4mo ago

Looking for Overwatch alternatives

TL;DR: Any recommendations for a game like Overwatch that actually functions? XDefiant was promising, but it doesn't have "roles" that don't require shooting, so my friend got frustrated.

As it turns out, it is actually possible to make friends as an adult. Who knew?

She likes MOBAs and such, and I mostly go for shooters so Overwatch was an obvious choice.

The gameplay is fun, and it gives us both something we enjoy, but there are some glaring issues that are best described by just describing my own experience in the game.

First off, the game requires you to win 50 matches in quick play before you're allowed in ranked. With both of us working full-time, having spouses and whatnot, and dealing with 3 random teammates, that took forever.

I finally got to ranked, she already had a rank. The game "predicted" my rank to be basically the same as hers. Even so, all that's available are "wide matches". Average wait time is between 20-30 minutes.

So we started a co-op campaign in Baldur's Gate 3.

We still would like to find a competitive game to play together, so basically a functional Overwatch.

And that brings us here. Any ideas?

42 comments

I kind of quit Overwatch after they sucked the soul out of it and called it a sequel. It's not entirely a replacement, but as a fun shooter to play with friends/ family, I've mostly moved to playing Deep Rock Galactic. In some ways it scratches the itch: various classes/ roles, weapons, abilities, cooperation and teamwork to accomplish objectives, clicking heads and making things die, and purely cosmetic skins. It doesn't quite have the satisfaction of a good back and forth grudge match (on account of being a PvE game), but the community is super chill, the game design about as far from predatory as you can get (while there are a handful of exclusive fomo items, it's mostly just annual anniversary hats, or gifts to commemorate steam award nominations and such, there's no collection interface to mock you or rub it in for not having them), and the devs are just all around great. Bonus points for being able to spin up or join missions pretty much whenever.
- Rock and stone!
  
  For Karl!
- Same, friends and me went to DRG instead. While of course it gets rote after a whole the procedural generation helps, and it's the chill background game to play while voice chatting that Overwatch 1 was in its early days before its balance shifted to high-end competition.
- It doesn’t quite have the satisfaction of a good back and forth grudge match (on account of being a PvE game),
  Heh... It's not designed for it, but I've had some pretty grudge-like experiences joining public games, as some teammates turned out to be hostile.
  To be clear, I don't recommend that experience. It's not fun to be antagonized with deliberate friendly fire throughout a mission, bullied by a group when you eventually shoot back, and left for dead when the ship leaves. (It's easily avoidable by playing with friends, of course.)
  
  Aww man I'm sorry to hear that. I can't say I've ever had that experience, but hopefully it's been the exception and not the norm for you.

Team Fortress 2? That was the game Overwatch was kinda imitating, so might be worth trying it out if you haven't. Just keep in mind that you might have to avoid matchmaking and manually browse for servers. TF2 was having a bot problem, I dunno if valve ever fixed it.
- This. It's old now, but the medic class doesn't require shooting. The spy doesn't either, usually. But the medic is a great way to pay a support role. It used to be one of my favorite things for chill gaming.
  
  The Demoman is optionally a melee class. For some reason 🤷🏻‍♂️
- bot problem has been largely fixed now, there are some random human cheaters still, but they tend to get banned fairly quickly

Wait for Deadlock to come out or find someone in the beta who can get you into it.
- I second this, I got into the beta on Friday and have been having a blast. It's remarkably polished for a beta and everyone who gets in can invite as many people as they want and those people can also invite as many people as they want and so on and so on. So it's spreading like wild fire, should be pretty easy to get into.
- Was just about to comment this, my DMs are open if someone wants to friend me on steam and get invited :3

Maybe Deadlock?
- Yeah, it does look promising but knowing Valve time it'll release sometime in the 2030s.
  
  !deadlock@sopuli.xyz has a thread for inviting and getting invited in case the guy who already commented doesn't get you in.
  
  Send me your steam friend code, as far as I can tell I can invite any steam friend, with no limits on numbers. Dunno how long the playtest is running, but they usually do half the day live, and half with matchmaking shut down for patching stuff.
  
  Get in the closed alpha/beta and play. It's a ton of fun.

Paladins?

I'd be suggesting Battleborn if it wasn't dead...
Maybe Predecessor (paragon reboot)?
Marvel Rivals might be a bit too close to Overwatch, or maybe that's a good thing?
You might consider just not playing ranked. In anything. Assigning a number to my skill level and that of others had a negative effect on my relationship with games and using them to have fun. Recognizing that and just playing to play instead of to appease the rating system, has led to much more fun coming out of my fun.
It doesn't mean you can't get better at the game over time, only that you'll be the judge of your progress, instead of an arbitrary number that won't ever feel truly fair.
- Yeah playing quickplay in Overwatch has all the sweaty counterswapping and flaming for off meta picks as competitive, except with a 5-10 minute queue time instead of 20-30
  
  I completely disabled both text and voice chat, and haven't looked back.

Splatoon is great if you have Switches.
Helldivers 2 is PvE but is a great group experience.
Extraction shooters might be a thing? Hunt: Showdown?

For Honour. It's a competitive sword fighting game. You'll like the combat system. She'll like devising a strategy on how best to lead the creeps to overrun the enemy castle.
Or maybe you'll prefer Foxhole, a persistent trench warfare simulation game where players manufacture every bullet and build every fortification. It's not as fast paced as Overwatch, but I bet she'll like digging a trench for you to use for cover as you nail fools and slowly take ground from the enemy.

Others have suggested Deadlock and that really sounds like the perfect game for you two, but be aware of one thing: it does require shooting. In the laning phase last hitting and securing the orbs from creep kills by shooting them is absolutely crucial, as the game will snowball out of control if one team outfarms the other.

Gigantic was recently re-released, but I don't know if they've fixed the worst of the bugs yet.

If your rank is the same as hers, you wouldn't be getting wide matches. Wide matches are specifically for teams of people with a very wide distribution of rankings, therefore the name "wide". So finish your placements and see what you get. But for me and my friends, even if we get wide matches, the longest we've ever waited was 8 minutes for a game.

If you want to be confused, aggravated, and generally upset at how your life is turning out destiny 2 is a really good game.
- LMAO this comment sent me. This is exactly what it feels like 😧😔

It's not out yet but Marvel Rivals looks like it may be a good fit. Hopefully they'll announce the release date soon now that the closed beta is over.

Sounds more like a playerbase problem rather than a problem with the game. Paladins is a hero shooter very similar to Overwatch and while the playerbase (EU) isnt that big ive been finding matches for years now whenever i feel like.

Valorant?
I just started myself, after missing Overwatch 1 and thinking it was similar. To my surprise it is like an Overwatch with a Counterstrike feel to it, which I quite enjoy.
- Imo valorant has almost nothing to do with Overwatch.
  The pace of those games is wildly different, the mobility also...
  Valorant is CS with 10% Overwatch sprinkled on it.
  I think something like Marvel's Rivals is a much better alternative.
- Agree with the other comment and wanted to add more, the community is bad in valorant. If op and their friends are girl gamers then it's even worse experience.

This sounds like you want Deadlock. MOBA with third-person shooter mechanics.

Call me a broken record, but TF2 is an excellent war-themed hat simulator

If you wish to turn your brain off and pass some time then you can’t go wrong with either Destiny 2 (which is free-to-play) or Borderlands (1-3 it doesn’t matter) These are fun games with extremely addictive gunplay and all of them have Classes/Roles systems. I’d say test the waters with D2 with its fun customisation system (transmog, armour colours etc) and if that is not your cup of tea then go for Borderlands which you should find pretty cheap.

once mecha break comes out next year, mecha break. its waay more fun and teamplay is just as important if not moreso.

apex, pokemon unite

As someone who has searched hard, there is no high quality replacement.

https://smitegame.com/

42 comments