Overwatch‘s annual summer event, the Summer Games, began today July 20, 2021, with a splash. As per all the seasonal events, this event comes with new cosmetics including skins, voice lines, victory poses, and sprays, and an exclusive game mode. The event this year will run for about three weeks, from July 20 to August 10.
The Summer Games always feature the game mode Lúcioball, in which users play as beloved character Lúcio in teams of three in a game of large soccer, Rocket League style. As per usual, there is both normal and competitive Lúcioball, but this year Blizzard is introducing Lúcioball Remix. Lúcioball Remix is billed as a “faster, more chaotic” game mode, and will involve more than one ball and various other changes.
One of the biggest attractions of the Summer Games is of course the summer-themed cosmetics, that often come in summer event loot boxes. Along with smaller cosmetics like emotes and sprays, there are new purchasable skins for 5 different characters: Ashe, Mei, Orisa, Sigma, and Symmetra. There will also be three weekly challenges to earn several more exclusive sprays, player icons, and skins for Winston, Pharah, and Hanzo. Each weekly challenge requires a certain amount of games played, with games won counting as double. Items that are released as part of seasonal events are only available for purchase during the particular event and the anniversary event, making them hot commodities.
It has been stated that no new heroes will be released until the release of Overwatch 2, which is currently a higher priority for Blizzard than maintaining the original Overwatch, but that does not mean there will be no new content. The game will continue to have intermittent challenges and seasonal events like the Summer Games, providing at least some enrichment for the players.