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Overwatch Lunar New Year Includes CTF-Specific Map

A new map speficially designed for Capture the Flag mode will lead the many offerings in this year's Overwatch Lunar New Year event.

Ozzie Mejia

February 6, 2018 6:15 PM

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A few weeks ago, Overwatch teased the return of the game's Lunar New Year event. On Tuesday evening, Game Director Jeff Kaplan shed some more light on what players can expect from the Year of the Dog, including a new map caled Ayutthaya.

"The biggest and best part of the Year of the Dog celebration, in my opinion, is a brand new map," Kaplan explained. "This map takes place in Thailand. It's absolutely gorgeous. One side of the map is ancient and shows a temple that's very gorgeous and the other side is very bright and beautiful and very modern. We think you'll enjoy it. But the coolest part, in my opinion, is that it's the first map that we've ever built specifically for Capture the Flag."

Capture the Flag first debuted in a Lunar New Year map for last year's Year of the Rooster event. The key difference here, aside from the map designed for the game mode, is that draws have been eliminated. If a CTF session ends with both teams tied, the game will go to Sudden Death, where both team's flags are moved closer to the middle of the map. Players will also find it a little harder to exploit the rules, as Kaplan explained that certain "restricted abilities" that grant invulnerability or quicker speed will cause the player to drop any flag in their possession.

This refined Capture the Flag mode will also be accompanied by a competitive four-week competitive season. Top players will be given exclusive rewards, including exclusive sprays and player icons.

On top of everything, the Lunar New Year event has been extended to four weeks, with the Overwatch team taking into account people traveling during the event's duration.

A multitude of seasonal items and skins are also being promised for this year's event. All the details can be found in the video below.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?