When Overwatch was initially released on May 23, 2016, I’m sure it was difficult to imagine how much of a phenomenon it would become. Well here we are one year later, not only has Overwatch not skipped a beat since its release, but its community only continues to grow. It's even reached a point where Blizzard has announced that they plan to release official modding and map creation tools.

So what better way to celebrate the astronomical success the game has had than by rewarding its faithful fan base with a ton of new skins, loot, and three new arena maps for arcade mode.

Jeff Kaplan, Vice President of Blizzard and game director of Overwatch, announced the news earlier today.

New Looks

Perhaps one of the biggest staples of Overwatch are the creative and fantastic skins that get released for certain characters during events like these. As one would expect, Blizzard did not disappoint for their one year Anniversary in which they dropped 11 new legendary skins for the event. Fans of Soldier 76, D. Va, Lucio, Zarya, Genji, Tracer, Bastion, Symmetra, and Mei will not be disappointed. But more importantly, Hanzo fans can rejoice as their prayers have finally been answered with a new long awaited legendary skin. Not to mention Blizzard has also released 24 new emotes, 25 sprays, and 25 icons.

However, what is arguably even more exciting are the three new arena maps added to arcade more, specifically for 3v3 elimination.

As great as Ecopoint: Antarctica was, I think I speak for everyone when I say that playing on the same map over and over again can get dull after a while. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that these new maps are certainly a refreshing change of pace.

The names of the maps are Necropolis, Castillo, and Black Forest. Necropolis is based somewhere near Temple of Anubis in which the map is meant to favor Ana mains.

Castillo is an old fort looking over Dorado which is also the location of a bar called Calaveras which just so happens to be the location of Sombra’s hacking den. Finally, Black Forest lies on the outskirts of Eichenwalde which wraps around an old battlefield littered with the leftover remains Bastion units.

As is expected, everyone who logs in during the event will automatically get a free anniversary Loot Box, so you better not miss out. Now the only thing Blizzard needs to work on is finally releasing Doom Fist as a playable character. Seriously, Blizzard, you've been teasing us with this since Overwatch's release.
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