Overwatch Deathmatch mode is reminiscent of old school shooters
Die! Die! Die!
Overwatch surprised players last week when developer Blizzard announced it would introduce Deathmatch mode in the next update.
In the latest developer video update, Overwatch's Jeff Kaplan revealed Blizzard would add two Deathmatch modes to the Overwatch arcade.
There are two Deathmatch modes being introduced: Free-for-all and Team Deathmatch. Both modes focus on how many kills you get on the scoreboard.
The free-for-all is the core deathmatch mode, with players striving to have the highest number of kills (up to 20). In order to get a win credit for arcade, you must finish in the top half of players. Each game has eight players in total, so you must finish in the top four.
The other mode is Team Deathmatch. This is a 4v4 challenge where both teams compete to be the first to reach a total of 30 kills. Mercy is particularly useful in this mode. As well as resurrecting enemies, Mercy's ultimate takes kill credit away from the other team.
Also, a new map is being introduced for Deathmatch mode - Chateau Guillard. Sound familiar? That's because the French mansion is the family estate of Widowmaker AKA Amélie Lacroix (née Guillard). The beautiful new area also has some Easter eggs about Widowmaker's background to keep an eye out for.
Kaplan revealed the development team has modified a lot of existing maps for the new Deathmatch mode.
Having tried Deathmatch myself, I have to admit it's great fun. The addictive chaos reminds me of days lost playing Timesplitters and Halo. In the normal free-for-all mode, there's a strange adjustment you have to make to having everyone out to kill each other. The pressure is greater but it's a quick little breather between competitive matches.
McCree seems to be the favourite for free-for-all matches, with his precise aim and High Noon ultimate excelling. However, there is no cap on how many of each hero there is. So I, unfortunately, was stuck in a game with four McCrees. But I enjoyed it!
I especially enjoyed the quickened respawn time and the layout of Chateau Guillard. The Chateau has green circles on the ground which boost jumps, useful for Pharah mains, and a series of winding tunnels which result in face-offs with other players. The narrowness of the hallways means you are constantly having to listen and check around you for other players. The tension levels are high.
Team Deathmatch did not go so well. I purposely tried out Mercy to test her ultimate ability but, each time I used it, it seemed to do very little. Potentially due to how horribly my team was losing and the fact I was playing so bad, my team thought I was a troll. However, the ability does still resurrect teammates. On my predominant platform it may have been more fun and easier, however I didn't quite enjoy Team Deathmatch as much as I hoped. It could be the smaller arena map, which made the game feel like it went too quickly. Again, this feeling may change when I play with friends on a console. PTR is for testing of course.
Deathmatch mode is currently only available on PTR but will be introduced, alongside the new map, in the next Overwatch update. A date for this update is yet to be confirmed.