Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch is continuing to maintain its presence in the gaming market thanks to the consistent release of new DLC and the constant momentum held by the eSports division known as the Overwatch League. To keep that momentum flowing, Blizzard will allow gamers to play for free next week.
This was announced over on the official Play Overwatch website, where it was revealed that between November 20th and November 26th gamers would be able to play Overwatch for free on the Xbox One, PS4 or through Battle.net on PC. The free trial will gain you access to various modes, weapons, gear, and characters so you can see if the team-based hero shooter fits your gaming habits.
Yes, all 29 heroes will be accessible during the trial, this also includes the newly released cowgirl, Ashe, and her trusty Omnic sidekick, Bob. The duo were just recently introduced back during BlizzCon, where they were accompanied by two crowd-pleasing videos featuring the gameplay of Ashe and a backstory cinematic for McCree.
In addition to having access to the 29 playable heroes, gamers will also be able to hop into any of the 19 different maps that Overwatch offers for people to play. This includes all of the standard maps from back when the game was just getting up and out on the market, to the latest maps added to the game, including the Busan map that was themed around D.Va and her eSports competitive training facility.
Each of the game modes will also be accessible within the free trial over the course of the six days where gamers will be able to dabble in everything that Blizzard's Overwatch has to offer. The Quick Play will be available, along with Custom Games, and the Arcade mode. So, you can play through all of the different custom and standard modes, along with the option to play both ranked and unranked matches.
Also, one of the most important aspects of the game is the unlockable content. According to the news post, gamers will be able to unlock new skins for each of the heroes in the game, as well as level them up just like in the full version of the game. And yes, the loot boxes will also be present in the trial version of the game, but not if you live in the Netherlands or in Belgium, given that certain regions have set about banning loot boxes in their regions since they're labeled as gambling. And while Electronic Arts is fighting against this ruling, Activision decided to bite the bullet and simply remove loot boxes from Overwatch in regions where they're prohibited.
Now the best part about all of this is that whatever progress you make during the trial version of Overwatch will carry over into the full version of the game if you choose to purchase it. This applies to whether you play across Xbox Live, the Battle.net client, or the PlayStation Network. You will, however, need to keep using the same account across the same service for the progress to carryover. So, you won't be able to start the trial on the Xbox One and then attempt to pick up where you left off by purchasing the full version of the game on the PS4.