It's been an interesting few weeks for Blizzard and its popular online shooter, Overwatch. While the company continues to navigate the turbulent eSports waters and sudden cancellations due to the impact of the coronavirus around the globe, fans can at least experience the next major in-game event with the return of Archives. This seasonal event arrives a month earlier than usual, running from March 12 to April 2. Naturally, the event has all kinds of new skins to pick up as well.
This year's Archive activity is a little different as there isn't actually a new story mission to play through, though the previous ones are available. As expected, the event includes Tracer's first mission called Uprising, the Blackwatch mission called Retribution, and then the final Storm Rising mission. Along with the PvE content, Blizzard has also added 8 skins into the game, 5 Legendary and 3 epic skins. Naturally, all previous skins will also be available from Archive loot boxes.
As they've done in the past, each week of the event features a new challenge that unlocks new player icons, sprays, and epic skins. Win three games for the player icon, six for the spray, and nine for the epic skin. Week one of the Archives 2020 Overwatch event features Holi Symmetra, a very colorful paint spray style skin based on the annual holiday in India. Week 2 showcases a mint green Rustclad Torbjorn with rusty looking armor. Finally, the last week of the event offers Bear Mei which sports neon pinks, purples, and blues, and Snowball is actually Snowbear.
Outside of the three epic skins, the five legendaries for this event are reserved for Pharah, Junkrat, Roadhog, Ana, and Zarya. Pharah has a very Top Gun inspired look with a leather jacket, aviator sunglasses, jeans, and an air force pilot's helmet. Junkrat, known as King Jameson, is dressed like a king with gilded accessories, a crown, a bag full of treasures (including the Crest of Lordaeron) and pants with gold dollar signs on them. Roadhog is dressed like a guerrilla soldier with camo, combat boots, supply bags, and more. The youthful looking Ana is dressed like a modern sniper while Zarya is ready to workout at the local gym.
Outside of eSports and new in-game events, the Overwatch team was struck a pretty big blow this past week when Lead Writer Michael Chu announced he has left Blizzard Entertainment after 20 years of service there. Chu hasn't revealed where he's going as of yet, simply saying he was seeking new adventures. It's also unknown how his departure will impact Overwatch 2, which currently doesn't have an official reveal date. Many speculate Overwatch 2 is being readied for a 2020 launch, which would likely indicate that Chu's work on the story is likely complete. Either way, Chu was joined by many other writers on the game, so it should be in safe hands moving forward.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
