I didn’t know what to expect with Overwatch’s new update, but it sure wasn’t what I got

Overwatch has been on my radar since it came out, and while I never really dabbled in the original thing, Overwatch 2 certainly was my jam. Everyone hated it, but my friends and I loved it to death, at least until we quit playing entirely for no particular reason.

With the new update that dropped the “2” and introduced all sorts of fun mechanics, I had to come back and see if the game was still worth playing. And, sure enough, it was.

For the first few matches, I found it hard to distinguish between what was added in S1 and what was introduced over the last year or so that I hadn’t been playing the game. I initially thought the talents were added alongside the new heroes and sub-class passives, but that turned out to be wrong. It still captivated me, though, as I think the talents are one of the best things to have happened to the game.

But that’s not the subject today, great though it is.

No, it’s the Reign of the Talon patch.

The five new heroes significantly improve variation across every match. Whereas before (and we’re talking about early 2024 here) most games would end up having basically the same heroes over and over again, the addition of five new characters at once has shaken things up enough that I keep seeing different matchups almost every time I queue up.

And while that goddamned cat is in every single game, I find it refreshing to frequently encounter characters I’ve never really seen before. It forced me to learn and adapt and switch my game up much more than it would have a year prior, and it’s even gotten me to play Widowmaker for the first time in forever (as a Bastion one-trick, that’s a major upset).

And while playing Widowmaker, I came to see how the new subclass system functions. As a Sharpshooter, Widowmaker gets cooldown reductions on her grappling hook each time she lands a critical hit (headshot). This, in turn, forces precision and care in each shot, especially when combined with the talent that increases scoped charge speed after you use a grappling hook.

The update synergizes perfectly with existing systems, and no character or mechanic feels out of place, which is exactly what led me to believe that talents (among other things) were actually part of this latest patch.

I feel like Blizzard understood extremely well the mechanics and gameplay systems that were already in the game, seeking to improve and build upon them instead of bringing it all down to start from scratch. The game feels much more fun, responsive, and chaotic than it ever has before, and is only going to keep growing as more and more characters and mechanics get added in.

This new, narratively driven future of Overwatch seems brighter than the sun, and while I had no idea what to expect out of Newerwatch, I’m certainly going to stay for the ride. Who knows, it might just become my daily driver again.

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High on Life 2 is now out on PC and consoles, and the general performance on the former platform is below par at best.

There have been instances of several players encountering occasional lags and stutters early on their adventures. The main culprit, once again, appears to be Unreal Engine 5. Thankfully, there are a few tweaks you can make on your own to smooth the performance.

Best High on Life 2 graphics settings

Before I deep dive into my current settings, here are the specifications of my PC.

• AMD Ryzen 5600G
• 16 GB of DDR5 RAM
• NVIDIA RTX 3060 12 GB

Here’s the set of settings I have been using to get the best possible gameplay.

• Window Mode: Windowed Fullscreen (depends completely on your personal preferences)
• Resolution: 1920×1080 (depends on your setup)
• Framerate Limit: 60
• V Sync: Disabled
• Graphics Quality: Medium
• Upscaling: NVIDIA DLSS (FSR for AMD devices)
• Upscaling Method: Balanced
• Frame Generation Technologies: Off
• Latency Reduction Technologies: Off
• Motion Blur: Disabled
• Chromatic Aberration: Disabled
• FOV: 90
• View Distance Quality: Medium
• Global Illumination Quality: Medium
• Anti-Aliasing Quality: Medium
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Post Process Quality: Medium
• Texture Quality: Medium
• Effects Quality: Medium
• Foliage Quality: Reduce it to Low if you’re struggling with performance

Here are some key pointers to remember. I have tried with unlimited FPS and 120 FPS. Both seem to cause trouble in the form of stutter. It could be my system, but I believe 60 FPS is a good limit if you have a weak hardware setup. While High on Life 2 is a shooter, it’s not a competitive one. 60 FPS will be more than enough if you manage to keep the stutters away.

V Sync comes disabled by default, and it’s best to keep it that way. The extra feature doesn’t offer much, but consumes a lot more resources.

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