Overwatch announces its upcoming Archives event, Storm Rising, with new lore teasers

(We’ve updated the end of this piece with the formal announcement.)

The folks at Blizzard have dropped a pair of mysterious Overwatch lore teasers, serving as an announcement of the 2019 Archives event and perhaps even hinting at a new map and/or character. The first of the two teasers takes the form of an in-universe newspaper article from the Havana Sun that details how mega-popular rum distillery Don Rumbotico burned down in a decidedly suspicious fire, forcing its owners to sell it off for pennies on the dollar to an enigmatic, sinister organization.

The second, a video posted to the Overwatch Twitter account, features a recording of a new character, a woman known only as Sojourn, proposing to Overwatch Commander Morrison (aka Soldier: 76) a mission to investigate — and presumably capture — Doomfist’s accountant and Talon bigwig Maximilien. The audio log gives a name to the upcoming Archives event, Storm Rising, and provides a few key details about the mission’s background: It takes place in the wake of the King’s Row Uprising, and it will feature a strike team comprised of Tracer, Mercy, Winston, and Genji.

Beyond that, though, details are still scarce, though speculation — and the aforementioned newspaper article — seems to suggest that the operation may introduce a new map set in Havana, and some players have begun whispering about the mysterious Sojourn’s prospects as the game’s next playable character. Whatever the case, we can probably expect more details about the Storm Rising Archives event in the next week or so, prior to the event’s commencement on April 16th.

> Accessing archived file…

Decryption status: IN PROGRESS
Target: Located pic.twitter.com/AUmV8LlUJc

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) April 8, 2019