Overwatch’s annual Archives event is live

There are no new story missions, but plenty of surprise challenges to dive into.

Image via Blizzard Entertainment
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is SB1.png
Recommended Videos

This article is brought to you by StatBanana, the best Overwatch strategy tool.


Overwatch fans suddenly have something to do for the rest of March.

In a surprise release today, the game unveiled its annual Archives event earlier than usual. Archives normally revolves around a new story mission that delves into the past of the Overwatch cast, but this year, the focus is on more difficult replays of past events.

Players will be able to take on all three of the Archives missions from the past few years of the event with increased difficulty. The original Uprising mission from 2017, the Retribution mission from 2018, and 2019’s Storm Rising mission will all be available. Each mission includes specific challenges, like playing with no support heroes or dealing with enemies that drop lava upon death.

Eight new skins are available during this year’s Overwatch Archives event. Three Epic skins will be available only through completing weekly challenges. Mei gets a cute skin with bears, Torbjörn earns a rust-clad bronze armor, and Symmetra’s latest skin is colorful and bright. Legendary skins include a super-cool aviator Pharah and a casual workout Zarya.

This year’s Archives event runs from March 12 to April 2. Each week, new content will unlock, both in story missions and in the usual win-based Epic skin challenges.

Author
Image of Liz Richardson
Liz Richardson
Liz is a freelance writer and editor from Chicago. Her favorite thing is the Overwatch League; her second favorite thing is pretending iced coffee is a meal. She specializes in educational content, patch notes that (actually) make sense, and aggressively supporting Tier 2 Overwatch. When she's not writing, Liz is expressing hot takes on Twitter and making bad life choices at Target.