Overwatch’s new co-op mode is a big tease of what might be coming down the line

I love it

Everyone is geeking out about the [mostly good] Overwatch Halloween costumes, but I spent a chunk of my afternoon playing the new Brawl mode.

Simply called “Junkenstein’s Revenge,” this new limited-time gametype is the most fun I’ve had in Overwatch in a while.

Complete with matchmaking for up to four players, this romp is basically a horde mode with bosses and some light castle defense. The twist is that you can only select from Ana, Hanzo, McCree, or Soldier: 76, which leaves other characters a chance to appear as bosses. It’s a two-fold system that seems limiting at first, but actually forces people to get out of their comfort zone and play someone they maybe aren’t used to in a chill, co-op setting. Since Ana is one of the least-picked heroes in the game, it also makes logistical sense for Blizzard to encourage some form of advanced tutorial for her.

Really though, these four complement each other quite well. Ana can be an active participant in combat or a healer when needed, and the same goes for Soldier, who has his one area-of-effect heal ability. It’s not your typical RPG party, that’s for sure. It lacks a true tank. But since everyone is effective at range, you can slot into any area in the map at any given time.

Another killer bit is the cute storybook arrangement of it all. You’ll get a narration, complete with switch-ups depending on who kills what boss. It’s basic “if, then” statement stuff and not nearly as in-depth as, say, the narration for Bastion, but it’s fitting for a minigame that popped out of nowhere as a free update.

Much like Hearthstone, which occasionally gets its own co-op Brawl events, there’s a lot of potential here depending on how far Blizzard wants to take it (and by proxy, Heroes of the Storm is also getting a Brawl mode soon). It’s a bummer that come November 1 it’ll be out of the rotation, but if these Loot Boxes can keep supporting content like this to the point where we’ll get a full-time horde mode that’s half as good as Junkenstein’s Revenge, I’ll be more than satisfied.

Overwatch is killing it, and I suspect we’ll see it on a number of Game of the Year lists come December.