The Overwatch Anniversary 2019 event is here! This event brings some excellent new skins, new game modes, and some other fun surprises. Also, they finally did away with the blinding white background for this event!
Chief among the new features added to Overwatch is the Workshop, a powerful (and constantly evolving) addition to the custom game editor. Fans have been going crazy making up interesting new game modes and it's sure to expand as time goes on. For now, let's get into the nitty-gritty about this event!
Overwatch Anniversary 2019 - New Skins
We'll start by covering the most important thing that everyone cares about: the skins.As with every year, a bunch of new skins have entered the fray. (Don't forget that you can also unlock all of the skins from the other events!) The ladies of Overwatch get some particularly excellent new cosmetics this time around.
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Overwatch Anniversary 2019 - New Game Modes & Brawl Rotation
Two new game modes are being introduced this year. As always, new game modes means the chance to win a bonus loot box if you score a victory!Hero Gauntlet
Hero Gauntlet is essentially Overwatch's version of gun game. You'll start as McCree and rotate through all of the game's heroes as you secure kills, eventually ending on Torbjörn. This takes a good bit longer to win than your average Deathmatch game and players on /r/Overwatch are reporting some issues with leavers.Mirrored Deathmatch
Mirrored Deathmatch operates on a simple premise: it's you versus seven other people and everyone plays the same hero. It's certainly different and it's probably not as terrible as Mystery Deathmatch. I personally look forward to having to wait yet another week for FFA Deathmatch to come back into rotation!Brawl Rotation
As with previous years, many of the brawls from other events will be making their return for a temporary period of time. The schedule for the brawl rotation is listed on the game's official website.Week 1
- Tuesday, May 21 - Lucioball
- Wednesday, May 22 - Junkenstein's Revenge
- Thursday, May 23 - Snowball Offensive
- Friday, May 24 - Yeti Hunt
- Saturday, May 25 - Uprising
- Sunday, May 26 - Retribution
- Monday, May 27 - Storm Rising
Week 2
- Tuesday, May 28 - Lucioball
- Wednesday, May 29 - Junkenstein's Revenge Endless
- Thursday, May 30 - Snowball Offensive
- Friday, May 31 - Yeti Hunt
- Saturday, June 1 - Uprising (All Heroes)
- Sunday, June 2 - Retribution (All Heroes)
- Monday, June 3 - Storm Rising (All Heroes)
Week 3
- Tuesday, June 4 - Lucioball
- Wednesday, June 5 - Junkenstein's Revenge
- Thursday, June 6 - Snowball Offensive
- Friday, June 7 - Yeti Hunt
- Saturday, June 8 - Uprising
- Sunday, June 9 - Retribution
- Monday, June 10 - Storm Rising
- Tuesday, June 11 - Lucioball
Overwatch Anniversary 2019 - The Workshop
The Workshop has finally debuted! While the Game Browser was certainly pretty powerful, the Workshop steps things up a notch by letting people do a whole bunch of custom coding schemes. People have enhanced old Workshop staples like Ana Paintball or created entirely new game modes!There are honestly so many good game modes that it's difficult to pick out some of the best. You can find a bunch of Workshop game modes (and tutorials on how to make them) over at /r/OverwatchWorkshop on Reddit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU4-LFAK7t0
Overwatch Anniversary 2019 - Free Week
There was previously a bit of speculation that Overwatch would be going totally free-to-play this year. That'd be somewhat of a strange choice considering that the game very recently had a permanent price drop instituted. Blizzard, however, has decided to do the next best thing: make the game free for a week.You'll be able to play Overwatch free on all platforms from May 21–May 28, 2019. No sale has been announced, but we may still get one later on in the event.
Of course, this is an Overwatch patch so a few small changes have gone through. Read the patch notes to see the bug fixes and other changes that went live in this patch. The Overwatch Anniversary 2019 event ends on June 10, 2019, so get those loot boxes while you can!
Are you going to participate in the Overwatch Anniversary 2019 event or are you done with the game? What's your favorite new skin! Let us know in the comments below!
