Kyungseo Min and Miranda Moyer Interview: Overwatch 2's Loverwatch

The developer behind Overwatch 2's dating sim spinoff, Loverwatch, answers a few questions about the creative process behind the game.

A new Overwatch 2 dating sim spin-off called Loverwatch has arrived, allowing players to track down some of the game's greatest heroes. Loverwatch gives fans a choice between Genji or an angel, and will receive romantic help from Hanzo who is Cupid. While the browser game is currently only available for a limited time, running until February 28, Blizzard hasn't ruled out the possibility of more romance in the future.

Loverwatch runs approximately 30 minutes each, in which players will have three special dates with Overwatch 2 characters of their choice. These three main options were chosen because of their long history in the series, and whether fans choose Angel, Genji, or Secret Cupid's Way in Lovewatch, each story aims to offer a new kind of humor and emotional insight. Players have the potential to fail in their pursuit of each character, and every choice they make determines whether or not their romance will succeed.

Screen Rant participated in a special group interview with some of Loverwatch's creators, in which Narrative Designer Kyungseo Min and Senior Narrative Designer Miranda Moyer answered some questions about building narratives Overwatch 2 dating sim.

Screen Rant: I'm curious how you guys decide on the different locations for all the dates - a third date, which is more indicative of that character, a fancy restaurant, and of course an open mic in downtown New York, which might be the first Worst place for a date. How did all this come about?

Kyungseo Min: We have a wealth of maps, and within each map, just like so many beautiful and small locations that our environment artists worked a ton on. As far as the Laff Attic, I think that was my idea, because I tend to have the more deranged ideas. And the team was like, "What if the first date is open-mic night, and you have to make them laugh?" And we immediately ran with that. And then like I think, Miranda correct me if I'm wrong, I think the second date, we were just like, "Well, what's the most cliche thing? Dinner? Do we have a restaurant on a map somewhere? Oh, we do, in Circuit Royal." It was sort of that. And like you said, the third date is a bit more indicative of like, their special locations. Miranda Moyer: I remember we came up with like, a big list of possible date locations based on our maps. And yeah, I think it was a mix of what could be the most evocative content wise on these dates. Like Kyungseo said, the Laff Attic is like - I personally would not go there on a first date [Laughs] but Kyungseo would, so that's why it came naturally. But like, basically, it lent itself so well to this obviously very comedic moment, and I feel like it was a really good setting. I really liked the way that the art team came up with these differences - like, it made the setting seem really intimate and really personal in a way that you don't always get to experience when you're getting shot at in these rooms on the PvP maps. So it was mostly just the way that they lent themselves to the humor. And for the date, it was really fun to be able to say like, "What would these characters like to have for dinner?" Like just it's inspiring those kinds of questions, I feel like, drew us to these specific locations.

There are clearly many funny moments in the dialogue, but also deep, especially at the end of Genji's third date. What does the narrative balancing process look like for you guys? I know you never want a dating sim to be super serious, but you also don't want it to be pointless either.

Miranda Moyer: Yeah, I think for us going into it, we did want to like - this is not an opportunity we have had a lot of before, getting this chance to put these heroes in the spotlight in such an aggressive way. This is purely about interacting with these heroes and getting to know them, so I feel like we really wanted to take advantage of that. And there's obviously, like you mentioned, a lot of comedic aspects here, but we wanted to make sure that at the core this is still a chance for you to enjoy the company and personality of these heroes, just making sure that we were true and honest to who they are as people. Like Genji has a ton of very silly stuff going on, and Mercy has all of these jokes about the fact that she's super brilliant and you're kind of out of your depth talking to her. Making sure that you are still able to appreciate and enjoy them as people and feel like there is a kind of emotional core was something that was very important to us going into this.

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