Overwatch 2’s collaboration with Cowboy Bebop works surprisingly well

By Tomas Franzese March 7, 2024 10:26AM

Cassidy's Spike skin in Overwatch 2. — Blizzard Entertainment

Blizzard Entertainment announced that Overwatch 2’s next crossover is with Cowboy Bebop, and a snazzy trailer recreates the anime’s iconic opening with the collaboration’s character skins.

The collaboration begins on March 12, when Legendary skins, emotes, and other items based on Cowboy Bebop will appear in the game’s store. So far, a Cassidy skin based on Spike Spiegel, an Ashe skin that turns her into Faye Valentine, a Jet Black skin for Mauga, an Ed skin for Sombra, and an Ein Wrecking Ball skin are all confirmed for Overwatch 2. Although players will have to pay for most of these skins with microtransactions, the Wrecking Ball skin based on Ein will be obtainable for free.

Blizzard Entertainment also said that “music from the anime series will also be featured in-game” in a message sent to the press about the announcement, but did not elaborate further. Hopefully, it takes some cues from the Le Sserafim collaboration event that hit Overwatch 2 last September. As a free-to-play game with an in-game store rather than loot boxes, Blizzard has embraced a collaboration model more similar to games like Fortnite as it plans live service content for the team-based first-person shooter.

Overwatch 2 x Cowboy Bebop | Collaboration Trailer

Cowboy Bebop is a critically acclaimed and highly beloved sci-fi anime, and the designs of its main characters — Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed, and Ein — all work surprisingly well when adapted to Overwatch 2 character skins. The opening for the Cowboy Bebop anime is particularly iconic. As such, the collaboration announcement trailer was received warmly and has generated some excitement and interest in what’s coming next for Overwatch 2, which has been hard to come by since news broke that some of its developers were laid off in January 2024.

These Cowboy Bebop skins will come to Overwatch 2 on March 12. Blizzard Entertainment has not said how long these skins will stick around the in-game store.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Tech News

Gaming Staff Writer

Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

I wish I loved Alan Wake 2’s most creative gameplay feature

Saga doing a deduction in the mind place.

Among all the marketing material and features shown off leading up to Alan Wake 2's release, nothing got me more excited to return to Bright Falls than The Mind Place. More than the focus on survival horror, the mix of live-action and in-game cinematics, or simply getting to conclude a story I began over a decade ago, the idea of a metaphorical space in which I -- or rather FBI agent Saga Anderson -- could visualize and construct the clues I was collecting to piece together the darkly magical mystery presented captivated my imagination most.

What we ended up getting wasn't quite what I hoped for. Created as a clever space where players could piece together the game's driving occult case, the space doesn't leave as much room for smart deduction as I'd hoped. For as much potential for this space had to elevate Alan Wake 2 on both a narrative and gameplay level, it felt like a missed opportunity during my playthrough that only slowed the sequel's strong momentum.
Not quite a True Detective
Creating a detective game where the player is an active participant in solving a mystery sounds like a nightmare to design. On one hand, the designers need to provide all the clues to reach the correct solution, while simultaneously making it neither too obvious nor obscure to solve. Lean too far in either direction and the player will either feel unsatisfied and potentially pandered to, or frustrated and betrayed. It is a task few games attempt, and even fewer manage to pull off.

Gaming

Don’t ignore Spider-Man 2’s side missions. They’re the best parts of the game

Miles checking his phone in spider-man 2.

With Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 out, you might be tempted to devour Insomniac’s new superhero adventure as fast as possible like a hungry Venom. I wouldn’t blame you. The sequel’s sprawling story is a complicated web of threads that beg to be untangled. It’s tempting to zoom from mission to mission, ignoring all other side activities until New York City has been properly saved from Kraven’s wrath.

If you find yourself in that boat, consider this a PSA: Don’t skip out on Spider-Man 2’s side missions. Though they aren’t as glitzy as the main campaign, the sequel’s best moments are consistently tucked away in quieter quests that emphasize compassion and community support over comic book violence. They’re the moments that best illustrate what it truly means to be a superhero.
Community support
Just like the previous two Spider-Man games, Insomniac’s open-world take on New York City is filled with optional storylines. Early on, Peter and Miles can stop to clean up a mess left by Sandman or take up jobs as local photographers. These aren’t just empty checklists to complete; even something as simple as collecting every Spider-bot in town leads to some kind of narrative payoff that’s usually worth seeing through to the end (especially since a 100% completion only takes around 35 hours).

Gaming

Counter-Strike 2 is now available on Steam for free after surprise launch

A team groups up in Counter-Strike 2.

With little more than a slight tease beforehand, Valve just launched Counter-Strike 2 on Steam.
Counter-Strike 2 - Launch Trailer
Counter-Strike is Valve's long-running competitive multiplayer shooter series. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has stayed near the top of Steam's player count charts ever since it launched in 2012. After over a decade of dominance, Valve first announced Counter-Strike 2 as a free, sequel-level upgrade to Global Offensive earlier this year. After some slight teases earlier in the month, Valve finally decided to surprise launch the game on September 27.
Counter-Strike 2 builds upon Global Offensive in Valve's newer Source 2 game engine. Outside of the obvious visual upgrades that change brings, Counter-Strike 2 adds to its predecessor with a new CS Rating system, overhauled maps, and tweaks to core mechanics like smoke grenades and the tick rate at which the first-person shooter operates. Valve also promises that the game features "upgraded Community Workshop tools," so we should get some entertaining Counter-Strike 2 mods.

Valve intends for players to smoothly transition from Global Offensive to Counter-Strike 2 as the game has simply updated to make the transition, and all items players obtained in the former work in the latter. Hopefully, this approach works out better for Valve than it did for Blizzard with Overwatch 2 last year.
Counter-Strike 2 is available now on PC via Steam. It's a free-to-play game, although players can buy a Prime Status Upgrade for $15 that grants buyers the titular moniker. Having Prime Status grants exclusive items, item drops, and weapon cases and makes the game more likely to matchmake you with other Prime Status Counter-Strike 2 players.