We finally know when Bastion will return to Overwatch 2

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What many assumed would be a quick bug fix has dragged on for over a week.

overwatch 2 bastion
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Have you seen this robot? He's about 7'3", approximately 2 tons, and has a friendly bird on his shoulder. After nine days missing from the game without any updates, Overwatch commercial leader Jon Spector announced on Twitter that Bastion would finally return to Overwatch 2 on October 25. By that time, he will have been gone for over two weeks. Spector also announced that the Junkertown map has been removed to fix a bug affecting graphical performance, but it'll be back on the same day as Bastion.

Blizzard made the call to temporarily remove Bastion from Overwatch 2 on Monday, October 10 after a bug was discovered that allowed the robo-hero to indefinitely use his mortar strike ultimate ability to devastating effect. Torbjörn was also targeted for bug fixes at the same time, but he remains playable in Quick Play while Blizzard works on him.

Bastion hasn't been so lucky. What Blizzard initially described as a "quick trip to the workshop" will drag on for 15 days. The newly-reworked hero has not only been unplayable in matches, but all evidence that he's even in Overwatch 2 has been completely scrubbed from the client. You can't enter training mode with Bastion, play him against bots, or even look at his cosmetics in the main menu. In fact, he no longer appears in the list of heroes at all, forcing me to question if he ever really existed.

The wait for Bastion's safe return has gone on long enough that community reactions have begun to graduate from lighthearted memes anticipating his homecoming to dour doomposting and mild aggravation that Blizzard hasn't been communicative about the issue. It's true that nine days is a while to wait for an update, which is also a bit strange considering how vocal Overwatch's official support channels have been about the game's other ongoing issues like server interruptions and inventory disparities.

new_hero_leak_found_some_locked_achievements from r/Overwatch

Spector's statement is a welcome relief, but it doesn't mention why a bug that seems so ordinary on the surface (pressing two buttons at the same time to un-cancel an ultimate) was apparently difficult to crack. The uncertainty has certainly taken a toll on my Bastion-maining friend, who told me last night that he's stopped queuing for DPS because of the jolt of disappointment he feels when the character select appears and he remembers the sad state of affairs.

The October 25 update can't come soon enough, because as Twitch streamer Hoshizora points out, Bastion has now been missing from Overwatch 2 longer than he's been in it.

Morgan Park
Morgan Park
Staff Writer

Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.