Overwatch
, Blizzard’s new hit multiplayer shooter, is turning one year old. As part of the ongoing anniversary celebrations, the developers are releasing a new map. It ties into the backstory of Winston, the genetically modified ape-scientist, and you can play it right now.
Although the map isn’t out for general release yet, it’s already hit the Public Test Region, an optional beta version of Overwatch that gets new updates a few weeks before public servers.
The new map is called Horizon Lunar Console, and it’s set on the former Moon base where scientists performed experiments. As the map intro video explains, Winston was just one of a number of genetically modified apes at the base. The others rose up against the scientists and took over the base, leaving the human-friendly Winston to escape to Earth.
It’s an Assault map, which means there’s two checkpoints to capture. There’s a little more verticality in this map than others, including some high spots for both teams around the first capture point.
There’s also a completely new gimmick: low gravity. It’s only enabled in certain regions of the map, so that it doesn’t completely overwhelm the entire game, but it should provide a different element to the game, and shake up established metas that are based partly on the mobility of certain characters. For a limited time, a new Arcade mode will also enable low gravity on all maps.
There’s no set release date for the public servers yet, but changes tend to hit general release a week or two after debuting on the PTR.
