Overwatch tells its story in a very subtle way. Because aside from comics and cinematics outside the game, there are hidden story and lore references in the maps. We will show you what to pay attention to and what the maps convey.
In Overwatch, the story in the game itself doesn’t play a big role; after all, a team of two Tracers and three Bastions can face an army of six Meis, and no one is bothered by it. But it wouldn’t be right to have no story at all, and besides the many pieces of information and backgrounds we get from media outside the game, the developers have also hidden some interesting details about the backstory in some of the maps themselves.
Hanamura
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Anyone familiar with the Cinematic “Dragons” featuring Genji and Hanzo will notice the many battle scars from the film. For arrows and shurikens are stuck in the walls and on the ground everywhere. Furthermore, the central object in the last room is Genji’s sword. Perhaps we are reenacting an attack on the Shimada Clan’s headquarters to steal this artifact? Because curiously, the same sword is also located in Genji’s old room in the Nepal map.
Temple of Anubis
The Temple of Anubis is not just an ancient ruin in Egypt. If you look closely, you can see that behind the last capture point, a high-tech pyramid rises out of the ancient ruins into the sky. Inside it, there lies a research facility for artificial intelligence, and the aggressive god program “Anubis” is trapped there. Anubis can take over and control other artificial intelligences, as we learn from the comic about Pharah. Pay attention to the symbol of the Horde underneath the hieroglyphs. Also, there are scrapped omnics scattered around the map that seem to be up for sale.
Volskaya Industries
The gigantic industrial complex near St. Petersburg is the production site of the powerful Syvatogor mechs. These huge battle machines are piloted by humans and are Russia’s main weapon against the omnics. Since the second Omnic Crisis hits Russia particularly hard, the production of the mechs has been ramped up again, and parts of the battle machines are assembled all over the map.
So it is quite likely that the attacking team works for the omnics or a group closely related to them and intends to sabotage the factory. By the way, also pay attention to the hall with the hero monument and an army of Bastions at the beginning of the map, and the huge propaganda poster featuring Zarya.
Dorado
Have you ever wondered why in this map you suddenly go from a picturesque Mexican town to a high-tech facility? This is because beneath the town lies the headquarters of LumériCo. This company rebuilt the Mexican power grid, which lay in ruins, after the Omnic War, and the head of the company – Guillermo Portero – is now the president of the country.
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A statue of him also stands in the town. By the way, this map has many references to the mysterious Sombra, a potential new heroine. Also, notice the blown-up bank where the two anarchists Junkrat and Roadhog clearly left their mark. This town is also the setting for the cinematic featuring Soldier: 76, where this hero expresses skepticism at the beginning of a round regarding the company’s goals.
Route 66
This map is located in the territory of the Deadlock Gang, to which the gunslinger McCree once belonged. That’s why he sometimes complains before the game about not wanting to return here. He also knows that the coffee in the diner is just colored sludge. In this map, the attackers are clearly the bad guys, as the starting point of the payload is an exploded train of the US Army, from which some kind of bomb was recovered.
The attackers – seemingly the Deadlock Gang – need to steal the thing and bring it to the gang’s base, where various crates with symbols of all kinds of organizations in the Overwatch world are already lying around. Also funny: a certain Deckard Cain (known from Diablo) left a $5 tip and a signature in the diner, there is extremely spicy “Diablaux Sauce,” and from the drink machine you can get drinks bearing the symbol of the Zerg and from Dr. Boom (a character from Hearthstone and WoW).
Watchpoint: Gibraltar
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How can Winston call back all the former Overwatch members scattered around everywhere in his cinematic? By launching a special satellite into orbit thereby sending the signal to reactivate Overwatch. And that’s exactly what we, as the attacking team in this map, are doing. The entire procedure is even written on the board in the attacker’s starting room – which is the same room as in the movie. So in this map, we ensure that Overwatch is reactivated while the defenders probably belong to Talon or another evil group trying to prevent this. A nice detail: Winston’s spacesuit from the moon base is also lying around here.
Hollywood
In this map, the offensive team must escort a limousine through a film set in Hollywood. The vehicle contains the famous omnic director HAL-Fred Glitchbot (a rather forced play on words combining Alfred Hitchcock and HAL 9000). Since omnics are not well seen in the Overwatch world, the defensive team wants to kill or kidnap him, while the offensive team consists of the director’s bodyguards and ensures his safe evacuation from the set.
If you stand next to the limousine, you can hear numerous lines from the occupant. Moreover, the film studio is named after the town of “Goldshire” from World of Warcraft, and the company logo is actually the lion crest of Stormwind. Also, pay attention to the street names and stars on the ground.
Kings Row
The story behind this map is heavy stuff! For the attackers are clearly terrorists who want to massacre the omnics living underground in London. For in the UK, omnics are second-class citizens who must live underground while humans enjoy the daylight. The ugly mood against the robots is also evident from the many racist graffiti and the banners lying around. Moreover, this map is also the setting of the Widowmaker cinematic “Alive,” and the place where the omnic monk Tekhartha Mondatta died is adorned with flowers.
But back to the map’s theme. For the cargo in this map is a genuine EMP bomb that will wipe out all omnics in the vicinity. And we have to escort this weapon of mass destruction into the heart of the omnic enclave. The bomb even explodes at the end of the round, and Junkrat’s lines at the beginning of the game give clear hints about the mission objective.
Numbani
Do you remember the glove of Doomfist from the first Overwatch trailer? The same thing is escorted in this map from the airport to the museum of the city of Numbani. Numbani is a newly established settlement in the steppe of Nigeria, where humans and omnics are supposed to live peacefully together as an experiment. Furthermore, it seems that Doomfist plays a significant role in the story of Numbani, as there is a special exhibition about him on the founding day of the city.
Interestingly, Doomfist was not a single character, as a poster indicates that two men held the title, one was a hero and “savior,” while the other was a villain and “plague.” Now it seems that everyone is waiting for the third Doomfist as a “successor.” It is quite possible that the defending faction wants to steal the glove and create their own Doomfist.
So much for the obvious story hints and Easter eggs in some of the Overwatch maps. Have you found any other story content or funny hints? Let us know in the comments. And don’t miss our overview of guides and tips for Overwatch!
