why i love overwaTch’s special eveNTs

Content expansions with a twist: the genius behind the Overwatch events and their boundless charm Matt Newstead

Publisher Blizzard EntErtainmEnt / develoPer Blizzard EntErtainmEnt / forMat xBox onE / release date may 2016

right Blizzard’s costume design team clearly have some fun with the seasonal skins.

If I had it my way, Overwatch special events would be the only occasions that need marking on the family calendar, but apparently ‘Mum’s Birthday’ is just as important. Unlike content upgrades and DLC releases for similar titles, there is something about the Overwatch events that send a wave of excitement pulsing throughout the community. It could be that these signal the re-emergence of game director Jeff Kaplan for one of his eloquent developer updates, but I believe it is the variety within these events that house a centric function in the standout success of Blizzard’s online shooter.

It has been over a year now since Overwatchfirst graced our screens Summer Games is just coming to an and its popularity shows no signs of end. Myself and many others have dwindling. A diverse character roster dived into some competitive matches that offers something for everyone of Lúcioball 2.0 before it disappears and a creative, engaging combat once again – hopefully just for another system has set a strong foundation few months. The Christmas Winter for the Overwatch team to expand Wonderland event had another limited on. Naturally, a string of content time offering with Mei’s Snowball expansions was announced on offensive, an adorable snow shooter. release but no one knew what these Some later additions are such a were going to be. New characters? Of perfect fit to the Overwatch Arcade course. Map additions? Sure. But that library that they have become semishould come as expected for any title permanent rotations throughout which intends a modicum of longevity. the year. The most iconic of these The trick is ensuring that these events being the ‘Capture the Rooster’ mode not only provide a timely boost from the Year of the Rooster to keep players keen, but event, which followed the make events the part classic Capture the Flag that players crave the format with a sprinkling most and that is where of Overwatch chaos Blizzard hit the nail on thrown in for good the head. measure. While not Summer lovin’ overly impacting the game meta in competitive First off, we had the Summer play, it gave players the Games back in August 2016, chance to bust out some bringing with it an array of Olympic- of the lesser-involved yet equally centric sprays, emotes and skins to satisfying defense characters that fawn over. Key here, though, was the weren’t particularly prominent at the release of Lúcioball, Overwatch’s own time. A similar result came from the take on Rocket League, but with the RC Overwatch Anniversary event, with cars replaced by clones of a Brazilian Lockout mode being added to the DJ. It was the first demonstration of a classic 3v3 and Mystery Duel modes. limited-edition event – a shame given This forced players to get to grips with the enjoyment me and my friends have all characters and, as well as offering gleaned from it, but a smart move a new take on existing content, from Blizzard. A second season of the demonstrated just some of the many

small ways that the development team rotate the game meta to keep all characters fresh in the long term. Out of all that has been added since launch, however, it is undoubtedly the PvE events that have been the standout hit. The Halloween Terror event still sticks out prominently thanks to Junkenstein’s Revenge – a four-player Tower Defense mode that tasked players with defending a castle from waves of enemies. Many attempts led to me and my squad screaming and laughing our way through a challenging new take on the standard Overwatch playstyle, albeit one which usually culminated in me never speaking to our Ana again because she seemed more interested in healing the wall. Just one event remains unmentioned and it was arguably the most ambitious of all: the Uprising event. Rather than being centred around a real-world event, Blizzard went for an all-out PvE experience which further expanded what Could the lore of the game by reimagining have beeN one of the original Overwatch missions

Far from the polished during the Omnic insurgence in King’s game of today, early Overwatch builds saw Tracer shooting lasers Row. Here we also saw that Overwatch could offer a fantastic offline story from her eyes and Bastion mode going forward, with character sporting a shield. interaction and a deep tactical element to the gameplay. Hint hint, Blizzard. At this point in time, the game has nearly doubled in size and players haven’t had to pay a penny extra. Of course, it is Overwatch’s entertainment factor as an eSport and general competitive nature that has seen it skyrocket to success, but for me, these events not only offer something contrary to the iconic Overwatch framework, they offer whole new possibilities for what the game can become in the future. n

“It’s undoubtedly the PvE events that have been the standout hit” ABOVE imagine him coming down your chimney, shouting “armour here!” and lobbing metal at your napping gran. Merry Christmas!