This new Overwatch 2 map may be awful for Mei but it’s great for us
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It’s no secret that the big addition is indoors Overlook 2 Season 3 would be a card. Blizzard made it clear that each season would bring a large chunk of content, alternating between a new hero and a new map. Last season brought Ramattra, so there was a card on the menu for Season 3. However, in an interview with Blizzard’s development team, we discovered some exciting details hidden in this icy tundra.
The new mode, called Antarctica Peninsula, is located on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, closest to the southernmost part of South America. here the Overlook 2 hero Mei, a climatologist, set out to investigate the effects of global warming on the ice sheets.
Since this is a control mode, we get not one but three separate maps. This style of objective capture is a best-of-three round-based mode where the goal is to gain control of the target area and hold it until your team’s score is 100%.
We will travel to the Ice Breaker ship, which the international league of do-gooders Overwatch used when they tried to save Mei and her friends after some trouble in the ice of Antarctica. In addition to the ship itself, there is an underground level in the ice caves. Then there are the Labs, where Mei and her friends met an icy fate. In this area, “we’ll now see who they were and what kind of work they did for the Ecopoint of Antarctica,” says lead designer Dion Rodgers.
Upgrades people, upgrades
Each map has individual aspects and details that will work to flesh out the stories and battles. “The layout of the terrain or geometry is quite different between each of the points,” says level designer Trey Spisak. Each map encourages different team compositions and hero choices, so prepare for heart-pounding skirmishes.
The Lab area doesn’t have that much environmental detail or challenging designs; instead, it chooses to tell its own story
The Ice Breaker map is intimate, thanks to the flat landscape and low ceilings “there’s a lot of protection from flying characters on this particular level,” says Spisak. However, you will encounter huge cliffs and steep slopes in the ice caves. This means that a dive squad consisting of heroes who can reach heights quickly and have great mobility, such as D.Va or Genji, is the best choice for this map.
There are also plenty of environmental hazards to be aware of in these dark caverns. “There’s a huge drill bit in the middle with holes everywhere,” says Spisak. This will be great if you’re a Lucio who likes to push enemies through pits or a Roadhog who can use Chain Hook to drag your opponents off the solid ground to drop them into a black abyss.
However, this last map, centered in the Lab area, doesn’t have as much environmental detail or challenging design; instead, it chooses to tell its own story. “The labs are an extension of Mei’s friends,” says Rodgers. “We now get to see who they were and what kind of work they did.”
Unhappy ending
For those unaware of the tragedy of Mei’s story or what happened at the Ecopoint Research Station in Antarctica, brace yourself because it’s not a happy story.
Mei and her colleagues first traveled to the frozen research station for scientific exploration of the climate and ice degradation. What she discovered, however, was much harder. The team was hit by a severe ice storm and trapped in the lab, with almost no supplies left, and they all switched to cryostasis as a last resort. Despite the Overwatch team trying to rescue these scientists, no one was able to enter or leave the station. Only when Mei woke up after nine years did she free herself from an icy grave. Unfortunately, her friends and colleagues weren’t so lucky.
As you venture around each of the three maps, you can see the ship that failed to save the team of scientists, the caves Mei and her friends worked in, and the final resting place of her colleagues. “This map brings out the actual canon of Overwatch,” says Rodgers.
I’m just glad Blizzard is returning to its once-forgotten established lore. Overwatch has shown excellent storytelling before, and it was a shame to see this lost. Be it Bastion’s origin story, the civil war between brothers Genji and Hanzo, or even more recently Ramattra’s introduction and the revitalization of one of Overwatch’s main antagonists, the freedom-fighting group Null Sector. The fact that new maps and heroes now work to advance the overarching lore and even individual character stories is exciting to watch.
Serious stories aside, I can’t wait to just zoom around the Antarctic Peninsula and discover all the secrets about Mei, her future saviors, and maybe even some unfamiliar faces for myself.