Blizzard has revealed the primary full trailer for Overwatch 2 Season 12: New Frontiers, promising a correct debut for brand spanking new help hero Juno, a Reaper Mythic pores and skin, and a tease for what appears to be a World of Warcraft crossover.
It’s a two-and-a-half-minute video that exhibits off the upcoming seasonal replace and its historical Egypt theme together with an assortment of recent skins that can be out there each through the Battle Cross and within the in-game store. A few of the cosmetics embody new outfits for Mercy, Doomfist, Sigma, Illari, and extra, with highlights together with a Dorothy/Tin Man pores and skin for Ashe and a modern, golden search for Echo. Juno is the true star of the present, although, as Blizzard teases her return following a weekend trial interval that allowed gamers to go hands-on final month. Overwatch 2 Season 12 launches August 20.
Reaper is the Hero to win the Mythic pores and skin for Overwatch 2 Season 12. His Anubis outfit comes with three distinctive kinds and what look like particular voice traces and animations. That marks two seasons in a row {that a} Injury Hero has gotten the Mythic pores and skin, however that doesn’t imply Blizzard gained’t have extra cosmetics to disclose as New Frontiers rolls on. Particularly, towards the top of the trailer, we get a sneak peek at a big, blue broadsword that appears remarkably much like Frostmourne, the large melee weapon that belongs to World of Warcraft’s Lich King. It appears Blizzard is teasing a full-on World of Warcraft collaboration following final season’s Transformers crossover, with some keen-eyed gamers noticing that the sword’s rockets counsel that Reinhardt can be one of many characters to get some love but once more.
Blizzard additionally oversees World of Warcraft, and with so many nods to it already polluting Overwatch 2, it’s no shock to see the studio doubling down. What’s a shock is Overwatch 2 Season 12’s new sport mode: Conflict. In a submit on its web site, Blizzard describes Conflict as “an adrenaline-pumping sport mode that pits groups towards one another in a relentless battle for dominance over a number of seize factors.” It’s an easy, fast-paced mode that comes with new maps Temple of Anubis and Hanaoka, which is perhaps acquainted to followers who’ve been taking part in since 2016.
The previous carries the identical identify as Overwatch’s first Assault (a.ok.a. Two Seize Level) map, whereas the latter is clearly impressed by one other fan-favorite location, Hanamura. They’re each undeniably much like areas followers have begged to see return since Assault was eliminated with the launch of Overwatch 2, however as an alternative of merely plopping them again in, Blizzard has reworked them from prime to backside for Conflict.
Overwatch 2 Season 12: New Frontiers can be bringing well being reductions for a couple of Injury and Assist Heroes, with updates coming for Lifeweaver, too. Gamers also can anticipate new Hero Mastery Missions for Zarya and Pharah, with the 2024 Anniversary Occasion scheduled to launch quickly, too. Whereas Blizzard continues to tweak Aggressive, it’ll quickly introduce a particular Xbox promotion for Sport Cross holders that nets subscribers a goodie bag come September 17. Included within the providing are 30 Mythic prisms in addition to the fan-favorite Cardboard Reinhardt, Turtleship D.Va, Cyberdragon Hanzo, Road Runner Genji, Bee Mercy, and Cleric Lifeweaver. The corporate encourages gamers to hyperlink their Battle.internet accounts because it guarantees extra rewards sooner or later.
Overwatch 2 Season 12 goals to take the strategic group shooter to new heights, and it’s a part of a wider aim to regain participant curiosity with a lot of foundational adjustments. These embody plans for Blizzard to start testing a return to 6v6 with out impacting queue instances and on-screen muddle. For extra, you possibly can learn our unique Overwatch 2 assessment. We gave the sport an 8/10, saying, “Overwatch 2’s change to a 5v5 format breathes new life into what was as soon as the sharpest shooter round. It simply hasn’t fairly recaptured all of that glory – but.”
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He began writing within the business in 2017 and is finest identified for his work at retailers reminiscent of The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.
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