Blizzard Reveals Junkertown Map For 'Overwatch'

Are you ready to escort a cart full of gold, jewelry, and explosives through a post-apocalyptic Australian town? Blizzard seems to you are, because it revealed the latest Overwatch map, and it centers on criminals extraordinaire Junkrat and Roadhog. Welcome to Junkertown.

Overwatch is a game of heroes and places. Players compete to push a payload through a map, take control of a specific point, or assault two locations in the often-infuriating maps that contain two control points. (The opposing team, meanwhile, tries to stop all those things from happening.) Much like releasing a new hero—hello Doomfist!—introducing a new map allows Blizzard to stop Overwatch from becoming too stale.

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Blizzard has released several new maps since Overwatch's debut in 2016. Eichenwalde is a hybrid assault/escort map that requires the attacking team to take control of a point before pushing a payload through the remains of a German castle. Horizon Lunar Colony, as its name implies, is a moon base with the dreaded two control points (2CP) objective that often involves several minutes of utter chaos.

The other new maps are found in the deathmatch and team deathmatch game modes currently available in the game's Public Test Region (PTR). Unlike maps in other game modes, these new or modified locations are little more than glorified arenas in which you try to snuff out the life of other players. All of which leaves Junkertown as the first new pure escort map to be revealed since Overwatch came out more than a year ago.

Blizzard published two videos about Junkertown (one is above, one is below). One shows off the locale, and the other centers around Junkrat and Roadhog as they try to get back at an unseen queen who kicked them out of her kingdom. The first is more relevant to how Junkertown will play, but Overwatch is known for its backstory, so the second might appeal to more casual players. (Or just anyone who wants to see Junkrat and Roadhog get up to no good.)

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Another video will be released on Wednesday. That one will be an animated short, which Blizzard has used in the past to make people connect to specific heroes, but we don't know anything else about the video. If you're at Gamescom, head over to the Overwatch area to get a quick hands-on with Junkertown before its debut. Blizzard hasn't said when that will be, so you might get a serious leg up over people who aren't at the event.