Overwatch’s Winter Wonderland event returns on Dec. 16

The Overwatch heroes are ready to take a break from saving the world to celebrate the holiday festivities once more before the year comes to a close.

The official Overwatch Twitter revealed in a short teaser today that the 2021 Winter Wonderland event will be starting on Dec. 16. This teaser, though not containing much information regarding new cosmetics in the event, showcased an amusing interaction with Orisa pulling D.Va through the sky, depicting Overwatch’s version of Santa and his reindeers. This announcement follows a previous reveal by Blizzard that this year’s Winter Wonderland event would be delayed due to “unforeseen circumstances.”

This iteration of the Winter Wonderland event is the fifth time that the event is taking place within the game. Each time that the event returns, event-exclusive game modes such as Mei’s Snowball Offensive and Yeti Hunter also make an appearance, giving players more limited-time options in Overwatch’s Arcade. These modes often return with new ways to play them and new sprays to earn, though nothing regarding the return of these modes has been revealed.

Winter Wonderland also introduces new festive skins for multiple heroes and brings back the skins introduced in previous iterations of the event. Like other limited-time events in Overwatch, Winter Wonderland 2021 is expected to include new sprays, victory poses, highlight intros, and more for players to earn through loot boxes or purchase directly within a hero’s cosmetics section for coins.

Players can look forward to the start of the Winter Wonderland 2021 event complete with new and returning cosmetics and legacy game modes on Dec. 16. The holiday fun and access to the event’s cosmetics, game modes, and map skins will end on Jan. 6.