Overwatch 2 players want scrapped environmental feature to return

Brianna Reeves
overwatch 2 environmental kill

Overwatch 2 players continue to wonder why features like the environmental kill icon were not implemented in the sequel.

Overwatch’s Killfeed displays need-to-know information about the match in a corner of the HUD. Most importantly, these details consist of who killed who and how.

If one player takes out another with a Quick Melee attack, the imagery summing up this interaction will appear in the form of a punching icon.

Those who due to environmental hazards, such as pitfalls, will see their name pop up alongside a falling icon. That was the case in the original Overwatch, at least.

Overwatch 2 players miss this environmental kill feature

Reddit user thoxo pointed out that Blizzard Entertainment introduced the environmental kill icon to Overwatch a couple of years ago in a patch. For reasons unbeknownst to the Redditor and others, however, this particular icon never appears in Overwatch 2’s Killfeed.

“I don’t get it, it was a cool thing,” the user added at the end of their post. And many of their fellow Overwatch veterans agree, given the post’s 2,300 upvotes.

A few people posited the icon’s removal may have come down to Blizzard’s efforts toward achieving a more “minimalistic look” for the HUD.

This talking point opened another can of worms in the Overwatch Reddit thread – do players even like the minimalist design scheme? A quick look at the various replies suggests the answer is “no.”

In short, it seems many players would embrace Blizzard reviving some of Overwatch’s scrapped features. “OW2 is a downgrade, prove me wrong,” someone wrote in the thread. Another player responded to the original Reddit post with, “just give me OW1 back.”

Clearly, the community’s issues with Overwatch 2 go much deeper than the absence of the environmental kill icon.

Overwatch 2 is playable across Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.

About The Author

Brianna graduated from SHSU in 2018 with a Master's degree in English Literature. In the past, she's written for Comic Book Resources, PlayStation LifeStyle, and Screen Rant. On top of penning scripts for GVMERS, Brianna covers the latest gaming news for Dexerto. Her expertise lies in PlayStation, single-player games such as Assassin's Creed, and anything Batman-related. You can contact her at brianna.reeves@dexerto.com.