Do you want to experience Overwatch in a whole new way? A fan is currently programming a game that lets you manage pro players – and more.
Overwatch League Manager: The New York student and native Chinese Nancy “Houki Boshi” Zhou is working on a manager game called “OWL 2K18”, where you can lead a team in the Overwatch League to victory… and date them. However, it has not been released yet.
Win the League in OWL 2K18
What is OWL 2K18 about? The goal of the game is to lead your team to victory in the Overwatch League. You can choose one of the teams from the first season of the Overwatch League and become its manager.
The teams are sorted into different difficulty levels. It is harder with the Shanghai Dragons, who have not won a game in the league. It is easier with the better teams like London Spitfire, the winners of the first phase:
- Easy: New York Excelsior, London Spitfire, LA Valiant, LA Gladiators
- Normal: Boston Uprising, Houston Outlaws, Philly Fusion, Seoul Dynasty
- Hard: Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, San Francisco Shock
- Very hard: Shanghai Dragons
The available players are mostly those who have already played in the league. However, there are supposed to be some new additions that have not been seen in the OWL.
A proper management game: OWL 2K18 comes with classic game mechanics that are part of a management game. You can train your team or “scrim”, that is, let them compete in test matches against others.
Additionally, you need to take care of accommodation and coaching. Through investments, the team houses can be expanded, and new coaches can be hired to support your team in training.
The players all have their own profiles with strengths, weaknesses, and preferred heroes. So you need to ensure that the team complements each other and gets along well. There is also something like player morale, a “mood” system. Players need to be kept happy.
Lead your players to… dates? What sets OWL 2K18 apart from other management games is that you can date the individual players as well. You can play duo-ranked games with them, take them out for dinner or to the movies.
There is also a “bonding” system that indicates how strongly your teammates feel bonded to the team and attracted to you. If the bond is strong enough, you can start a kind of relationship.
The dating features come from the fact that OWL 2K18 originally started as a dating sim. It later developed into a management game. Whether the features will remain is uncertain, and whether the game will even be released is still unclear according to Zhou.
The Overwatch League is currently in the off-season. This is what the eSports event of Overwatch is about.
