I’ve been a fan of Blizzard games since the RTS days, and I’ve played pretty much every single one, from World of Warcraft to Overwatch, and even the stale Heroes of the Storm. With that in mind, I’ve grown used to many collabs throughout the years, such as Diablo mounts in WoW and so on. Now, Diablo 4 has been working on even bigger collaboration events with other iconic games, and Overwatch is the latest one to join the gloomy lands of Sanctuary. And well, after trying all the armor sets and items, I must say that, while some look great, a few look extremely out of place.
To Belong or Not Belong
One thing I’ve always admired about Blizzard, especially its art teams, is how seamlessly they manage to combine their games into some of these collab events to the point that they actually seem like they belong together. I saw it back when WoW started having its first collabs with Diablo, and actually roamed around Azeroth with some infernal mounts, as they seemed like they belonged to the world I had spent hundreds of hours in. However, that feeling didn’t land this time with the Diablo 4 x Overwatch event.
As you know, there’s a free reliquary and outfits for each class in Diablo 4, available exclusively in the shop. When I saw them in-game, I couldn’t help but feel as if some of them were out of place. For example, out of all eight outfits, I would say that Mercy’s and Kiriko’s feel extremely out of place because they just feel like a quick copy/paste from the original characters. Genji, on the other hand, has some extra details that, after looking at it for a while, make the skin seem like something you’d find in Diablo 4. Even Brigitte’s outfit, which I wasn’t sure would look that great in-game, fits the Paladin aesthetic perfectly. Then again, they don’t feel as cohesive as the ones we got from the World of Warcraft collab.
Now, as for the actual details, the art team has again nailed it, even if I feel some are out of place. Every part of clothing or bulky armor looks great, and those adapted to feel like part of Sanctuary are gorgeous and worth getting. Yet, this collab still has some of the issues I had with the one with WoW.
For starters: the price and what you get. The biggest inconsistencies involve the price, which is set to 2,800 Platinum for each outfit, yet not all of them include the same items. Reaper’s, for example, only has the outfit and a weapon. Roadhog’s, on the other hand, has even more items for the same cost. I do think Blizzard should start adjusting the price of these time-limited collab items, as, just like WoW‘s, they don’t seem consumer-friendly, especially with how some classes get more bang for their buck than others. And lastly, I’m not too fond of this one being available only for a limited time.
A Collab That Needed More to Shine
Ultimately, this Diablo 4 x Overwatch collab left me with a bit of a sour taste. On the one hand, I’m extremely surprised by how well the art team managed to adapt Overwatch skins to the style of the ARPG. The truth is that many of them ended up looking better than I thought, with only a couple feeling out of place and, to an extent, a bit lazy, as there weren’t details in Mercy’s and Kimiko’s outfits to make them feel part of Sanctuary.
Overall, if you’re short on Platinum and just want to spend on a few, I would get Genji, Brigitte, Roadhog, Reaper, and Reinhardt. But if you’re not a big fan of this collab, then the season’s reliquary is also an excellent pick, and one that I would recommend over the recent event. It has some excellent mounts, outfits, and weapons that fit the season’s aesthetic perfectly and also make way for some interesting wardrobe combinations for the fashion aficionados out there.
