Deathmatch Coming Soon to Overwatch; New Map Announced

Blizzard Entertainment has officially announced that the classic mode Deathmatch will be coming soon to its game Overwatch.

Right now, the mode is set to have to different variations. The first, simply titled Deathmatch, sees eight players fight each other to the death. Killing another player will grant you a single point, while killing yourself in anyway will cause you to lose one point. The first player to reach twenty points wins the match.

The second variation is Team Deathmatch, which will be similar to the former, with some obvious changes. While the mode will still consist of eight players in total, the match will now be comprised of two teams of four. In addition to this, the score limit will be increased to thirty points.

A brand new map, created specifically for Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, was also announced. In the map, which is titled Château Guillard, players will be transported to the home of the character Widowmaker.

A slew of old maps will also be playable in Deathmatch, albeit with some slight modifications. You can check out the full list of those maps below:

Hanamura
Horizon Lunar Colony
Temple of Anubis
Volskaya Industries
Dorado
Eichenwalde
Hollywood
King’s Row
(TDM only) Black Forest
(TDM only) Castillo
(TDM only) Ecopoint: Antarctica
(TDM only) Necropolis

Both of these new modes should be available right now in the game's Public Test Realm, which allows PC players to try out new features before they are released to anyone else. There's no word on when Deathmatch and the new map will be making their way to other players.

Speaking of the Public Test Realm, it too received a brand new update. You can check out the full patch notes below:

GENERAL

A number of data format changes have been implemented

Developer Comments: Over the past few months, we’ve been working on a number of significant under-the-hood changes that will help us streamline the patching process. This will allow us to reduce the download size in future patches, but it does mean that today’s patch is larger than a traditional patch.

HERO UPDATES

Junkrat

Concussion Mine

Junkrat can now hold two mines

RIP-Tire

Tire’s movement speed has been increased by 30%

There is no longer a time limit when wall climbing

Developer Comments: Giving the Junkrat the ability to store two concussion mines adds some much-needed flexibility and versatility to his kit, particularly when using the mines for mobility. RIP-Tire’s damage has always been very good, but it was often difficult to steer the tire into position before it was destroyed. Increasing its speed will allow players to effectively detonate the tire more often and decrease the amount of time that Junkrat is vulnerable while controlling it.

Orisa

Fusion Driver

Projectile speed increased by 20%

Protective Barrier

Barrier size increase by 20%

Barrier shape has been changed to allow for more coverage from enemies that are below the barrier

Developer Comments: The projectile speed increase helps Orisa’s consistency, especially at medium ranges (or further). Her barrier size has been increased to better protect her team, and the new shape makes the shield more effective when it’s used on slopes or on top of objects (such as a payload).

Roadhog

Take a Breather

Can now be used while moving

Damage taken while healing has been reduced by 50%

Developer Comments: These changes help Roadhog be much more aggressive when looking for hook targets or blocking for his team. The combination of these effects significantly increases Roadhog’s sustainability and survivability.

Widowmaker

Grappling Hook

Cooldown has been reduced from 12 seconds to 8

Venom Mine

Affected targets are now visible through walls (to you as Widowmaker only)

Developer Comments: Widowmaker is extremely powerful in the right hands, but her abilities often felt a little weak. The Grappling Hook cooldown reduction means she is more likely to have it available when she needs to escape. Venom Mine is intended to be an early warning system, uncovering enemies that are attempting to flank her or her team. With this change, she can see enemies when they trigger the mine, even if they’re on the other side of a wall.

USER INTERFACE

Added an “Outline Opacity” option under the custom reticle settings (found under Controls > Options > Advanced), which allows players to control the opacity of the black outline surrounding the reticule

BUG FIXES

General

Fixed a bug that occasionally required the Capture Point progress bar to progress past the second tick mark before being activated

Heroes

Fixed a bug that could cause D.Va's black ejection screen to briefly reappear after being ejected from her mech

Fixed a bug causing D.Va’s Light Gun to use the wrong texture while outside of her mech when the Junker skin was equipped

Fixed a bug that caused D.Va’s hair to stand straight up on the Hero Select screen when her Cruiser was equipped

Fixed a bug causing the lights on the back of Doomfist’s gauntlet to incorrectly indicate full ammo when his Hello emote was activated

Fixed a bug that prevented the area-of-effect circle for Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from being visible to all players

Fixed a bug preventing the height from Doomfist’s Meteor Strike from being high enough to reach certain locations

Fixed a bug that was preventing Doomfist’s Rocket Punch from connecting with enemy players that were moving up an incline

Fixed a bug that caused Hanzo’s arrow to disappear when his Meditate emote was active

Fixed a bug preventing Orisa’s “Overclocked” achievement from being granted, even after the criteria was met

Fixed a bug causing Sombra’s teeth to be visible while her Stealth ability was active when her Los Muertos skin was equipped

Fixed a bug causing Sombra’s reload animation to play even when interrupted

Maps

Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Ecopoint: Antarctica

Fixed a bug that allowed players to see past the map’s background on Black Forest

Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Black Forest

Fixed a bug that caused the announcer to say “Traveling to Dorado” when joining Castillo

Fixed a bug that prevented some equipment (vents, pipes, etc.) from properly connecting to the walls of the power plant on Dorado

Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Hanamura

Fixed an issue that caused sprays to display incorrectly on the crane on the Horizon Lunar Colony

Fixed a bug that could cause A.I. heroes to get themselves stuck while traveling to the Well Capture Point on Ilios

Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Ilios

Fixed a bug that allowed players to reach unintended locations on Oasis

Fixed a bug that prevented Pharah’s Jump Jet from recharging while perched on doorframes in Oasis

Fixed a bug that prevented doorframes from being visible and lacking collision on the Practice Range

User Interface

Fixed a bug in the Options > Controls menu that prevented the asterisk (which normally indicates that changes have been made) from being removed from the hero’s dropdown after controls have been set to default

Fixed a bug causing the Back button to disappear when scrolling through the list of available games in the Game Browser

Fixed a bug that prevented grouped players from appearing linked in the tab menu during a Custom Game