Overwatch (opens in new tab) Winter Wonderland, the holly jolly holiday seasonal event, will return for its third year on December 11 and run all the way through January 2, 2019. Blizzard shared the news on Overwatch’s official Twitter account with a brief video showing the Blizzard World map’s holiday transformation. There’s no snow (the fictional theme park is located near Blizzard’s sunny headquarters of Irvine, California) but all the lights and ribbons do look lovely.
Snow off your holiday spirit! Overwatch Winter Wonderland returns December 11. pic.twitter.com/ZDkz80h8TsDecember 4, 2018
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That’s all Blizzard’s had to say about Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2018 so far, but there will doubtless be the usual assortment of new and returning holiday skins for characters as well as special Arcade modes. I doubt we’ll get an all-new Arcade mode since Winter Wonderland already has two, Yeti Hunter and Mei’s Snowball Offensive, but there will probably be some tweaks to freshen them up. Yeti Hunter is the best event-exclusive versus mode Blizzard’s ever made for Overwatch in my estimation (Lucioball is overrated, there I said it) and Mei’s Snowball Offensive is the worst by far, so I’ll be interested to see how they hold up this year.
Already have visions of loot boxes dancing in your head? Check out the new skins Winter Wonderland added to Overwatch last year (opens in new tab) to get a headstart on your flights of fancy. My favorites remain the low-key cool of Casual Hanzo (after they patched his hair, anyway) and the icy malice of Rime Sombra. This will be the first seasonal event since new hero Ashe was added to the game in November (opens in new tab), so here’s hoping she gets some cool new skins too.
Just getting into the game? Check out 8 tips every Overwatch beginner should know (opens in new tab).