The nights grow cold
And monsters appear
A great evil gathers
And Halloween draws near… pic.twitter.com/98CXWqQ0gc— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) October 3, 2017
The return of the spooky event surfaced as a rumor on Reddit a few days ago after a promotional balance card image detailing the event’s now-confirmed start date was shared.
We don’t know all of what’s up for grabs or what the event will entail this year, but judging by the teaser featuring Dr. Junkenstein, we expect the player-versus-environment (PvE) cooperative game mode called Junkenstein’s Revenge to rejoin the fray throughout the event window. It’s unclear if the venue will still be the Adlersbrunn map, or if Blizzard has plans to switch it up.
We also see McCree and Reaper squaring off in some new guises. McCree’s skin looks ripped from Van Helsing, while the Reaper is notably without the pumpkin head he had during last year’s Halloween event, where 12 heroes had new skins on the line. Halloween-themed emotes, sprays, and victory poses were also up for grabs during the inaugural event. Last year’s loot boxes were also replaced with jack-o’-lanterns filled with candy throughout the event.
Following the initial reveal, several other new skins leaked out, compiled by Reddit user Mnemosynaut. These include Zenyatta as Cthulhu, Symmetra as a demon, and Mei as a jiangshi (a vampire from Chinese folklore, perhaps familiar to gamers through Hsien-Ko in the Darkstalkers 2D fighting franchise). It also included another look at Reaper’s vampire/Phantom of the Opera get-up.
Overwatch has received six seasonal events since it launched in May 2016. Halloween Terror 2017 joins the Summer Games as the only event to occur twice thus far. If the Summer Games were any indication, the second year of Halloween Terror could feature more content than the first. During Summer Games year two, all of the skins available last year were available, along with seven new skins.
Along with our hopes for both old skins and new skins, we’re interested t0 see if a standard map will be decorated with Halloween fixtures. Last year, the Hollywood map had a lavish makeover to celebrate the event.
Hopefully, everyone who is excited to take part in the event will be able to. Blizzard recently clamped down on the growing toxicity problem among its player base, handing out bans for those who violate the terms of service. Sadly, as these things sometimes go, innocent players found themselves banned inadvertently from competitive play. Blizzard reportedly identified the bug and has been working to reinstate wrongfully banned players.
Update: Added information to reflect Halloween Terror is now live.
