Overwatch 2′ (opens in new tab)s second seasonal occasion is right here, and sadly it appears Blizzard remains to be struggling to seize followers with its culled rewards and recycled sport 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 previously might be conversant in the modes as they’re all returners from earlier occasions. There’s the 5v1 Yeti Hunter that pits a gang of Meis towards one Winston making an attempt 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 traditional ice ammo for snowballs. The ultimate mode, Freezethaw Elimination, has groups making an attempt to completely freeze their opponents, with allies in a position to thaw one another out.
Fortunately, this occasion truly comes with an earnable reward pores and skin. Whereas the primary sport’s seasonal occasions historically had earnable problem skins, Overwatch 2’s Halloween Terror had a notable lack of any respectable cosmetics. Blizzard promised it will begin plonking in pores and skin rewards once more, and this yr 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 sport modes ☃️ ?Free festive rewards to unlock ?? Have fun the vacation season with us now by 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 publish (opens in new tab) with over 2,000 upvotes lamented the paid skins and reused sport modes, writing “For Christmas this yr we principally get some recycled brawls from years in the past and the reward of gawking at skins we now have no likelihood of getting except we purchase them.” A remark (opens in new tab) on one other Reddit publish requested “so this yr’s winter occasion is simply outdated sport modes and extra shit on the shop?”
Others appeared completely satisfied to no less than see the return of earnable skins. One Reddit poster (opens in new tab)stated they “do not thoughts getting skins this fashion if it will all the time be this simple,” with a number 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, no less than.
I do not significantly thoughts recycled sport modes for annual occasion staples—moreover, Winter Wonderland’s sport modes are a few of my favorite out of all of the seasonal occasions. However minimal earnable rewards and a scarcity of pleasure across the occasion makes them nowhere close to as thrilling as they was once. 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.