‘Overwatch’ Chinese New Year event brings capture-the-flag mode, new skins

By Gabe Gurwin Updated January 24, 2017

Overwatch: Year of the Rooster Launch Trailer (HQ)

Overwatch has already seen two very successful holiday events since its launch last May — one focusing on Halloween and the other on Christmas, in both cases with special skins, modes, and map changes — and it looks like Blizzard won’t be waiting too much longer to introduce its next event. The “Year of the Rooster” event, celebrating the Chinese New Year, will begin next week.

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On the official South Korean Overwatch Twitter page, a short video was posted showing the character D.Va wearing a pink, blue, and white dress with her classic eSports icon as a little tiara on her head. Her mech has been similarly tricked out, with a red color scheme that appears to be a reference to 2017 being the Chinese Zodiac year of the Rooster. Gold lace surrounds the top half of the mech — it almost looks too beautiful to destroy in a game of Control.

여러분♡ 새해 복 많이 받으세요! pic.twitter.com/vNEptK1SNb

— 오버워치 (@OverwatchKR) January 19, 2017

Mei, who served as the mascot for “Mei’s Snowball Fight” in the Christmas event, will also receive a special skin. Her hair is tied back in a bun, and her outfit is a warm mix of reds and golds.

If the last two holiday events are any indication, we’ll likely see a special mode introduced for “Year of the Rooster.” As Mei already starred in her own event just last month, we expect D.Va to be the star of the show this time around. Given her background as a professional gamer, it would be great to see a Starcraft II-inspired event, possibly offering a real-time strategy twist on the Overwatch formula.

It’s unclear whether it’s the only mode offered through the “Year of the Rooster” event, but a leaked trailer points to a capture-the-flag mode coming to Overwatch for the first time. We see Tracer grab the flag before being quickly gunned down by Roadhog, and elsewhere, Winston activates his ultimate ability while still carrying the flag to his team’s base.

In addition to the special skins for D.Va and Mei, a few other characters are also in the holiday spirit. Junkrat’s skin has several firecrackers strapped to his chest, while Winston’s has his face painted in red and white — still with his famous glasses, of course.

“Year of the Rooster” kicks off on January 24 and will run until February 13.

Updated on 01-24-2017 by Gabe Gurwin: Added info on additional skins and capture-the-flag mode.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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