Honest long review by me.

I’ve been playing Overwatch since December 2016. Back then, the game actually meant something. Matches took skill, teamwork, and timing. Pulling off a clutch felt earned. Heroes had identity, fights had weight, and every win was yours. Fast forward to 2025 and I barely recognize what I’m playing. The soul is gone. It’s a hollow, frustrating shell of what once was one of the best games ever made.

Matchmaking has been trash for YEARS. I don’t know if it’s EOMM, SBMM, hidden throttling, or just pure incompetence, but matches feel predetermined. One game you stomp, the next you get thrown into a blender. It never feels like you win because you played well — it feels like the system decided the outcome the moment you queued. It’s exhausting, and it’s been this way since I first touched the game.

Season 9 was the point where Blizzard completely killed skill expression. Every patch since then is built around flattening the game and making precision irrelevant. Tanks are raid bosses, supports are basically DPS with insane sustain, and DPS is just… cosmetic. You can land every shot and it still doesn’t matter because the sustain loop is busted. They call it “accessibility,” but it’s really the death of competitive integrity. Years of learning mechanics, tracking, positioning — all of that means nothing now.

The devs keep insisting 5v5 is “better,” but all it did was destroy the role ecosystem. Tanks feel awful unless they’re overtuned, supports only shine by turning into mini-tanks, and DPS is irrelevant unless something is accidentally broken. Every balance patch feels like it was designed by developers who’ve never played above Bronze. Instead of fixing meaningful issues, they buff easy heroes, nerf depth, and pretend they’re saving the game.

Then we have the company behind all this. Blizzard isn’t Blizzard anymore. The harassment scandals, the studio culture issues, the PR nonsense — everything behind the scenes mirrors the state of the game. Hollow, directionless, and full of ego. They talk about “trusting the vision,” but the vision is a dumpster fire.

And the hero identity? Completely gone. They’ve abandoned edgy, skill-heavy heroes like Hanzo, Sombra, and Reaper. Permanent underdogs now. In their place, we get shiny, safe, streamer-friendly characters. And speaking of new characters — Vendetta is literally a knock-off Magik from Marvel Rivals. Same look, same vibe, same glowing magic-sword aesthetic. It’s embarrassing. They really thought their copy could compete with the actual Queen of Limbo? Be serious.

To make it even funnier, Blizzard emailed me saying I “qualified for a free Premium Battle Pass due to login issues.” I never had any. They’re just handing out passes like apology coupons now. What a joke.

The community is another disaster. Somehow people think Overwatch 2 is at its “peak.” They cheer for pointless modes like Stadium — something nobody asked for — while the actual competitive experience is falling apart. It’s Fortnite with ultimates now. Casual hype drowns out any real feedback, and anyone who points out the game’s decline gets treated like the problem.

I’ve actually had to force myself to play other games just to feel skill matter again. Need for Speed — a racing game — gives me more satisfaction because your mistakes are yours. Meanwhile, Overwatch feels rigged or random. Wins and losses feel like matchmaking dice rolls, not performance.

Custom games used to be a place to escape the chaos. Now they’re ruined too. Fake-friendly lobbies full of creeps, drama, harassment, and weirdos. Blizzard does absolutely nothing. They never have. Moderation is cosmetic — just like half the game mechanics now.

Then there’s the monetization. Every new season is “BUY MORE KIRIKO SKINS,” “Check out the new bundle,” “Look at the new crossover event.” Everything feels like a commercial. Even hero buffs feel like marketing pushes. The game’s direction is driven by engagement metrics, not gameplay health. They don’t balance for fun or fairness — they balance for attention spans.

It’s been a slow, painful decline. I kept hoping the game would recover, that Blizzard would fix matchmaking, revive skill-based play, bring back hero identity. But every patch proves they’re going the opposite direction. The game gets more chaotic, more casual-focused, more empty.

Overwatch now feels like watching a corpse move. The animations are pretty, the maps are nice, the heroes look cool — but the soul is missing. There’s no tension, no clutch value, no sense that your input matters. Winning rarely feels earned. Losing feels predetermined. Everything that made it special has been replaced by noise, spam, sustain, and monetization.

The casual community celebrates meaningless skins and overhyped updates while ignoring the actual problems. They cheer for fluff while the core rots. It’s painful to watch a game you loved slowly sink while people clap at the fireworks on the deck.

I’ve held on for too long. I kept telling myself it could get better. But it hasn’t. Every patch reminds me:
the devs don’t care about skill, don’t care about veterans, and don’t care about the identity this game once had.

Overwatch used to be a masterpiece.
Now it’s a flashy, hollow shell propped up by marketing, casual hype, and nostalgia.

I wish it wasn’t this way.