If you've ever been deep into an overwatch battle, completely unaware that half of your team died 15 seconds earlier, I suggest you turn on the new Overwatch 2 setting (opens in a new tab). It's a unique sound that plays when a teammate dies, and having it turned on has saved my life many times.

The sound itself is familiar to Overwatch veterans: a blaring, short emergency siren that effectively says "oh god, back up, oh god." This alarm has been used in Overwatch for years to signal the death of a teammate, but only in limited-time PvE events. It is now available in PvP, but is off by default and can easily be missed in the settings menu.

Blizzard has named this setting "Play Sound When Teammate Eliminated." It is located at the bottom of the first page of audio settings:

Turning it on essentially eliminates the need to worry about the kill feed. It was a game-changer to be freed from the little text feed that I frequently missed and let the sound do the talking. I am amazed at how quickly Deathalarm has improved my responsiveness. I can now instantly understand when a teammate is dead and I should retreat, even when I am completely focused on my aim and the person I am treating. Word of this handy new alert slowly spread among my friends and peers, and now everyone is in favor of Death Alert. The old way was much slower and worse. This abrasive and unpleasant sound is quite good.

This is the action of this alarm, as demonstrated by my many jumps off cliffs as Soldier 76 (sound on):

I'm curious about the similar setting "Play Sound When Enemy Eliminated" above the teammate's death alarm. You might. This is what it sounds like, but honestly, I can barely hear it. It's a unique sound, but either it's too quiet or my brain drowns it out. I'm more concerned with notifications from my teammates, because I think it's already obvious when you wipe out the competition and no one is left to shoot.