We’re in the midst of the Overwatch League offseason, a months-long period of roster changes and, more importantly, no Overwatch League matches. There’s no shortage of excitement and drama, given the Overwatch World Cup’s ongoing matches and a grueling roster swap period—but we miss the twinkling lights of the Overwatch League stage.
But thanks to game developer Nancy Zhou, a student working on a game programming project, we have dreams of OWL 2K18. The game is not yet playable, but Zhou posted a video on YouTube to give potential players a peek at the game. It’s part team management, but was once a dating simulator, so it’s a weird and thrilling mixture of team bonding and Overwatch gameplay.
Related: NYXL’s JJoNak: “My role model is Seoul Dynasty’s ryujehong”
The idea is this: You’ll play as owners for the original 12 teams, which are ranked by difficulty. Playing at New York Excelsior, London Spitfire, and both Los Angeles-based teams is considered easy mode, given real-life statistics from the league. Shanghai Dragons, naturally, are considered “extremely hard.”
Gameplay includes practice, scrimmages, bonding, streaming, and official matches, Zhou said on her blog. The player’s job as the team manager is to arrange the schedule for your team, ensuring they have a balanced timeline. Team bonding is the portion of the game that was originally going to be a romance title, where you can have players duo queue with each other, see movies, or head to the beach. Gifts are available, too.
Zhou said she’s put some little Easter eggs into the game, too, including special dialogue between players. (NYXL’s Bang “JJoNak” Sung-hyeon and Seoul Dynasty’s Ryu “ryujehong” Je-hong both have interactions, she said.)
It’s really the only thing we want in this long, long offseason.
H/T Kotaku