Many people, including myself, were a little let down with the content for the "Overwatch" anniversary event. Given that one year is a big milestone, I expected more than a handful of skins and some new maps for the arena mode.
But despite the mild disappointment over the anniversary, Blizzard is not slowing their roll anytime soon. They have been dropping some hints on us, which could be hinting at a new map, hero or possibly another animated short. Of course, they could also be hinting at a new mode, but I would say that's fairly unlikely.
The teases have been focused on the Horizon Lunar Colony, which according to the game's lore, went offline several years ago.
The Lunar Colony is, of course, where our favorite scientist Winston was created. Lucheng Interstellar created several genetically enhanced gorillas there for use in deep space testing, but true to sci-fi trope form, the gorillas rose up, and the colony went offline.
A new blog post has surfaced which gives us new details on the 'the fate of the program'.
What happened to the Horizon Lunar Colony?
The post states that Lucheng revealed that several of the "colony's databases and monitoring systems are still up and running this day. While no direct communication has been established with the facility, the company has successfully retrieved interpersonal logs sent days and moments before the base lost contact with earth."
[BREAKING UPDATE] For the first time in years, new details emerge about possible fate of Horizon Lunar Colony: https://t.co/OJOluBwtbq pic.twitter.com/KSlp1zwJim
— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) May 30, 2017
There are several images that Lucheng managed to get from the colony's databases.
Most of them are segments of message chains which show snippets of the escalating problems within the colony. While we don't get a complete picture, they do show that the people on the colony weren't evil, per se, but they obviously didn't work fast enough to stop the uprising of the gorillas. There are several employees airing their concerns over the genetic testing, but more interesting is the mention of another subject by the name of Hammond.
He is directly referenced in a later image (we'll get to that in a second), but one of the messages says that Hammond was missing from his cage for over a week. It also says, "I don't know why we ever thought it was a good idea to have smaller test subjects, I completely regret it."
This is especially intriguing because, in the final image, it shows that all the specimen's whereabouts are known except for Winston and Hammond.
This leads to the speculation: is Hammond a new playable character?
What is the new content?
I think out of the options I mentioned, a new map or animated short is the most likely. While a new playable character isn't outside the realms of possibility, I think it is the least likely. This is down to a couple of things -- it hasn't been that long since Orisa was added into the game, and since the cast so far has been very diverse, I am skeptical about Blizzard adding another gorilla character into the cast of "Overwatch".
I am personally placing my bets on an animated short, showing a little bit about the uprising on the colony and exactly Winston ended up escaping. That could be very, very interesting.
It's also possible of course we will get a new map centered around the colony, which could also have some really interested lore implications. I wonder what voice lines Winston would have if you play him there?
Of course, we will just have to wait and see what new "Overwatch" content awaits us. Blizzard has certainly learned from the Sombra fiasco, so I expect it won't be too long before we find out exactly what they have in store for us.