Overwatch 2′ (opens in new tab)s second seasonal occasion is right here, and sadly it appears Blizzard continues to be struggling to seize followers with its culled rewards and recycled recreation modes.
The Winter Wonderland occasion makes a return from the unique Overwatch, providing 4 frosty arcade modes to dive into. Anybody who’s been round for a Winter Wonderland occasion prior to now will probably be acquainted with the modes as they’re all returners from earlier occasions. There’s the 5v1 Yeti Hunter that pits a gang of Meis in opposition to one Winston trying to leap throughout the map, scoop up meat and rework right into a killing machine. Mei’s Snowball Offensive is both a team-based or free-for-all mode that swaps out the hero’s typical ice ammo for snowballs. The ultimate mode, Freezethaw Elimination, has groups trying to completely freeze their opponents, with allies capable of thaw one another out.
Fortunately, this occasion truly comes with an earnable reward pores and skin. Whereas the primary recreation’s seasonal occasions historically had earnable problem skins, Overwatch 2’s Halloween Terror had a notable lack of any respectable cosmetics. Blizzard promised it could begin plonking in pores and skin rewards once more, and this 12 months there is a frostbitten Brigitte pores and skin up for grabs for finishing six occasion challenges. Different challenges supply smaller rewards like weapon charms and sprays, too.
❄️Winter Wonderland is BACK ❄️☃️ 4 frosty recreation modes ☃️ ?Free festive rewards to unlock ?? Have a good time the vacation season with us now by means of Jan 4! ?Get the complete rundown: https://t.co/RmNCZTM3BY pic.twitter.com/C8ooZwFVTGDecember 13, 2022
Sadly, nearly all of new winter-themed skins have been relegated to the Overwatch retailer. It is to be anticipated, however the transfer nonetheless hasn’t gone down too nicely with some followers on the sport’s subreddit. A put up (opens in new tab) with over 2,000 upvotes lamented the paid skins and reused recreation modes, writing “For Christmas this 12 months we mainly get some recycled brawls from years in the past and the reward of gawking at skins we’ve no probability of getting until we purchase them.” A remark (opens in new tab) on one other Reddit put up requested “so this 12 months’s winter occasion is simply previous recreation modes and extra shit on the shop?”
Others appeared blissful to at the very least see the return of earnable skins. One Reddit poster (opens in new tab)mentioned they “do not thoughts getting skins this manner if it’s going to all the time be this simple,” with a couple of different commenters saying it solely took them round an hour to finish sufficient challenges for the pores and skin. Really taking part in the sport beats watching Twitch for six hours for a pores and skin, at the very least.
I do not significantly thoughts recycled recreation modes for annual occasion staples—apart from, Winter Wonderland’s recreation modes are a few of my favorite out of all of the seasonal occasions. However minimal earnable rewards and an absence of pleasure across the occasion makes them nowhere close to as thrilling as they was. Regardless, the occasion’s working from now till January 4. That ought to supply loads of time to dive in over the vacation interval and launch some snowballs.