Overwatch 2's Hacked Event Double Trouble is almost over, which is probably for the best

Sombra looking at holographic screens
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Blizzard is trialing some small changes to Overwatch 2's format in a series of short-lived Hacked Events. According to a Blizzard blog post earlier this year, this is an effective way to "quickly understand what [players] like and possibly implement changes to improve gameplay." 

The Previous event introduced faster respawn times, payload speeds, and match starts. While I didn't massively adore most of these changes, they didn't make a real difference to my games, unlike the most recent event, Double Trouble. 

Opening Overwatch 2 after a long day just to see the Quick Play icon turn purple is disarming enough, but learning that this was part of a Hacked Event, which removes the one hero limit for Role and Open queue, allowing teams to play two of the same support or DPS heroes, was enough for me to close down the game and get an early nights sleep—at least that's what I should have done.

Double Trouble is only around for 24 hours, and in the short time I experienced this event I can safely say that that's probably for the best. Facing up against teams with two Mercys and two Pharahs is a sickening ordeal, which saps all the fun out of what should be chill Quick Play games as you have to lock in and work twice as hard to counter the weird duos which emerge from the enemy spawn. At one point, I thought I had started hallucinating as two Moiras chased me through the snowy streets of Nepal Village, fading in and out consecutively and poking me with damage orbs until I took my life into my own hands and threw myself off the side of the map. 

But I am not entirely without fault—I may have spent a couple of matches doubling up with my teammates. At various points, we had two Anas, Soldier 76s, and even the occasional double Mercy, which I would like the record to show that I did not endorse. Having two of the same heroes makes a significant difference, and if you pick the right ones, it can completely sway a match—two Soldier 76s with a Mercy pocket each is never ok. 

While Double Trouble doesn't inflict a great deal of harm (apart from the psychological damage of dealing with two Moiras), it would have been nice if the Hacked Event was just added to Arcade instead of hijacking Quick Play. Having to choose between playing for your life in Competitive and dealing with seeing double in what's meant to be the less stressful mode is a choice I don't want to have to make again any time soon. 

Elie Gould
News Writer

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

Read more
Winston looking shocked
'We're extending the 6v6 playtest': The game director of Overwatch 2 stokes the flames that 6v6 will make an official comeback someday
overwatch 2 season 15 cosmetics
Overwatch 2 is getting radical changes that might finally help that '2' make sense, starting with a third-person mode and over 160 hero perks
overwatch 2 stadium mode
Overwatch 2's new third-person Stadium mode breaks every Overwatch rule in the book, and it's about time
Overwatch 2's Sombra looks toward camera with arms crossed
'We should be a little scared of what we're putting out there': Overwatch 2 lead designer says hero perks are about 'letting go' of perfect balance
Overwatch 2 hero Venture peering into the distance with a grin on their face
Overwatch 2 prepares to share 'Groundbreaking PvP gameplay changes,' and players can't decide whether this means we're getting 6v6 back or skill trees
Best Free Steam Games - Marvel Rivals - Black Widow aims down a sniper scope.
'The market is large enough to accommodate both games': NetEase is confident it can make space for Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2
Latest in FPS
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
Starfield's companion robot giving a thumbs-up
Former Bethesda dev who quit Starfield to go solo says it's 'much less stressful as an indie' without daily meetings or 'office politics': it's 'very refreshing to just care about the game'
A crew of prospectors in Wildgate, featuring a robot, a rabbit man, and a small aquatic creature in a combination mech/aquarium.
Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime's new company is putting Sea of Thieves-style shenanigans in space with a new crew-based shooter
Team Fortress Spy being shocked
An FPS studio pulled its game from Steam after it got caught linking to malware disguised as a demo, but the dev insists it was actually the victim of a labyrinthine conspiracy
Neighbors Suburban Warfare screenshot a child aims a slingshot at a man from across a cul-de-sac.
A beta of backyard FPS Neighbors: Suburban Warfare is out now, and the balance discussion is hysterical: nerf trash can lids and children
Fragpunk
Somebody finally figured out casual Counter-Strike
Latest in News
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'