Steam freebie: Major 2022 release finally free on Steam, is immediately review bombed

Nothing says a fandom is angry quite like review bombing. Overwatch 2 has finally been released on Steam, yet it’s already got “overwhelmingly negative” reviews.

Having only been on the Steam Store since 10 August, the game has experienced a massive influx of fans who are warning potential players to stay away. Their main issue with Blizzard’s 2022 title is that it locked certain heroes behind a paywall, with only those willing to pay a Platinum Battle Pass able to access them.

Reminisce over when Overwatch 2 was free to play!

As one disgruntled player points out, “this is a core gameplay feature, in a competitive game, behind a paywall”. They also take issue, like many others, with the way PvE missions were “cancelled” before being sold as individual missions.

The same user then finishes their review with a summary that is as brutal as it is honest: “If you like competitive shooters - Overwatch 2 has no competitive integrity. If you like collecting cosmetics - Overwatch 2 expects you to hand over your entire wallet. The game is fun, I still feel the experience I love so much in there, it's just damaged by such intrusive greed I can't recommend it to anyone”.

Ouch.

Worse still, at least for Blizzard, is that over 10,000 Steam users have found this review helpful. Whether that translates into them actively avoiding downloading this Steam freebie, we can’t say. However, it certainly doesn’t look good for, what was arguably, one of 2022’s major releases.

Unlike other recent examples, like when the RE4 remake was review bombed, the fans voicing their frustrations on Steam don’t seem to be negative for the sake of it. In fact, the majority are obviously veteran players who know the game inside out. They’re annoyed, so they’re hitting out the only way they know how.

The original Overwatch was such a widely praised game, so when its sequel started to unravel and more issues appeared, it was a confusingly difficult transition. Arguably, monetisation is the problem at the centre of this. Unfortunately, while fans are clearly being heard by other players, it’s unlikely it will impact the game in the ways that they want it to.

Should you wish to brave Overwatch 2 despite all you’ve heard, it’s available for free on Steam.