Turn on this helpful Overwatch 2 setting right now

Overwatch 2 Junker Queen cinematic
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

If you've ever been deep into an Overwatch fight completely unaware that half of your team died 15 seconds ago, I implore you to turn on a setting new to Overwatch 2. It's a distinct sound that plays when a teammate dies and having it on has already saved my bacon more than once.

The sound itself is a familiar one for Overwatch veterans: a blaring, brief emergency siren that effectively communicates "oh god, back up, oh god." The alarm has been used in Overwatch for years to signify the death of teammates, but only in limited-time PvE events. Now it can be used in PvP, though it's off by default and easy to miss in the settings menu.

Blizzard has appropriately named this setting "Play Sound When Teammate Eliminated". You'll find it at the very bottom of this first page of audio settings:

overwatch 2 settings

(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

Once it's on, you can basically stop worrying about the kill feed forever. It's been revelatory to unshackle from a small text feed that I frequently overlook and let the sound do the talking. I'm amazed at how quickly death alarms have improved my reactivity. It's now possible to stay focused completely on my aim or the person I'm healing and still instantly understand when teammates have died and we should fall back. Word of the handy new warning has slowly spread among friends and peers, and now everyone who's anyone is pro-death alert. Turns out the old way was slow and bad the whole time. This abrasive, unpleasant noise is pretty sweet.

Here's the alarm in action, demonstrated by me repeatedly leaping off a cliff as Soldier 76 (sound on):

You might be wondering about the similar setting above the teammate death alarm, "Play Sound When Enemy Eliminated". That one does what it says on the tin, but honestly, I can barely even hear it. It's a unique sound, but it's either too quiet or my brain decides to drown it out. That's fine by me—I'm more concerned with teammate notifications anyways, and I reckon it's already pretty obvious when we've wiped the floor with the competition and there's nobody left to shoot.

Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.

Read more
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 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
Hammond/Wrecking Ball shocked face
Overwatch 2 players are hoping that the upcoming perks will dissuade the heinous act of counterswapping
Overwatch 2's Kiriko
Overwatch 2's new competitive season is as chaotic as ever, thanks to the new perk system, but it's still a huge step in the right direction
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
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
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
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