Overwatch New Hero Teased With Route 66 Payload Change

Popular multiplayer shooter Overwatch may get a new hero soon. Changes to the game's Route 66 map have led some to believe a new hero is on the way. Traditionally, Overwatch's new heroes are revealed a few times a year and with BlizzCon 2018 around the corner, it's no surprise that speculation around what to expect in terms of a new hero is on the cards. The payload in Route 66 has seen a change in the game's PTR (public test realm) with the nuclear weapon that's a part of it having gone missing according to a report from Overwatch fan site Heroes Never Die. In the past, Blizzard has used payload changes to indicate new heroes joining the fray such as the payload in the Numbani map that was Doomfist's gauntlet. It was smashed open and stolen to build hype around two new heroes, Orisa and Doomfist.

Right now, there are 28 heroes in the game and the announcement of another will put the number at 29. The last new hero was Wrecking Ball a giant mech piloted by a hamster known as Hammond who shares his origin with another character in the game, Winston - a super intelligent gorilla from Horizon Lunar Colony, a map that was added to the game last year.

The Horizon Lunar Colony in Overwatch lore was an experiment meant to turn gorillas into scientists which ended poorly. Its subjects rebelled, launching human scientists into space.

New heroes aren't the only addition to Overwatch. This year we've seen reworks of existing characters such as Torbjorn and Symmetra along with new maps. Plus seasonal events based on real-world happenings such as Summer Games and Halloween have been par for the course alongside events based on in-game lore such as Uprising. With BlizzCon around the corner, it will be interesting to see what else Blizzard adds to the game.

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