animated seriesas Keller said, “It would be awesome to get something like that. I would love it, and I think the whole team would love it.” While far from confirmation, these words can at least giveOverwatch 2players some semblance of hope for the future.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
