^{Image: Blizzard Entertainment}

Anyone who says, “Overwatch is a dead game,” is technically correct for the next 24 hours.

Blizzard Entertainment’s once-iconic hero shooter Overwatch is officially dead. Blizzard has shut down servers for the multiplayer game for a 27-hour period as it prepares to launch Overwatch 2 on October 4. Seeing as the sequel will replace the original game in its entirety, everything you know about the Overwatch of old - from Doomfist being a Damage hero to 6v6 team compositions - has just gone out of date.

Overwatch fans new and old have been sharing their favourite memories from the 2016 game online ahead of its sequel’s bittersweet launch this week. On one hand, Overwatch players are about to get the biggest content drop they’ve received since the original game’s launch - but on the other, the game they’ve loved playing for six years is about to change dramatically.

Maps with two control points, such as the Temple of Anubis and Hanamura, have been phased out entirely in favour of a new game mode called Push, and teams as a whole are getting slimmed down from six players to five-per-team, with one less Tank on either side. Heroes such as Doomfist and Orisa are getting massive design changes, with the former switching from Damage to Tank and the latter losing her shield ability. All of these changes serve to freshen things up and tempt players back, but it’s not like they’ll ever get to revisit the base game if they feel nostalgic. That experience is gone forever.

Twitch streamer Frogger posted a fairly poignant clip of Overwatch’s last moments before servers shut down:

Anyone playing the game as it was shut down saw the following message sent from Blizzard in chat: “Even the best journeys end, but a new one is right around the corner. Thank you, heroes! See you October 4th!” Players have since flocked online to bid Overwatch a tearful goodbye. Some are tipping their cap to all the Tank duos who will soon vanish from the sequel:

Others are sharing their favourite clips from the game:

And then there’s this classic:

Overwatch at its peak was truly something to behold. It remains to be seen if the sequel can recapture that magic when it launches this week (October 4, 12pm PDT), but one can only hope. The original game launched with 21 playable characters in its roster, while Overwatch 2 launches with 34 heroes, three of which are new. The sequel also adds multiple new maps, an entire game mode called Push and a vast array of cosmetic types both in the Season 1 Battle Pass and in-game store. Lootboxes are now a thing of the past, as the sequel has shifted to traditional free-to-play monetisation focused on purchaseable cosmetics.

If Overwatch 2 ends up being a mainstream hit for Activision Blizzard, we might end up seeing the Overwatch League have a resurgence of its own too. Blizzard has been trying to make Overwatch work within the realm of esports for years now, sometimes to the detriment of its regular players, but the tournament should be a whole lot more interesting to watch now that new metas and maps are entering the game soon.

Overwatch 2’s launch this week is just the beginning, if Blizzard has its way. The sequel also aims to add a paid PvE expansion that finally fleshes out an in-game storyline involving the rebirth of the Overwatch team of old, with new members like Mei and Brigitte, as the heroes go up against a new Omnic crisis. Overwatch 2 also introduces new Competitive changes, which you can read up on here.

Players mourn Overwatch as servers shut down to prep for Overwatch 2