June 2, 2025, is the 10-year anniversary of Heroes of the Storm , so it is fitting that Heroes Brawl has returned for the MOBA’s big year. This is a huge win for fans of the Blizzard MOBA – and many players are hoping it might be yet another prelude to an official revival of Heroes of the Sto

Each map was designed specifically for the game mode it's paired with, meaning nothing feels wrong about the design. An Escort map is designed with one straight path and a few off-shoot areas to accommodate different playstyles. A control map features one central point and multiple paths players can take to try and flank the enemy team and take the spot. These maps also play into the game’s meta. For example, a close-quarters Escort map will benefit Reinhardt whose shield would block everything straight in front of him, but an open control map would leave him vulnerable from many different directions. Being able to control the map with the right hero, managing choke points and figuring out the path that works best with your character’s range is imperative.

Heroes of the Storm is bringing back the Heroes Brawl as Brawl Mode, opening up dozens of discontinued maps for the first time in almost five years. This new version of the classic Heroes Brawl game mode is available to play on the Heroes of the Storm Public Test Realm now and will ostensibly officially return when the patch goes live in about a mo

Overwatch’s tutorial system does an excellent job at introducing players to the basics, but the lessons don’t end there. Every menu and on-screen cue does an excellent job of doling out information to the players at a comfortable pace; character select screens detail and explain each character’s roles, whether that be support, offense, defense, or tank. Specific abilities and weapons for each character can be accessed in-game, and you’re able to switch characters on the fly if need be. The game also assigns a difficulty rating for each character, allowing newcomers to shy away from more complex heroes. Better yet, the game will often tell you when your team is unbalanced, letting you know what roles your team is lacking.

Overwatch doesn’t have a plot, but it does have a ton of character. Overwatch’s cast of quirky characters are interesting and diverse with unique personalities. Junkrat is a limping psychopath who wants to blow things up. Winston is a scholarly gorilla who, when provoked, dips into his rage-filled primal instincts. Tracer, the spunky Brit who serves as the game’s mascot, is full of little quips as she zips around the battlefield. Players who take the extra time to stop and admire the different map’s scenery will learn even more about the different character’s backstories. Cues, like a D.Va poster, provide clues into a character's history prior to the game. It’s an interesting way to convey lore, but it’s never quite enough. Blizzard clearly wants overwatch tier list to be a big franchise with an interesting lore and they do provide that outside of the game. Much like Destiny’s Grimoire Cards, players will need to turn to sources outside the main game to learn about the lore. For example, without the animated shorts, I never would have known Hanzo and Genji were brothers. Blizzard also plans to release digital comics and graphic novels to further flesh out the lore. Now, Overwatch may not need a campaign, but it would have been nice to have some access to story content in the main game.

The lack of strong story elements doesn’t overshadow what the game does do well: gameplay and map design. The 21 characters aren’t just diverse in their personalities, but also in their different abilities. Each character has two unique abilities that are assigned to the bumpers on Xbox One, R1 and L1 on PS4, and Shift and E on PC. A few characters, like Widowmaker and Soldier 76, have a third special ability assigned to LT/L2/RMB. Widowmaker can ADS her sniper, and Soldier 76 can use his assault rifle’s grenade launcher. Overwatch looks deceptively simple from the outside, but mechanically has a large amount of depth.

To top all of this off, none of my teammates were communicating whatsoever. Needless to say, I was extremely frustrated and decided to start playing quarterback, directing my teammates through my microphone. After getting one Tracer and one Reaper to switch to Reinhardt, who rocks a giant shield that blocks enemy bullets, I hung in the background, healing everyone possible and positioning them on the control point in a way that I felt would be successful. Granted, my tone was far more authoritative than I would like to admit, and I'm sure that my teammates probably thought I was a huge jerk, but something very funny happened after I started to take control: we won. We had a completely unbalanced team that was doomed from the start, I chose a character whose main role isn't inflicting damage and somehow I ended up empowering the team as a whole. This was such a different experience from anything that I had ever experienced in a shooter, and despite the initial frustrations, it was the single most satisfying multiplayer match I was a part of (in any game) in the past two or three years.