Overwatch leaks tease a new game mode, map, and gear, just in time for its one-year anniversary

Overwatch Uprising just ended but an even bigger event could be coming in the weeks ahead. Intrepid archive-dissectors on Reddit have looked through new content added to the game and discovered voice files that reference a new kind of game type and at least one additional map, among other fun things.

The voice files, posted by Reddit user DeadGirlDreaming, all seem to refer to a new objective-based competitive mode; Heroes talk about escorting, attacking, defending, and destroying an objective. Payloads and capture zones can't be destroyed, so they must be talking about something else.

The most potentially informative part is that talk about destruction. "Objective's dead, what's next?" McCree asks in one of the lines. This means the new mode must include multiple objectives because, duh, the match would just end if there was only one to destroy/protect. Overwatch kind of has multi-objective setups (hybrid maps like King's Row that begin with Assault then move into Escort) but it sounds like this one might put be more about moving from one objective to the next.

A new mode would require a new map or revamped old ones, which goes along with the map references spotted by Reddit user FailCraft. You can check the post for the full rundown, but basically each map has specific keys in the game's backend and some new ones have emerged. There are also mentions of new loot.

These referenced materials could just trickle into the game over time. But all of it popping up at once makes it seem like another special event may be on the horizon. And Overwatch has something pretty big to celebrate in the coming weeks: its one-year anniversary! As of May 24, it will officially have been one year since we started pushing payloads and complaining about Bastion.

We'll see if and how all of this comes together in the weeks ahead. Whatever form all the new stuff takes, it's gonna be a good time to play Overwatch. Speaking of which, don't miss this week's best Overwatch moments.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.