Blizzard Entertainment's popular hero shooter, Overwatch, is receiving a new patch for all of its platforms today. The new update includes a slew of new features like bug fixes, interface changes, hero updates, and most notably, new game modes.

Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are making their way to Overwatch's Arcade. The first mode will pin eight players against each other as they score for each final blow they land. For each person the player eliminates, they will receive one point; any environmental or self-inflicted damage will result in a one point loss. The first player to reach 20 wins the match. Team Deathmatch is very similar except it pins two teams of four against each other, and the game ends when a party reaches 30 points.

Both modes will be set in a few maps already available in Overwatch. Here are the arenas available for Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch:

  • 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

A new map, Château Guillard, will also be featured in the new Arcade modes. The newest location is set near Annecy in southeastern France, and is the ancestral home of everyone's favorite sniper, Widowmaker.

For those interested in the more combative environment of Competitive Play, the ranked mode has received new changes including the reduction of the length of each season, the amount of Competitive Points garnered after winning, and much more. Here is a full list of Competitive Play adjustments:

  • The length of Competitive Play seasons has been reduced to 2 months (formerly 3)
  • The winner on Control maps will now be decided based on a best-2-out-of-3 series (formerly 3-out-of-5)
  • Due to the shortened season length, fewer Competitive Points will be rewarded at the end of each season
  • More Competitive Points will be rewarded for wins or ties in Competitive Play
    • 15 Competitive Points for a win (formerly 10)
    • 5 Competitive Points for a tie (formerly 3)
  • Periodic Skill Rating decay has been reduced
    • Previously inactive players (in Diamond tier or above) lost 50 Skill Rating per day. This has been reduced to 25 Skill Rating per day
    • Playing a match now increases the time till decay by 36 hours (up from 24 hours). The maximum number of days remains set at 7
  • Players who place in Diamond or below can now lose their place in that tier if their Skill Rating drops below the minimum requirement. However, they’ll still earn their end-of-season rewards for their highest skill tier placed
  • Player Skill Ratings will no longer be temporarily lowered at the beginning of a season (after placement matches)
  • Changes in Skill Rating that occur after each competitive match have been adjusted to address some anomalies, especially with certain heroes
  • Skill Rating earned during players' placement matches will now more accurately reflect their true Skill Rating
  • The calculation system for personal performance contributions has been improved

Recently, Blizzard Entertainment announced that beloved heroes D. Va and Mercy will be getting huge balance changes soon. The modifications are available now in the PC version's Public Test Region.

Overwatch is available now for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 3.