Overwatch Lunar Colony Map Coming Soon, Let's Hope For More Easter Eggs

Overwatch’s newest map, the Horizon Lunar Colony, will be coming to live servers on June 20. This is the first Assault map released after the game’s launch, brining us to the surface of the moon to figure out what happened to Winston, the scientists on the base and the rest of the apes. In a behind the scenes video, we get to see what went into designing the map and what the Overwatch team looks for when making something for the players.

Fans with access to the PTR have already gotten their hands on the Horizon Lunar Colony, giving feedback back to the Overwatch team. They need to make sure the mode is balanced before the update ever goes live. Making sure a map isn’t completely broken is vital when creating a map for a game like Overwatch , if any champion or team has the upper hand before the game even started, nobody is going to want to play.

“We were always inspired by the fact that Overwatch was a universe future enough and expanded enough that there could be a colony on the moon,” Jeff Kaplan said in the video. The developers were looking to make a space that resonated with fans, but also one that moved Overwatch’s story along. Unlike a game like League Of Legends , which has random owls and dragons roaming around it’s main map that serve no purpose to the plot of the game, Overwatch ’s entire world blends together. Maps are just as important to the story as any hero.

Maps are even directly affected by other pieces of media Blizzard releases. When the cinematic short “Dragons” was released, featuring Genji and Hanzo dueling it out like only brothers can, the developers at Blizzard left an easter egg for fans to find. On the Overwatch Hanamura map, Blizzard’s team left an arrow in one of the walls, alongside some broken wooden planks left behind from a serious scuffle. The map’s update coincided with the short’s release, tying the two together in a seamless blend of video game and movie.

Overwatch is a living game where the actions of the characters affect the world. It may not be an open-world RPG like Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild , where a player can physically affect the world, but what Winston, Zarya or any of the other heroes do affects how we play. Who knows what secrets the Overwatch team will throw into the Horizon Lunar Colony that fans still haven’t found. There could be a secret code on a monitor that reveals the bloodshed of the ape uprising, or an idea as to how Winston got to earth.

When you're in the heat of battle in an Overwatch teamfight, you forget how much detail there is in this world. Focusing on the bloodshed, you tend to miss out on simple things, like a jar of peanut butter in Winston’s room or angry monkeys on the closed circuit television screens. I love Overwatch because it isn’t just a game, it’s a living, breathing universe.