Overwatch 2 players got a little early holiday surprise from Blizzard today as the new season eight trailer announced the debut of weapon skins next season.
Weapon skins have been a long-theorized addition to Overwatch, but for the most part, Blizzard has only dabbled in the idea. Typically, weapons are reskinned along with the skin a hero is using, like Cardboard Reinhardt coming with an appropriately taped-together cardboard hammer. The only avenues for customizing that look were either unlocking a gold-skinned version of a hero’s weapon after accruing Competitive Points or with the weapon customization options available just to Mythic skins.
Season eight changes that with the game’s first weapon skin line, Hard Light. Featuring sleek white and light blue weapons for Reinhardt, Reaper, and Mercy, these weapon skins can be paired with any other hero skin to create all-new looks, as featured in the trailer. According to the season eight blog, these skins also come with unique weapon sounds and visual effects.
The blog also indicates that this is only the beginning for weapon skins in OW2 and that the devs will continue to introduce more ways for players to customize their favorite heroes with this new option open and available to them. Currently, it’s unclear if these weapon skins will be a store-only purchase or if they will be tied to the season eight battle pass, but it stands to reason that either option could happen.
The weapon skins aren’t all that players have to look forward to, either, as season eight will also feature the full debut of Mauga, a new PvPvE game mode called The Battle of the Beasts where players will have to team up to take out enemy players and Grand Beasts, the return of the Winter Wonderland and Lunar New Year events as winter progresses, and more.
Season eight of Overwatch 2, Call of the Hunt, releases on Dec. 5.
