Overwatch will drop the ‘2’ as Jetpack Cat and four other heroes arrive on February 10

Blizzard is hosting a series of showcases for several of its major franchises and on Wednesday it was time to Monitoring to step up to the plate. It is Monitoring, moreover, and not Monitoring 2. The studio is officially removing the number from the game’s name.

“Overwatch is more than just a number: it’s a living universe that never stops growing, never stops surprising, and never stops bringing together players from around the world,” the Overwatch team said in a statement. “This year marks a major turning point in how the development team envisions the future of Overwatch, so we’re officially dropping the ‘2’ and moving forward as Monitoring“.

Blizzard made a big fuss about Monitoring 2 being a sequel to the original game when it goes live in October 2022 as part of the move to a free-to-play model. There were a ton of major changes, including a format change from 6v6 to 5v5, with one tank removed from each team – a controversial decision that was returned with the return of 6v6 modes.

The grand vision Blizzard initially had for Monitoring 2 never really got together. The studio canceled its planned hero missions, which were going to have RPG-style talent trees and long-term progression, but it moved some of that DNA over to Stadium mode.

We also only had one set of co-op story missions. This paid expansion reportedly sold poorly, leading Blizzard to abandon work on the player versus environment elements of Monitoring to focus on competitive player versus player modes.

However, over the past couple of years, Blizzard really seems to have steadied the ship. Monitoring is undoubtedly in the best shape he has been in for a long time.

This is shaping up to be a big year for Monitoring. May will mark its 10th anniversary (I have to imagine the team has something big planned for this). Blizzard presented much of the roadmap for 2026 during the Monitoring Flagship showcase. We won’t have to wait long to see significant changes to the game.

New heroes

When the next season goes live on February 10, it will be the biggest update in Monitoring at least since the Stadium mode and perk system went live last year, and arguably since the dawn of Monitoring 2 era. That’s partly because Blizzard is adding five new heroes at once next week.

One of them is a character that the studio said in 2017 it had experimented with but ultimately, uh, scratched. Jetpack Cat is alive after all and is coming Monitoring in a few days.

He is a support hero with a permanent flying ability who can “tow” an ally, carrying them through the air while healing them. Jetpack Cat’s ultimate ability sees the cat dive into the ground to take down enemies and tie up the one closest to them, she can drag them towards a pit for some environmental destruction, for example. The ultimate one is called Catnapper, which is delicious. Additionally, Jetpack Cat’s main weapon is called Biotic Pawjectiles.

I already love it. It’s fun to see weird Wrecking Ball type characters coming in Monitoring Again.

Other new heroes joining the fray next week are Domina (an area control tank with “long-range accuracy”), damage dealer Emre (a “fast and mobile soldier archetype with a conflicting identity due to cybernetic modifications”), Mizuki (a support who can throw a hat to heal allies), and Anran (a high-mobility hero who deals fire damage and can revive with his ultimate).

As with Jetpack Cat, the latter is aligned with the Overwatch faction. You can try Anran starting February 5 as part of a Hero Trial. The other three have ties to the villainous Talon organization. Expect another hero to join the fray every two months this year, at the start of each new season. This means more heroes will be added Monitoring in 2026 than any year since the game’s debut.

A “story-driven era”

The upcoming season marks the start of what Blizzard calls a “new story-driven era” for Monitoringstarting with a year-long story arc titled The Reign of Talon. All traditions, heroes, events, etc. that emerge over the next 12 months will be linked to Talon’s rise.

The studio says it’s “the world’s first fully connected annual storyline.” Monitoring historical.” A new arc will begin next year with Season 1 of 2027 (Blizzard resets the season counter when The Reign of Talon begins).

Elsewhere, each role will be divided into subroles, and the heroes of each will share a passive ability. For example, “initiator” tanks heal more while in the air, several damage heroes can detect enemies with less than half health through walls after damaging them, and some supports have excessive ultimate charge that persists after you use their most powerful ability.

A “meta-event” called Conquest will also be available soon. It’s a faction war between Overwatch and Talon that will last five weeks, with dozens of loot boxes and other rewards (like legendary Echo skins) up for grabs.

Blizzard has revamped the Monitoring interface as well, with updated menus, a new hero lobby, a notification hub and the promise of faster navigation. Stadium will have some updates, such as updated ability icons and recommended builds based on aggregate data that will be updated between rounds. Vendetta also joins the list of this mode.

Alongside all the new heroes and other updates, a Hello Kitty collaboration will run for two weeks starting February 10 with themed cosmetics for several heroes. Many more cosmetics are in the works, including Crimson Wolf weapon skins that you can unlock using competitive points, as well as items for rainy days and Valentine’s Day. Shop items from the past six seasons will be placed in loot boxes, while Mythic cosmetics for Mercy, Juno, and Mei will be available in Season 1.

In the longer term, a Nintendo Switch 2 version of Monitoring will arrive with season 2, which begins in April. Some heroes will receive their second mythical skin, including Ana and Genji. Genji, Hanzo, and Sojourn will be getting Mythic weapon skins in the coming months. Two new maps, including a Japan Night, for the main modes are arriving, as well as the return of post-match rewards.

There is so much on the way to my favorite game. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to take a long enough break Monitoring to play cool indies again.