Overwatch 2 team-based FPS artwork showing Sojourn, Doomfist and Junker Queen

[Update #2]: My Overwatch 2 review is now out, and to put it simply it's a terrible sequel, though thankfully a terrific game!

[Update]: Overwatch 2 has now unveiled its very first support hero - the wall-climbing, fox themed healer Kiriko. The Blizzard team has also taken this opportunity to detail Overwatch 2's Battle Pass, hero unlock system, as well as their plans for future updates.

While the full announcement has not gone out just yet, it looks like Overwatch 2 will be locking new characters behind the free version of its Battle Pass. This information first appeared to us thanks to a recent update to the Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack which stated that "as a Season One Premium Battle Pass owner you will automatically receive access to Overwatch's latest hero Kiriko!"

The text has since then been replaced with a much more generic description, most likely because it accidentally spoiled the name of the next hero. However, in a brief comment on Reddit, Overwatch's Commercial Leader Jon Spector did confirm that new heroes will indeed be unlocked through the Battle Pass: "We'll be sharing all details ahead of launch, but want to confirm now that new Overwatch 2 heroes will be available on the free track of the Battle Pass."

How exactly all of this will work, nobody outside of Blizzard currently knows, but I would imagine they're going to follow Call of Duty's example. If this ends up being the case, then expect new heroes to be found at lower levels of the free Battle Pass as a sort of an incentive to dive deeper into the game, as well as given away for free once the season itself is over.

Personally, I'm not exactly a big fan of this as counter-picking is an important part of Overwatch's gameplay, and I can only imagine Overwatch 2's as well. I'm also worried about what happens when a new hero is released in an overpowered state, as at that point they're pretty much going to be exclusively available to those that have purchased the premium Battle Pass which, needless to say, is quite the problem!

That said, depending on how early the new characters are unlocked, all of this could also be a complete non-issue. So for the time being, I would recommend a bit of patience. Once we have the full scope of the changes, then we can see what exactly is going on with Overwatch 2 and whether it's any good.

Once that big announcement arrives, I'll make sure to let you know. Until then, I'm afraid all we can do is wait and speculate.