Overwatch free week begins today: How to get playing

In case you missed the news, Overwatch begins another free promotion today. Usually, these free-to-play periods for Overwatch only last a weekend, but this time around, the game will be free for nearly an entire week. That means you'll be able to play through the holiday weekend and spend a significant amount of time with the game before deciding whether or not to buy.Overwatch went free across all three platforms it's available on – Xbox One, PC, and PS4 – just a short time ago, and it'll remain free until November 27 at 8:59 AM CET. That isn't quite a full week of game time, but it's close enough. This isn't a free trial in the sense that some content is restricted either, as you'll be able to access the full game while you play.

That means all 29 heroes are playable across all modes and maps, which is definitely nice to see. Any progress you make in terms of account progression will also be saved, meaning that if you eventually buy the game with the same account, your player level and stats will carry over. Loot you unlock through leveling up will carry over as well, though Blizzard does note that achievements and trophies are disabled in the console version of the game for free players.

On Xbox One, you'll need to head to the listing for Overwatch: Origins Edition and select "Free Trial" to download the game and get to playing. On PlayStation 4, the process is similar, only the free trial has its own listing that you can get to by simply searching "Overwatch" on the PlayStation Store. Over on PC, you simply need to create a Battle.net account, install the Battle.net launcher, and then install Overwatch from there.

So, there you have it: Overwatch is free for most of the next week. While we imagine that most people who want to play it already own it, this is a good time to check it out if you haven't taken the plunge yet.