Skip to main content

Overwatch 2 is getting a second beta this month featuring its new hero

After announcing a definite release date and the all-new hero Junker Queen, Overwatch 2 is ready for a second beta. According to its official Twitter page, Overwatch 2 is coming back to consoles and PC for an extended beta test on June 28 that will feature a new map and playable character.

#Overwatch2 Beta begins June 28

🎮 PC & Console
👑 Junker Queen & a New Map
✋ Sign-Ups & more details coming June 16 pic.twitter.com/XPJOhfeVjE

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 14, 2022

Overwatch 2 first beta came and went in April and gained its fair share of praise and criticism. We at Digital Trends saw it as a return to glory, but one without any true new additions. At the time, we noted that it felt more like “Overwatch 1.5.”

Recommended Videos

It’s unlikely that Blizzard will offer anything big enough in the follow-up to change the initial takeaway from the first beta. However, with a new hero and map, it’ll be hard to resist for fans of the hero shooter.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Like the previous beta, those that want to participate have to sign up earlier and hope that they find an invite code to the festivities in their inbox before the beta begins. No specifics about signing up have been  announced as of yet, but it’s expected to mirror the first beta’s prerequisites.

The second Overwatch 2 beta begins on June 28. Players hoping to sign up will be waiting until Thursday, June 16 to find out how they can get in on the early action.

Those that don’t make it in this time shouldn’t fret too much. Overwatch 2‘s free-to-play player-vs-player mode is set to launch on October 4. That isn’t too much waiting time for anyone that gets left out.

DeAngelo Epps
Former Digital Trends Contributor
De'Angelo Epps is a gaming writer passionate about the culture, communities, and industry surrounding gaming. His work ranges…
Don’t skip Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s great new mode during its beta
A player holds a dead player as a body shield in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.

The beta for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 begins tomorrow, and it features eight different modes for players to check out. While I'm guessing most will want to play iconic modes like Team Deathmatch (TDM) or Domination, I recommend you give Kill Order a shot.

Kill Order is a mode new in Black Ops 6 that finds a way to twist the core TDM formula to make it less chaotic. I spoke to developers at Treyarch about its creation and learned that Kill Order works as well as it does because it was built around the aspects of Call of Duty that players like best.
A high-value mode
At its core, Kill Order is TDM with a twist. The basics will be familiar as two teams of six compete to get the most kills, earn points, and win a match. To help focus the action, one player on each team is named the "High Value Target." This "HVT," as the game and developers call it, is powered up with extra armor, directional indicators for other players on the minimap, and the ability to earn more score with each enemy kill. They're not a juggernaut or anything, but in a one-on-one between an HVT and an enemy player, the HVT is more likely to win.

Read more
Overwatch 2 might fix its most controversial feature
Mauga, a large Samoan man with tattoos on his shoulders and chest, smiles in Overwatch 2.

Blizzard Entertainment might test out a 6v6 format after removing it ahead of Overwatch 2's launch, although nothing is set in stone just yet.

In an approximately 3,600-word blog post posted Thursday, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller said that the team is looking into "running a series of events" to test new "composition formats," specifically 6v6, based on player feedback.

Read more
Overwatch 2 is collaborating with Transformers, and it looks radical
overwatch 2 transfomers crossover teaser transformers reinhardt

Overwatch 2 x Transformers Collaboration Trailer | PS5 & PS4 Games

The long-awaited Transformers and Overwatch 2 collaboration is almost here. Blizzard Entertainment released a cinematic trailer on Monday teasing the crossover and introducing new skins.

Read more