Blizzard unannounced first-person project an Overwatch campaign?
"Didn't see that coming."
On the Blizzard careers website are two adverts for an "unannounced game/project".
The software engineer adverts cite working with "a robust first-person engine for an unannounced project", and call "previous experience working on first-person or other action-oriented games" a plus.
That's it, no further clues, so what is the project? Our best guess: an Overwatch campaign. Which other first-person game and engine does Blizzard have?
Overwatch's Jeff Kaplan expressed desire for a co-op campaign earlier in the year.
"Everybody knows Blizzard has a passion for storytelling and we also love doing single-player and co-operative campaigns," he said. "You see it in a lot of our other games: StarCraft, Diablo, World of Warcraft. There's a lot of knowledge and passion in the studio around doing single-player content - or, more likely for Overwatch ... something more co-operative. But we're nowhere near having anything like that. It's a far thought from us right now."
Since he made those remarks Overwatch had Dr. Junkenstein's Revenge come and go. That was a four-player (not the usual six) horde mode with bosses and a unique Halloween feel. It was a scripted scenario, and I've no doubt it was Blizzard testing the water for things to come.
Hearthstone, another competitive Blizzard game, made a similar move adding campaigns after launch. They are themed around World of Warcraft dungeons and boss encounters. What would Overwatch do? The story's notable characters tend to be playable characters.
But then there's Doomfist, a title and super-powered gauntlet at least three individuals - referred to as the Saviour, the Scourge and the Successor - have held. Doomfist is iconic in Overwatch lore, has been ever since the announcement cinematic with the boys in the museum. The Doomfist gauntlet is also the payload you escort on Numbani. Sounds a little powerful for a regular hero, no? But a boss?
Whatever Blizzard plans, it may be a while away. We've just had this year's BlizzCon so big announcements are probably all done until 2017. We've also just had new playable hero Sombra, along with the new Arcade Mode; plus, yesterday, the public test realm was updated with long awaited changes to Symmetra, ooh la la, and we were told the new Oasis map would follow in the coming weeks. With that and Competitive Season 3 on the horizon, not to mention the professional eSports venture Overwatch League to launch, Overwatch already has a lot on its plate.