Hidden Overwatch PTR change makes special map themes available

Thanks to a new Overwatch PTR change, players can celebrate Christmas in July and Halloween in April with unique versions of some of the game’s maps. 

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Players who get a kick out of the Christmas versions of Kings Row and Blizzard World can now play them whenever it seems. The same goes for the spooky Halloween modifications to Eichenwalde and Hollywood. 

In these versions, snow covers the ground, the payload objective is changed to a sleigh, pumpkins litter the map and there are even some unique hero voice lines as they interact with the environment. 

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The new map options were an undocumented change and have just been discovered by sharp-eyed PTR players, like Overwatch insider Naeri, who wanted to check out the latest nerfs, buffs and features.

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Alongside the traditional holiday maps, the Lunar New Year celebration on Lijang Tower, snowy Hanamura, and Winter Black Forest are available too.

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However, according to Reddit user SerendipityDarkness, Halloween Chateau and Lunar New Year Busan Downtown are not yet available. They point out that this could be due to the fact they’re newer maps.

• Read More: Sigma gets spooky with artist’s “batty” Halloween skin design

Unfortunately, neither are special mission-specific map variants such as the sunny version of Kings Row from the Archives event or the dark night time themed Rialto from Retribution. 

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Those wanting to test out their Lucio Ball skills aren’t able to play that mode either. 

Still, the fact that Blizzard is letting players jump right into special versions of Overwatch maps in custom games is a nice touch and a welcome addition. 

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Blizzard has recently started giving players far more options in the game. Recently, the developers added role-queue to assist players with creating more balance team comps and added the Workshop, which allows for the creation of new modes. 

It will be fun to see if there are any other hidden changes to this new PTR build of Overwatch.