As part of Overwatch 2’s Valentine’s Day festivities, Blizzard has released a limited-time dating sim that gives players a shot at love with the winged-medic Mercy and everyone’s favorite cyborg ninja, Genji. Though the short browser game– cleverly-titled Loverwatch–is intended to be a brief, humorous, and explicitly non-canon experience, the dating sim is surprisingly delightful, packed with plenty of in-jokes and teases for Overwatch 2’s future.
In Loverwatch, you are given the choice to pursue either Genji or Mercy as a romantic partner. Your journey begins in a comedy club, where you are tasked with delivering the right kind of joke to make your date laugh, and is followed by a romantic dinner in Morocco. Both characters then have a special third date, with its location dependent upon who you are attempting to woo. If you manage to make them fall in love with you by the end of the third date, you are then treated to a special scene offering a more intimate look at these heroes.
While the concept and allure is simple, the fan service Loverwatch provides runs much deeper than merely seeing Mercy, Genji, and the game’s Cupid, Hanzo, repeatedly blush. The game features countless in-jokes, such as Genji having a reputation for needing healing and Zenyatta never getting enough content or screen time. It also contains several fourth-wall breaks, as you the player are well-aware of Overwatch’s lore while the cast of Loverwatch feigns ignorance.
Additionally, while Loverwatch repeatedly refers to itself as non-canon, the game alludes to future content coming to Overwatch 2, such as a closer look at Zenyatta and Ramattra’s relationship. Perhaps even more excitingly, if you question why Loverwatch only has two romance options when prompted to at the beginning of the game, you are told there is the possibility a larger dating sim coming at a later time. “We’re not saying this is some kind of test version of a potentially more robust dating adventure,” the text reads. “But we’re not not saying that either.”
As Loverwatch is part of the game’s Valentine’s Day content, the dating sim is only available for a limited-time. You can play the game from now until February 28. Both of the diverging stories in Loverwatch take approximately 30 minutes to complete and are available to play in English, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, German, and French.
For even more Overwatch 2 content, be sure to read the Season 3 patch notes and give the game’s extensive battle pass content a look. Blizzard also recently announced Overwatch 2’s first IP crossover event, with skins inspired by the hit superhero anime series One Punch Man available beginning March 7.
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