Overwatch fan solves the mystery of Sherlock McCree’s belt buckle
An Overwatch fan appears to have solved the mystery of McCree’s “Sherlock” skin belt buckle.
McCree players may well be familiar with the fact that a signature part of the hero’s look is his belt buckle – by default, it reads ‘BAMF’, although this changes with certain skins. His ‘Lifeguard’ look reads “SAMF”, while his ‘American’ skin has “USA” emblazoned on the belt.
In cases in which the belt features letters, they all appear to be acronyms, but his ‘Sherlock’ skin features one such acronym that players have long assumed must have some significance, but have been unable to decipher the meaning of – until now.
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The acronym in question reads “ASKS”, and although the skin is in fact based on the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes, fans have long assumed that the belt cannot be so crude as to be a simple reference to the fact that detectives tend to ask questions – in order to live up to the name of Holmes, there must be more to it.
McCree’s Sherlock skin has been part of the game since 2018’s Anniversary event, but now Reddit user Kerrai, with the help of greenofspades, has put forth a theory that seems to have finally solved the mystery of the belt.
The description of the Sherlock skin is a quote from The Sign of Four, the second novel by Arthur Conan Doyle featuring Holmes, and reads as follows:
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“My mind,” he said, “rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere.”
The book details a conspiracy surrounding a lost treasure that ultimately identifies four conspirators: Dost Akbar, Mahomet Singh, Abdullah Khan, and Jonathan Small – whose surnames would appear to make up the acronym that appears on Sherlock McCree’s belt.
Exactly why this particular story is linked to the Sherlock skin – if any at all – remains a mystery, but the meaning of the belt appears to have been solved at least.
Blizzard have never officially commented on the Easter Egg, but it’s not the only hidden reference to subjects beyond the game – with the release of Sigma, for instance players also discovered a reference to the photo of a black hole that went viral, and even an apparent references to artist Vincent Van Gogh.
