Overwatch 2 kicks off the first of three double XP weekends today

Today marks the start of Overwatch 2’s first double XP weekend, one of three lined up for the hero shooter before the end of season one. You’ll be able to net your heroes twice the match XP until October 24th, starting at 7pm BST/8pm CEST/11am PDT today and ending the same time on Monday, but the bonus doesn’t apply to daily and weekly challenges. Blizzard have also revealed that Overwatch 2’s first seasonal event, Halloween Terror, begins on October 25th.

Overwatch 2’s other two double XP weekends are scheduled for October 28th through October 31st, and November 24th to November 28th. Two of these three weekends were promised by Blizzard as a sort of compensation for Overwatch 2’s awkward and technically troubled launch earlier this month. Player reaction to the double XP weekend announcement in the Overwatch subreddit was not positive, with plenty of complaints that it makes little difference to the grind required by the game’s controversial battle pass.

This year’s Halloween Terror is called Junkenstein’s Revenge: Wrath Of The Bride. Other than the event’s start date of October 25th, there isn’t much more information from Blizzard about what to expect yet. Overwatch 2 leakerer Naeri X tweeted some images of skins and art from the upcoming event, along with a few details. As you’d expect, it seems there’ll be Halloween-themed cosmetics, and new skins for Junker Queen, Kiriko, Reaper, and other heroes. It's also claimed there's a PVE mode inbound. It sounds like that might have something to do with the strange noises mentioned in this blog post.

Overwatch 2 is a free to play download from Battle.net. The first double XP weekend begins today, October 21st, and ends on October 24th. If you’re looking for tips on how to unlock every hero in Overwatch 2 then look no further, Ollie’s got you covered.

Activision Blizzard publish Overwatch 2 and they're still facing law suits alleging a workplace culture of sexual harassment and discrimination. Microsoft also intend to buy Activision Blizzard, although the deal is currently under investigation by UK regulators over competition concerns.