Free Overwatch Weekend Taking Place Later This Month

If you haven’t yet been able to experience the new Overwatch map or the completely reworked Hanzo, then Blizzard has a nice surprise for you. Earlier this week, the studio announced that a free Overwatch weekend would be taking place starting on May 25 and running through May 28. The weekend will allow PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC players to jump onto the game for free and check out the full Overwatch experience.

When the free weekend kicks off, players will find they have access to the full roster of 27 heroes and 18 maps, and also a variety of modes, including Quick Play, Custom Games, and the Arcade. You’ll be able to level up, earn loot boxes, and unlock a variety of different customizable equipment from your heroes. As these things usually go, if you decide to pick up Overwatch after playing the free weekend, you’ll be able to keep any progress that you made during the weekend, as long as you use the same Blizzard, Xbox Live, or Sony account that you played on.

To catch up on all things Overwatch before the free weekend starts, check out below for a brief look at the latest update to hit the game:

HERO UPDATES

Brigitte

• Shield Bash
  • Cone angle reduced from 90 to 60

Developer Comments: When fighting against Brigitte, it often felt like Shield Bash was able to hit players who felt like they were out of its range and should have dodged it. On the flip side, when playing as Brigitte sometimes players would hit the wrong enemy in the middle of a fight. With the cone being reduced, the ability is more accurate to its visual representation.

Genji

• Deflect
  • Hitbox size has been reduced

Developer Comments: The hitbox on Genji’s Deflect was big enough that it would sometimes reflect projectiles that were pretty far away from him. We’ve tightened up the hitbox, which should solve this problem while still fully protecting him from projectiles that would hit him from the front.

Hanzo

• Storm Bow
  • Projectile speed increased from 85 to 100
• Sonic Arrow
  • Cooldown decreased from 20 seconds to 12 seconds
  • Duration decreased from 10 seconds to 6 seconds
  • Radius decreased from 10 meters to 7 meters
• New Abilities
  • Lunge
    • Press jump while in the air to leap horizontally
  • Storm Arrows
    • Replaces his existing Scatter Arrow ability
    • Hanzo can now rapidly fire up to 6 arrows that deal reduced damage but are always fired at full power

Developer Comments: The goal of these Hanzo changes is to allow him to have new options and maintain his high damage output, while removing the frustration of fighting against the old Scatter Arrow. Hanzo is now much more mobile with his new Lunge ability, and with the combination of the bow projectile speed increase and the new Storm Arrows ability he can now deal his high damage more consistently than ever before.

Overwatch is available now.