Blizzard has revealed that Overwatch will see reworks of three of its iconic maps: Busan, Eichenwalde, and Paraíso. What’s more, you won’t have much longer to wait to see them in action, as they’ll arrive in Season 4.
Map reworks aren’t a new thing in Blizzard’s multiplayer game, with the likes of Antarctic Peninsula, Havana, and Watchpoint Gibraltar all having seen adjustments over the years. But so far, Busan, Eichenwalde, and Paraíso have remained unchanged.
During the reveal, Overwatch Game Producer Ren Soanes noted that “with data from map voting, we’re listening to player feedback regarding maps.” She adds that, when looking at reworks, Blizzard first tackles “alleviating pain points for players with an updated layout before handing the map off to the art team to work their magic on the new canvas.” Interestingly, Soanes goes on to highlight that Blizzard will be “updating [its] maps to support major story beats” when possible.
These visual changes show up in Paraíso through its capture points, one of which now includes a statue of Domina, and an upgraded appearance for club Sinestesia. For Eichenwalde, the goal was to move away from it being “too Defender favored,” and in turn help to make it more “Attacker friendly, with a primary focus on the area outside of the castle grounds. ” In Busan, players will experience a map that’s been opened up in a bid to reduce its choke points. It also looks to have had the biggest shift based on lore, with plenty of “destruction, graffiti, and keepsakes the Junkers left behind” showing up throughout following an attack. Downtown’s tower capture point has also been changed to show it’s been taken over, with a new jump pad added for additional navigation utility. But it’s not all chaos – Jiggly Cow has someone to hang out with now, too: Jiggly Pig. Isn’t that nice?
So whether you’re excited for these reworks, or will find them causing you a headache in reassessing how to approach your favorite maps, you won’t have much longer to wait. Season 4 of Overwatch arrives on Tuesday, August 11.