Blizzard has just unwrapped a great Christmas gift for Overwatch fans: the ‘Winter Wonderland’ holiday event is now live on the game, complete with new items and thematic skins available for heroes until January 2.
The developer team announced the annual event on Tuesday, along with an update that fixes previous bugs in the game and adds new moves and abilities to Zymmetra and Zayra.
‘Winter Wonderland’ is the third thematic update in Overwatch following the Summer Games and Halloween Terror seasonal events.
Overwatch players will see some maps overhauled to match better the holiday season, along with Loot Boxes wrapped up in red and green. As is tradition, ‘Winter Wonderland’ will feature a new game mode called Mei’s Snowball Offensive.
‘Winter Wonderland’ will bring some holiday spirit to Overwatch
The most notorious change coming to the match is, of course, a range of holiday skins for some Overwatch heroes.
Some like Symmetra, Mercy, Zayra, and the newcomer Sombra received ice-themed redesigns, while other characters have undergone more drastic changes.
On ‘Winter Wonderland,’ Winston is now an awesome Yeti, Zenyatta is a nutcracker, and Mei and Torbjörn are downright dressed as Santa Claus. Lucio, Tracer, Reaper, Roadhog, and McCree also have new skins.
Other than the new hero looks, the Winter Wonderland loot boxes will give players exclusive event goodies including voice lines, icons, sprays, poses, emotes, highlight intros, and more.
Blizzard claims there are over a hundred new cosmetic items available for Overwatch’s Christmas event, and that players can either buy them or earn them through matches as usual.
Mei’s Snowball Offensive is Overwatch’s latest brawl
“During this year’s Winter Wonderland event, you’ll also be able to queue up for a brand new brawl. Mei’s Snowball Offensive is a 6v6, single-elimination shindig featuring everyone’s favorite climatologist,” Blizzard describes.
On Mei’s Snowball Offensive, all the players use a unique version of Mei as their characters, one with “a few new tricks up her fur-lined sleeve.”
Mei’s signature weapon, the Endothermic Blaster, fires supersized snowballs on the new game mode to eliminate other players with just one hit.
To reload, brawlers need to go the closest pile of snow in the field and take cover under ice walls to avoid getting hit. Once you can load your Ultimate move, Mei’s Endothermic Blaster will change to a snow launcher that continuously fires snowball like a semi-automatic weapon.
Overwatch’s ‘Winter Wonderland’ and all of its exclusive event items will be available throughout Christmas and New Year’s Eve until January 2.
Source: Blizzard