Blizzard themselves have apparently leaked the starting date and details about the upcoming Anniversary event and some of the brand new skins that will be included as part of it.
A new Overwatch event means loads of new content, but most importantly, brand new skins to unlock and show off in matches.
Blizzard had kept a tight lid on new Anniversary content headed our way in 2020, but it seems an internal error when they were posting the May 12 patch notes caused details for the Anniversary event to show up a little early.
The leak was screenshotted and posted to Twitter by Russian Overwatch community Overfire, and as far as we can tell, they seem to be the real deal, straight from Jeff Kaplan himself.
Right off the bat, the notes introduce a new Masquerade Reaper skin, which is something fans have been requesting since the “Masquerade” comic came out many moons ago in 2017.
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There weren’t any images provided with the leak. But, as we know, Overwatch fans are some of the most creative out there, and the news that Reaper would finally be getting the Masquerade skin has released a year after artists Cristiana Voinea and 3D artist Catalin Bercea came out with their own concept for the cosmetic.
While Blizzard’s Masquerade Reaper will probably look different than the version above, but as long as he has a floppy hat and some old-school guns, we’ll be plenty satisfied.
Reaper wasn’t the only hero teased as getting a new skin; Blizzard also mentioned “Dragoon” Mercy, which could either refer to the job class from Final Fantasy XI or to the mounted infantry soldiers of the same name. Either would be pretty neat, but the chances of a Final Fantasy/Overwatch crossover skin are probably a bit slimmer.
The last hero mentioned in the screenshot is Ashe, who will be getting a new look called “Little Red” Ashe. If you didn’t already guess, this is probably a reference to Little Red Riding Hood, and we would love nothing more than for B.O.B. to be turned into the Big Bad Wolf.
The official start date for the Anniversary 2020 event, at least according to the leak, will be kicking off on May 19. Exactly how long the festivities will run is unknown, but based on previous Overwatch events it’s safe to say you’ll want to have all your new skins and loot boxes by mid to late June at the latest.