For the longest time, everything aroundOverwatch 2has been looking…grim. For the upbeat Hero Shooter, hope has been in short supply.

And though the game has not returned to its former glory, a minor upswing has nonetheless come to grace its playerbase.

The new mythic skin for Zenyatta in Overwatch 2.

Right now, Overwatch 2’sSteamrating sits at “mixed.” Which isn’t much, but it’s so much better than “the worst reviewed game on Steam”. And when the new up-and-comer,Marvel Rivals, is currently sitting on the throne Overwatch once held, small wins are especially needed.

What’s the reason for the change? Update 15. The update’s Hero Perks system has completely shaken things up, in a way that players are very happy with.

overwatch 2 steam disaster

The update also brought back loot boxes - and while the term remains a bit of a dirty word, they did bring with them a ton of new cosmetics for players to enjoy.

Desperate measures for desperate times, perhaps? In an emergency situation with glass broken at their feet, the devs managed to pull off something that players are at least ‘mixed’ on.

Close-up of new Overwatch 2 Hero, Illari

Overwatch 2 Is A Game That’s Truly Earned Its Steam Review-Bombing

New players and existing fans alike have valid reasons to let other players know why Overwatch 2 is such a problematic title.

Blizzard will need to keep this up for a while if they intend to reclaim their spot as the top Hero Shooter - there’s still plenty of hole to climb out of. But with Update 15, they seem to have put down the shovel and found a foothold.

Overwatch 2 Kiriko with abilities and ultimate ability gameplay

Player Impressions Of Overwatch 2 Update 15 Are Looking Up

AsPC Gamernotes, this is the best Overwatch 2 has looked since its debut on Steam. And while several recent reviews are skeptical on the state of the game, others are excited that “Overwatch 2 finally released.”

“They NEEDED competition, and it shows.” Says one user by the name of Neo.

Overwatch vs Marvel Rivals

It’s good to know that the current developers are putting in work, making good decisions and listening to their playerbase.

Overwatch 2’s Kiriko Deserves Way More Backstory

Or, at the very least, backstory that diverges from the Shimada brothers' shadow.

“After all these years, I think this game is worth coming back to and playing for hours.” Says another user: Kaicho.

The changes that the developers made have introduced a whole new level of gameplay.

And in case Neo’s implicit callout of Marvel Rivals’s quality wasn’t obvious enough, Kaicho puts subtext to text, writing: “We owe all these changes to the competition between this game and Marvel Rivals.”

It seems like the surprise success of Marvel Rivals has lit a fire under the development team at Blizzard, who are more driven to improve their game. They’d like to turn the success of one game into a revitalization for the Hero Shooter genre, and hey, change often starts from within.

Now, we just have to wait and see if they can keep this up. Improvement is good, but a score of “mixed” is still something worth surpassing.

Marvel Rivals: Every Character’s Overwatch Counterpart

Something seems rather familiar about these heroes and villains.