Surprise, it's time a new Overwatch event, as Blizzard has launched the Summer Games Event today, along with some new skins, sprays, victory poses, and other goodies. Also, if you're a big Lucioball fan, you'll be happy to hear that it's back for yet another consecutive year of ball booping madness.
This event also has an added bonus for players that hopefully will become a new standard for Overwatch events going forward. There will be weekly challenges, and completing the challenges will reward you with some sprays and epic skins. These are similar to challenges they've done in the past that awarded epic skins for Ana, Dva, and most recently, Baptiste.
Challenges And Rewards
To complete these challenges, all you gotta do is win nine games each week. Week one will earn you a spray depicting Roadhog and Junkrat in the midst of a shark attack, an adorable boxing pachimari icon, and the American Reaper epic skin. Week two nets you a scuba diving Mei spray, a pachimari icon in which the adorable little onion thing is playing tennis, and the Zhongguo Mei epic skin. Finally, the third week's challenge unlocks a spray of Brigritte and Wrecking Ball building a sandcastle, a football player pachimari icon, and the Bundesadler Reinhardt epic skin.
However, enough about all that junk, let's get down to the real business. What fun new summertime skins does this event has in store for us? Let's take a look.
American Reaper
What's more American than a guy who owns so many guns that he literally throws them away when he's done with them? Reaper never seemed like a particularly patriotic character in the past, but when he's draped in the American flag, with his guns dyed red, white, and blue, there doesn't seem to be anyone better suited to celebrate liberty and freedom.
Wave Hanzo
Hanzo is weirdly stylish for an uptight samurai archer with a troubled past. His Reflections skin showed him looking cool with a snowboarding jacket and nose piercing, and now we get to see his surfing outfit as well, which makes him look like he's totally ready to chill at the beach - although he may lose a few points for his weird crocs.
Kendoka Genji
Going from a ninja sword to a fencing sword is kind of a downgrade for Genji. Compared to the slice and dice potential of a katana, flying around maps with a bendy, pokey fencing foil doesn't seem like it's going to be as effective.
Zhangguo Mei
Here's Mei wearing the colors of the Chinese flag in a bit of national pride. Although considering the fact that it's like 100 degrees outside right now, you'd think she could have found a lighter coat.
Lucioball Wrecking Ball
Since Wrecking Ball is a literal ball, it makes sense that he would want to get in on some futuristic sports. Besides, in most sports movies it's established that there's nothing in any rule book that says a dog can't play. So, by that logic, there's no reason why a super-intelligent hamster driving a heavily armed mech ball can't join in on all of the fun.
Bundesadler Reinhardt
It's about time that Reinhardt got some kind of skin representing his German home. Here he is decked out in the colors of the German flag, although it does kind of look like someone just sprayed him with a bunch of ketchup and mustard.
Surf 'N Splash Torbjorn
Finally, we get the real winner of this year's event, Surf 'N Splash Torbjorn, which sounds like it should be a toy advertised during Saturday morning cartoons. It has everything you'd want from a summertime Torbjorn skin: it's shirtlessness, there are fish at the end of his beard braids, a swimming cap, a fanny pack, and there are even little toy sandcastles coming out of his back. The only thing that's off about this skin is his weird bulgy red legs. Seriously, it looks like Torbjorn needs to talk to a doctor about some blood circulation issues.
All This And More
All these skins are available to unlock right now in the event, and all of the skins from previous years' Summer Games events can be won or bought as well. The event runs from July 16th to August 5th, so if you're looking to dress your favorite character in their own special swimwear, load up Overwatch, wait for that update patch to install, and enjoy some summer fun indoors.