Following the success of their seasonal “Uprising” event from last year, video game powerhouse Blizzard Entertainment released “Retribution,” the latest Archives Mission for the popular multiplayer first-person shooter game Overwatch.
The event features 100 cosmetic items from last year’s event—including character skins, victory poses, and exclusive voice lines—as well as 60 new ones. More significantly, however, is the event’s new Player-versus-Environment (PvE) Brawl, which exposes new information regarding the game’s titular peace-keeping organization. In teams of four—which canonically comprise of support hero Moira and offense heroes Reyes/Reaper, McCree, and Genji (but players can choose to select any character)—PvE players must make their way through the streets of Venice, Italy after a covert mission goes awry, defeating faceless enemies and completing various objectives along the way.
With the night-time Venice map and threat of terrorist organization Talon looming in the event’s background, “Retribution” takes on a much darker tone than its predecessor; correspondingly, the PvE gameplay objectives are mainly focused on surviving waves of attackers instead of the combination Assault-Escort style of “Uprising.” But perhaps where the event shines the most is with its voice-acting; in both the introduction animation and in-game lines, Keith Ferguson as Reyes/Reaper and Matthew Mercer as McCree convey the rising tensions within the team of heroes with biting accuracy.
A fun yet darkly sinister event, Overwatch’s “Retribution” is only available from April 10 to April 30.