During Gamescom 2016 Live stream, Blizzard announced a new Overwatch map on Tuesday. The map’s name is Eichenwalde.
It will be launched in September. The developers explained that Eichenwalder would be an assault/escort map. The map will have one team leading a siege against the castle while the other team will have to defend the keep.
Aaron Keller, Overwatch’s lead system designer, explained that Eichenwalde is different from other maps. Keller described the map as a very vertical map, and the battle will take place on the around the castle.
Overwatch’s new map is located on a Stuttgart’s outskirts, in a small and quiet village located in the middle of the Black Forest, Germany. Eichenwalde is a historic site on Overwatch’s history due to a famous Omnic Crisis battle.
The Crusaders leader Balderich von Alder and his troops had their last battle against and an army of automatons. Even though Balderich and his units were slaughtered during the fight, the German army seized the opportunity to push back the Omnic army and defeat it.
Blizzard also added that Eichenwalde is the place where Bastion suddenly came back to life. There are several Omnics scattered around the map that looks like Bastion. Many of those Omnics are covered in grass and plants. It was also noted that a new animated short about Bastion’s origin story would be coming soon.
Eichenwalder like all further maps and characters will be added as free content for all players. Blizzard decided to make this content available for free so it wouldn’t risk splitting the community. “considering that this is a multiplayer first title and fragmenting the player base through various map packs would hurt the game’s overall longevity,” Said Game Director, Jeff Kaplan.
On related News, as part of the Summer Olympics Overwatch is now selling Olympic-themed loot boxes until August 22, right after the closing ceremonies of Rio’s games. The loot tables include four random, Summer Games-themed items, like skins, emotes, victory poses, and icons. There are 90 items in total, and the store listing notes that none of the content will be available to purchase with credit earned through playing Overwatch.
Blizzard also released a mini-game on Overwatch called Lucio Ball. Three players per side on a soccer pitch will try to knock a ball into the rival’s goal. The mini game resembles the famous Rocket League. During the mini-game, each player will play as Lucio.
Both E and Q abilities will be available just like a regular game, but he will be at high-velocity mode the whole match. The team that scored the most goals in four minutes will win.
Source: Play Overwatch