Two glorious years ago, on the 24th of May, Overwatch was finally released for sale. It opened the floodgates to those who weren’t lucky enough to be part of the 9.7 million players who were part of the beta, and allowed players to jump into the hype that surrounded Blizzard Entertainment’s then-latest first-person shooter video game.
Since its launch, the game earned near perfect scores from most video game reviews and garnered praises for its lore, maps, character designs, and on how the game feels so “lived-in”. It was as if McCree was a real person cowboy in the late 21st century and not some cheesy cowboy ripoff. Zarya’s disdain for Omnics did feel like it stemmed from her past. When it comes to the game’s cartography, Dorado felt like an actual place – aside from poorly designed streets and transport routes (yeesh, that place is an architectural nightmare) – and LiJiang Tower did feel like a skyscraper building from China.
With Overwatch’s player base hitting a whopping 40 million as of January this year and a competitive Overwatch League (OWL) running throughout the year, it’s safe to say that this first-person shooter giant will continue to grow for years to come.
But for now, players can look forward to exclusive in-game celebrations to commemorate Overwatch’s second birthday!
From 23 May to 12 June, the Overwatch Anniversary will unlock (loot)boxes of content just for you:
1. More than 50 new cosmetic items have been released, and are locked under the Anniversary Lootboxes
In the loot pool is all the previously released Anniversary content, so be sure to collect those pesky sprays that you managed to miss out on last year!
2. Among the new content includes 8 new Legendary skins and 3 new Epic skins
Skins from last year’s Anniversary will also be included in the pool – hurray, I can get that Weeb Genji I missed last year! Serious talk though, that Catgirl D.Va and Summer Sombra skins are what I need in my life right now.
3. Not to forget, dance emotes are back
The new heroes, Doomfist, Moira, and Brigitte will be getting their dance moves this year, while every other characters’ dances will be back into the pool as well. The choice of the dance style that a leader of a terrorist organisation prefers is beyond me, but I’m taking bets that Moira’s dance will imitate a Leprechaun, and Brigitte is definitely doing the Waltz.
4. Previous seasonal brawls make a return too
If you have missed them ever since they were removed from the game, now’s the time to jump back into the brawls since they will be rotating them on a daily basis.
5. Aaaaand last but not least, we had ANOTHER free weekend
We hope you managed to bug your friends into enjoying the anniversary of Overwatch for free last weekend, so you can get them into the habit of asking for healing every 5 seconds game and have more Overwatch mates!
For fans of the Deathmatch game mode, you’ll be happy to know that Christmas came early as a new map has been announced. Titled “Petra”, it features underground caves, twisting caverns, and a deathtrap pit to boop your enemies into! And what better way to show that you are the king of Deathmatch with an all-new competitive ranked ladder specifically for Deathmatch mode? With its Placement Matches, Skill Ratings, and Leaderboards – what more can you ask for?
What are some of the things that you would like to see from the Overwatch Anniversary? Has your collector senses tingled after missing out on any of the items previously, and are now itching to get back into collecting loot boxes once more? Tell us more in the comment section below!
Visuals courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.
