What to expect when Overwatch 2 season 17 begins on June 24 (that’s today!)

Season 17 of Overwatch 2 is a relatively quiet one, bringing mostly quality of life tweaks and boosts rather than the game-shaking changes of the past couple seasons, plus the battle pass rotation we’ve all come to know and begrudgingly accept.

Speaking of the Battle Pass, there will be two different Mythics to earn this season, both available off the rip. Horang D.Va is the typical Mythic skin we’ve come to expect. A decent amount of color and doodad customization on an overhaul skin. The Reaper gun skin Steel Death offers a lot of emo weapon destruction. Plus, the Battle Pass and shop are both offering a look at a new fun EU — the new Overwatch Academy skins include Principal Widowmaker and Delinquent Cassidy. There is also a set of boxy 8-bit skins. As is typical with these cool themed skins, some are on the Battle Pass, and some are available for purchase in the shop. We also noticed the G I Joe collab hinted at in the trailer.

In the newest mode, Stadium, there are a few new Heroes entering the arena: Zenyatta, Junkrat, and Sigma are joining the fray. They’ll be joining the roster along with two new maps: Esperanca and Samoa, and a Stadium rank reset. But if that means you’re going to get sick of them, you can hop over to Quick Play or Competitive, because this season, you’ll be able to vote on maps before each match. There’s also a new Flashpoint map for the core game modes, Aatlis in Morocco. There was a very in-depth live deep dive with the developers which you can go back and watch if you’re curious as to how this sausage is being made, particularly the map tweaks. If you’re like your info a tad more brief, there’s a more concise developer update video — though we’re still waiting on a dinoflask treatment.

And as we’ve also come to expect there will be several fun events sprinkled through the season to keep things from getting too stale, give you a little boost to your battle pass XP, and award assorted themed swag. The big one, arriving later this season, will be “Hacks and Hijinks,” a Sombra-themed set of rulebreaking that varies from match to match, like low gravity or health packs that charge your ult.

But then, if there’s one thing you can say about Overwatch 2 it’s that it’s never boring, Sombra shakeups or no. Get ready to go back to school when Season 17 arrives on June 24.