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Overwatch 2 double XP celebrates Olympus event, but the game doesn’t

An Overwatch 2 double XP weekend celebrates the Battle for Olympus event, but the FPS game removes mention of it from the main menu in favour of a store link

Overwatch 2 double XP weekend - Medusa Widowmaker glaring at the camera

There’s an Overwatch 2 double XP weekend happening to celebrate the ongoing Overwatch 2 Battle for Olympus event, but the godly showdown spectacular apparently isn’t getting as much love in-game as it is on Blizzard social media. The boost is a great opportunity to jump into the FPS game and work on leveling up your Overwatch 2 season 2 battle pass for the included Greek-themed skins, but the game mode itself seems to have fallen a little flat despite a rather novel concept.

The Overwatch Twitter account notes that Overwatch 2 double match XP is available from January 6-9, which it frames as a celebration of the Battle for Olympus mode that gives seven Overwatch 2 heroes unique powers themed after their new legendary skins. Unfortunately, this bonus only applies to your base match experience, so you won’t get extra for the likes of challenge completion or endorsement XP, but it’s still a great way to level up your seasonal pass a bit faster.

What’s left some fans confused, however, is wondering why – during this supposed celebration – the Battle for Olympus event is no longer featured on the main menu of Overwatch 2. Instead, you’re currently greeted with a standard menu that shows a small preview of the Medusa Widowmaker skin in the bottom right corner telling you there are “new items available in shop!”

The event mode is certainly very neat in concept, but many players seem rather underwhelmed by the fact it’s limited to a free-for-all format and the challenges, which require you to grind out a rather sizeable 300 kills with each of the heroes, simply unlock an old Mercy skin from the first Overwatch. In addition, some fans query why a legendary skin for Mercy – one of the heroes most intrinsically about team play – is tied to playing a free-for-all mode.

I’ve certainly enjoyed the format, but I can’t say that I’ll stick with it while playing over the weekend given that I already own the Winged Victory Mercy skin and don’t really fancy the prospect of just grinding out a huge number of kills. Between the rather unimaginative challenges and the disappearance of the mode from the game’s main menu just one day after it began, many players are coming to the conclusion that Blizzard isn’t as enthusiastic about the mode as it claims.

Despite this, Blizzard is continuing to advertise the mode on social media – highlighting Junker Queen’s current spot at the top of the kills leaderboard for the mode, which will determine who gets a statue of themselves placed on the Ilios Ruins map once the event ends. It’d just be nice to see a bit more in-game encouragement for players to participate over the course of the weekend.

The Overwatch 2 patch notes for January 5 include buffs to Junker Queen, Zarya, Brigitte, and Moira. Take a look at our Overwatch 2 tier list to see who’s looking strongest in the current meta, along with our guide to the best Overwatch 2 settings to get optimal performance out of your game.