You’ve been there before: bright sun, red-brown canyons, a diner filled with automatic weapons and punchable salt-shakers. You’re on Route 66 in Overwatch 2, and you’re about to burst through those diner doors on attack.
And then you’ll quickly be sent right back through them as the defense spawn camps the life out of your team, who can’t figure out how to get around a few Sombra sentries or the persistent damage of a Torbjorn turret down the map’s long first straight. Route 66 can be a difficult map to get going on when attacking, and today, Blizzard announced it’s finally introducing some updates to the map in season seven to help curb spawn-camping there.
The Panorama Diner is getting a new sign positioned out on the building’s patio, one that may provide a little bit more cover for attackers and prevent enemy Widowmakers and Ashes from simply sitting on top of one of the great defender high grounds on Route 66’s first point and braining an unsuspecting support.
The long straight of the escort map combined with that high ground is what made it feel so punishing to attackers so often, so the new sign may close some of the huge windows enemy snipers have available to them on that first point.
Changes are also coming to the second point as the doors will no longer fully close behind the payload when you push it past the first checkpoint, giving attackers a bit more cover. Defenders also get some love on the last checkpoint in the Deadlock Gang’s hideout as some shifting cargo will give defenders some new possible angles to hold and fight from.
Route 66 is an original, but most players can attest that it’s one of the most snowball-y maps that Overwatch 2 has. If you manage to get off to a good start on attack or defense, chances are you’re going to carry that momentum for a long time.
The season seven changes, though, may allow more teams to mount comebacks when things don’t start out their way. Overwatch 2 season seven is set to begin on Oct. 10.
