Overwatch 2 Wants to Bring Back a Popular Hero's Removed Ability

Overwatch 2 may bring back Orisa’s Halt ability in the future in some form. While the ability may not be given back to Orisa, the Overwatch 2 development team unanimously liked the ability, and would like to experiment with re-implementing it in the future.

When Overwatch 2 first came out, many characters were drastically changed from their Overwatch 1 counterparts. Overwatch 2 heroes like Doomfist and Bastion went through significant alterations, but nearly every one of Orisa’s abilities was completely changed. One of these abilities, called Halt!, was her old alternate fire, which launched a graviton charge that pulled enemies towards the center and slowed them when detonated.

However, according to lead hero designer Alec Dawson, the devs would love to revive the ability originally lost during Orisa's Overwatch 2 rework. During theOverwatch 2 Creator Summit, Dawson and other devs met with content creators across the world to talk shop about the future of the game. During a conversation with mL7support, Dawson admitted the team was fond of Halt!, and would love to explore bringing it back in some way. “Two-stage abilities are quite difficult to get right,” he said. “We thought [Halt!] actually did a pretty good job at it!” Though Overwatch 2 has nothing in the works for it right now, players might see it come back in the future.

Halt! was a popular ability back when Orisa had access to it. Fan reception to Dawson’s comment has been overall positive, with many players expressing how much they miss the old Orisa. While Halt! will probably not return to Orisa’s kit, as her Overwatch 2 rework made Orisa a more engaging frontline hero, it seems like fans would be glad to see the unique ability return to the game in some form in the future.

There are plenty of other old abilities players would love to see return to Overwatch 2. Doomfist’s Rising Uppercut back when he was a DPS hero, plus Symmetra’s Photon Barrier and Photon Shield, are particularly popular skills, though