If you were part of the initial wave of Overwatch, you’ve witnessed quite an eight-year evolution. And don’t even get us started on D.Va’s ultimate or OG Symmetra mechanics. But with Overwatch 2 going even further by switching up a few key aspects of gameplay (various modes, gameplay balancing, new characters, competitive reworks, etc.) Blizzard has definitely embraced the idea of change to create exciting new opportunities for the popular game.

One of which, has been the company’s ability to introduce various licensing collaborations such as the brand-new Cowboy Bebop update that launched in mid-March. So now that we’ve had plenty of time to enjoy it during and after its release, here’s why we still believe it might be the best collab yet.

Cowboy Bebop Inspired Gaming Content (Obviously)

As longtime Cowboy Bebop fans who’ve seen it all, we’re honestly just excited to witness the property receive immense love through any medium — whether it’s the underrated approach to the live-action Netflix adaptation, a cinematic re-release of the standalone film Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, or in this case, a glorious merger with a massively popular multiplayer game.

From what we’ve seen in the past, Cowboy Bebop has proven that it has plenty of content that could be perfectly integrated into an immersive game, though, despite one release decades ago (which wasn’t released in the US) there’s no reason to believe that lightning will strike twice.

With Cowboy Bebop x Overwatch 2, fans now earned the chance to play as (or battle) the core group of the Bebop crew in a setting that feels comparable to what we already know. There are high-stakes shootouts, the occasional space-esque map, team-centric gameplay, and the knowledge that like the legacy of Bebop, it’s going to be around for years to come. And that trailer? 10/10! 

Perfect Attention to Detail

Just from the debut trailer alone, we were immediately enamored by the vision that Blizzard and Sunrise created with a revamped Bebop opening that made the internet collectively beg for more Cowboy Bebop anime. In any capacity! And what better way to kick things off than with the game’s resident cowboy Cassidy donning a twist on the recognizable Spike Spiegel fit?

There’s also the picture-perfect recreation of the highly favored femme fatale Faye Valentine, who has effectively reintroduced her iconic image to a new generation of gamers. Faye is a badass icon, and Ashe (along with Ashe’s hefty, multi-faceted weapons) couldn’t be a better selection to represent Faye’s duality.

Ed is another interesting character to bring into the fray because she’s more of a hacker than a fighter. So of course, Sombra had to step up and accomplish what no other character could ever pull off. Honestly, we can’t imagine Ed ever working as a playable character in anything where hacking wasn’t applicable, so this was just pure perfection.

With Jet (Mauga) and the adorable Corgi Ein (Wrecking Ball), the game masterfully rounds out the roster by giving Jet’s tanky stature a place in the game — or Ein’s sense of mobility that made him so hard to capture in the original source material. They obviously did their homework on this one.

But really — if you happened to miss out on this event, make sure you do yourself a favor and get back into Overwatch 2 before their next major drop so you’re not trying to polish your paid-skin character gameplay skills (like us)… 

It Left Us Wanting More

Now that the brief collab run has come to an end and the iconic theme song has officially left the game’s menu (sigh) we can’t help but wonder if there’s been any talk of doing a follow-up sometime down the line. Sure, it hasn’t exactly been the standard for these license pairings, but there’s a first time for everything.

If we’re lucky enough to get more Cowboy Bebop crossover potential, there are still plenty of options to add to the mix to get fans spending money (don’t judge us). For example, a Vicious version of Genji might break the internet. On the other hand, a Julia skin for Mercy (she did heal Spike before) might be even better. And if we’re getting a Genji and Cassidy “I need healing”-off with Julia/Mercy on the team… now that’s what you call in-game entertainment.