Starwatch “introduces some PvE elements in a PvP match” with one side, the Infinite Empire, capable of deploying turrets.

The fourth season of Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 kicks off next week, adding the first-ever community map, Talantis, and a new Support hero, Lifeweaver. There’s also a new Premium Battle Pass with 80 tiers of rewards, including a Mythic skin for Sigma called Galactic Emperor. The latter forms the basis for a new mode, Starwatch, which goes live on May 9th.

Set in a spin-off sci-fi story, it sees the Watchers battling the Infinite Empire. Players must choose a side, but this isn’t a simple PvP mode. In a new blog post, director Aaron Keller says it “introduces some PvE elements into a PvP match. Turrets are placed for the Infinite Empire, and Doomfist will play alongside the Watchers.

“We’ve been talking about game modes like this lately and would like to explore them more. We’ve done experiments like this before. The Archives missions were design and technology testbeds to allow us to start creating the upcoming Story Missions for Overwatch 2. I’d love for us to think of Starwatch in the same way; the first step into something bigger and more ambitious that we could be doing for the future.”

How Starwatch works remains to be seen, but these events are interesting in addition to regular PvE content. However, the development team has yet to detail its plans for co-op story missions, which are planned to go live this year, so stay tuned on that front.

As for the other new mode, B.O.B. and Weave, it goes live with Season 4 and allows players to earn an Epic Cassia Lifeweaver skin. The mode involves using Lifeweaver’s Life Grip, which can reposition allies, to shift B.O.B. around. Keller described it as a “total blast,” but we’ll wait to try it ourselves.

Overwatch 2: Season 4 starts on April 11th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch.