World of Warcraft veterans know that Blizzard Entertainment loves to celebrate the holidays in their games. Fresh off a Halloween-themed event, the heroes of Overwatch don their Santa hats for the holiday season. It’s the Overwatch Winter Wonderland Event, running right now.
As with previous limited events, all loot boxes have been replaced with special themed skins, taunts, poses, and sprays. Over 100 new items have been added to the new Winter Loot Boxes. Loot Boxes can be earned by leveling up, or purchased. Contents are still random, and the skins tend to be quite rare. Gaining any Winter Wonderland item unlocks it permanently, but they’re only available to find while the event is running. The event concludes January 2nd.
Blizzard went a bit further and decorated each level with some appropriate winter theming. Familiar places like King’s Row are now blanketed in snow, and you can find holiday decorations strewn about.
Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland also adds a new thematic Brawl: Mei’s Snowball Offensive. Everyone plays as Overwatch’s resident Miss Frost in a giant 6v6, single-elimination snowball fight. Her new snowball blast can knock an enemy out in one hit. But to reload you have to find a pile of snow. Her Ultimate has been switched to fire snowballs from a semi-automatic launcher.
Brawl Modes offer zany new ways to play by changing up the rules, often creating all-new mini-games. The Halloween event added Overwatch’s first four player co-op adventure, Junkenstein’s Revenge.
In other Overwatch news, Season 3 of competitive mode just began today. You’ll need to complete 10 placement matches again. Blizzard also warns that they’ve adjusted the Skill Ratings system, and many players could be ranked lower than expected.
Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland ends January 2nd.
