A long time ago, in what now seems like a galaxy far, far away, Blizzard once talked about how great PvE would be for Overwatch 2. But after these aspirations revealed themselves as nothing more than a pipe dream, Overwatch 2 players had to reckon with the fact that we'll probably not see any of the features that PvE promised ever again. That's still largely the case, but Junkenstein's newest event may be the closest we get to experiencing what the developers had cooked up.
One of arguably the most exciting parts of Overwatch 2's intended PvE experience was the hero progression and talent system. This feature was first mentioned in 2019 but then expanded upon at Blizzcon 2021. The system would basically allow players to evolve existing hero abilities through a skill tree, changing their hero's kit and adding more diversity to team fights.
"The talent system is really deep and rich," Overwatch 2's director Aaron Keller said during Blizzcon 2021. "Every single hero has different trees. You may open up [Soldier] 76's tree, and as you're leveling and picking new talents, you're starting to feel your hero change." These features seemed like the breath of fresh air that Overwatch 2 desperately needed to stop it from aging like already stale bread.
Sadly, players never got to see what the skill tree and talent system would be like for themselves as hero missions were scrapped once Blizzard realised that the PvE they had settled for couldn't live up to fan expectations. But now we've been given a taste of what could have been thanks to the new Junkenstein's Laboratory event, which introduced mutations, abilities that work in a similar way that talents were meant to.
Junkenstein's Laboratory is just like any other objective fight, except there is a limited roster of heroes, and before each round begins, players can pick one mutation out of five options. These change a hero's abilities slightly, allowing players to build on a certain skill. It's also first to three wins instead of the usual two, meaning you can collect up to five mutations by the end of the match.
I've played D.Va, Kiriko, Moira, and Soldier 76 so far and really love what the mutations bring to the table. You can customise heroes more to your particular playstyle, whether that is making a hyper-aggressive Kiriko who can shoot mini rockets or an actual DPS Moira who can change her ultimate to do only damage. I even saw one player create "the fattest matrix ever" by stacking defense matrix abilities. But I've tended to put more of an emphasis on offensive power rather than defense.
When I play Soldier 76, I prioritise damage output and helix rockets—there's even an option to turn helix rockets into homing missiles, which is fantastic. But you can also acquire more healing with a mutation that allows Soldier 76's healing pylon to follow him around. It's an ability that Blizzard devs actually talked about back at Blizzcon 2021: "We've had some pretty hilarious versions of the healing [talent] where his biotic field travels with him," Keller said at the time. "It also repulses enemies—we call it 'the snowplow build,' where 76 is running through spaces pushing enemies away from him." So it's very likely that at least some of these mutations have been carried over from the hero talents that Blizzard once promised.
Junkenstein's Laboratory is great fun and a nice new twist on a familiar game, but I still have a couple of issues with it. First off, the mutations will probably need some reworking in the future. There are a couple of options that can basically make Orisa invincible or turn Moira into the scariest thing you'll probably see this Halloween. And the second issue I have with this mode is that you can't counterswap. I know picking heroes based on what will do well against the enemy team is frowned upon in the Overwatch 2 community but no Genji player should be forced to play against a damage-orientated Moira that spends most of the game hunting them down.
But hopefully, we'll see these changes if this mode stays around for longer than just the spooky season—I wouldn't mind Junkenstein's Laboratory being a year-round resident in the arcade. Even though mutations are a mere crumb compared to what was initially intended with hero talents, they do still provide a small glimpse into what could have been if PvE stuck around—honestly, I'll settle for just about anything right now.
