The good feedback from players for Overwatch's Uprising event, which is set to end on May 1, has intensified the requests for Blizzard to add a campaign mode to the massively popular multiplayer shooter.
The story behind Overwatch has so far been released by Blizzard in bits and pieces through the form of events, animated comics, and video shorts. With the success of Uprising, should the development team finally start working on a single player mode for Overwatch?
'Overwatch' Uprising Event
The major feature of the Uprising event is the four-player brawl that matches a team of Mercy, Tracer, Reinhardt, and Torbjörn against a horde of omnics in a modified version of the King's Row map. The PvE brawl is a unique game mode for the event, similar to the also well-received brawl for last year's Junkenstein's Revenge.
While Junkenstein's Revenge is a Halloween-themed event that dresses up several Overwatch characters in costumes, Uprising provides a deeper look at one of the most important events in Overwatch lore. The mission to stop the omnic uprising in King's Row is the first one of Tracer as an Overwatch agent, and the map has been modified to reflect the objectives that the team needs to accomplish their goal.
There has been clamor to make the PvE brawl of Uprising a permanent fixture in the game, as it provides a different experience to the team-based matches in Overwatch's Quick Play and Competitive modes. Whether Blizzard will do such a thing remains to be seen, though it should be noted that the developer made a similar move to the Capture the Flag mode that was first introduced in The Year of the Rooster event.
The Possibility Of An 'Overwatch' Campaign Mode
Chris Metzen, a former creative director for Blizzard, previously said that the story of Overwatch was being made up as the development team goes, which is why there has only been hints and teasers so far regarding several points in the game's plot. However, Uprising has made players even hungrier to learn more about the Overwatch universe, which might force Blizzard to reconsider its world-building plan for the game.
The limited time events such as Uprising, however, are major moneymakers for Blizzard, as some players spend real cash to acquire the cosmetic items that are only available while the events last. If Blizzard would be adding a campaign mode to Overwatch, whether in the form of a complete single-player mode that takes players through the game's backstory or single missions focused on important points in Overwatch lore, they will likely be sold as DLC.
In the meantime, there is no shortage on content that new players can digest to learn about the Overwatch universe. Veterans, meanwhile, should expect more story-based events to come, as Uprising proved to be a major success.
Whether Blizzard dives deeper into Overwatch lore through a full-drawn campaign mode or through future story-based events, there seems to be no stopping the hype for the multiplayer shooter. Blizzard recently announced that Overwatch has reached 30 million registered players, just three months after announcing that the figure has reached 25 million.
