Among the updates Blizzard revealed for Overwatch 2 in today’s gameplay livestream was a map that hadn’t been discussed much until now. The sequel will take players to Monte Carlo, which includes a ton of references to the famous F1 Monaco Grand Prix.
The payload itself is a flying F1 car that’s driven by AI and the initial attacker spawn room is an F1 team garage. As for the checkpoints, they look like chequered finish lines.
It’s an Escort map, like Dorado and Havana. It has an “uphill section, which is steeper and longer than anything we’ve done before,” game director Aaron Keller said.
Team 4 showed off much more of a few other new maps during the stream, including New York City and Rio de Janeiro (both of which are Hybrid maps), as well as Push maps Toronto and Rome. Let’s take a quick look at those:
New York City
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the New York City map has a couple of Easter eggs that pay tribute to former game director Jeff Kaplan. The payload that attackers are tasked with guiding to the end of the map is a fire truck, which is just wonderful. I hope that’s a sly Ghostbusters reference, but I’m sure there’ll be some lore reasons behind it.
Toronto
We’ve seen quite a bit of this map before. Blizzard revealed it at BlizzCon 2019, where it was playable to attendees. Still, it’s nice to get another look at Toronto. I love the shoutout to Tim Horton’s, even if the Ford family reference is a little on the nose.
Rio de Janeiro
The Rio map has perhaps the most fun payload in the game. It’s a peacock carnival float! That’s fantastic. One of the spawn rooms is actually Lúcio’s home, and the end of the map is his club. There are lots of buildings and alleyways here, which should make for dynamic gameplay and give flankers lots of opportunities.
Rome
Rome is the second Push map we’ve gotten a look at. It’s gorgeous. I love fountains a lot, and I’ll always be happy to see them in a video game. That Colosseum is looking stunning too. I can’t wait to try this one, as well as the other maps.
