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'Overwatch' Teases New Character That Isn't Doomfist, But Likely Another Gorilla

The Horizon Lunar Colony was believed to have been lost, but Lucheng Interstellar confirmed that the colony's database and monitoring systems were still operational.


Overwatch is one of a small number of games that has risen to worldwide notoriety in little over a year. As one of the forefront first person shooters on the market, Overwatch is a game that has legions of faithful followers: both in game and out as one of the best parts of Overwatch lore are unearthed out outside of the game.

Whether it's learning about the events before the game or about the history of the playable characters and how they each connect — players around the world have scoured the maps and intel transmissions from the Overwatch website to try and learn just a little more about the game itself.

Thanks to the brilliant team at Blizzard Entertainment, we have just been given some intriguing news via the Overwatch website. After years of going offline, the Horizon Lunar Colony was believed to have been lost, but Lucheng Interstellar confirmed that the colony's database and monitoring systems were in fact still operational. What's even more exciting is that they were able to recover several logs from the moments before the colony went dark.

What is the Horizon Lunar Colony?

Winston [Credit: Overwatch]

In the lore of the game, the colony was intended to serve as the launching point for humanity's future in space. The goal was to study the effects of long-term living in space, and the colony housed a number of genetically enhanced gorillas; Winston being one of those gorillas.

While being studied in the colony, the gorillas led an uprising that cut off communication with Lucheng Interstellar, claiming Horizon Lunar Colony as their own. All of the scientists were killed in the revolution, but Winston managed to build a rocket and escaped to Earth only to find Overwatch, an organization that represented the heroism that he had come to admire about humanity.

In the transmissions that Lucheng Interstellar collected, we've discovered a few interesting tidbits that could likely point to the next new release in Overwatch.

1. A New Playable Map

Specimen Training Module [Credit: Overwatch]

As part of the transmissions, we saw an overview of the colony itself. And while that may not be of any outstanding circumstance, it's likely that as a part of the next update we'll be able to visit the colony and see really what happened all those years ago with Winston.

With four types of maps currently in Overwatch — Assault, Escort, Hybrid, Control — and a varied collection of maps currently in game it would be a great way to expand the playing field. Considering that the current maps are all land-based and have a basic sense of being Earth-bound, a space map would switch things up.

Since it appears to have several corridors and hidden areas, it could prove to make an engaging map played in the Control map type.

2. Hidden Secrets

Message to Winston [Credit: Overwatch]

One of the interesting things to notice in the collection of logs that were captured, was that there was a sense of worry through the communications between the scientists. In one message from Nevsky, he mentions that several of the gorillas were acting out, to the point that he's not sure how long they (the scientists) can tolerate the problems.

Yet, in a chain response from the initial message it seems that Dr. Winston (not the character in the game) believes that there is still hope for the gorillas and scientists to live harmoniously.

Then it seems that there was a malfunction at Airlock E-35. Whether this was caused by the apes or just an actual malfunction we don't quite know yet. There are still plenty of mysteries about the colony left to be discovered.

3. Another New Character Before Doomfist?

From the specimen Training Module, we see that there are two specimens that are not found: Winston and Hammond. We know where Winston went considering that he is an Overwatch hero, yet through the messages that Lucheng was able to recover, it sounds as if Hammond often escaped captivity. Perhaps Hammond is going to become a new character in the game.

It would be a good addition considering that each hero often has a counterpart or connection to other characters in-game. Whether he is friend or foe is yet to be seen, but with the the recent introduction of Sombra, Ana, and Orisa, it's likely that Hammond will be more villainous.

Another interesting detail about Hammond is that he's likely to be a smaller classification of gorilla, as the scientists noticed that he was often able to slip out of his cage undetected. Perhaps Hammond will be a little Mojo-Jojo from Powerpuff Girls and a little Gorilla Grodd from DC's The Flash.

Regardless of what Blizzard has in store for us, putting this on their official website definitely means that something else is coming and we're in store for more juicy details.

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