A peek at next week’s Anniversary event

Blizzard Entertainment will celebrate Overwatch’s first birthday next week with an in-game event that adds new maps, cosmetic items and more. Blizzard announced Overwatch’s Anniversary event earlier this week, but didn’t offer much in the way of specifics. Since then, the developer has been steadily teasing some of the new additions on its various social media channels.

Perhaps the most enticing new additions to the game are Overwatch’s Anniversary skins. On Overwatch’s Chinese-language Facebook page, the developer teased new skins for characters Bastion, Pharah, Soldier: 76 and Zarya.

Here’s a sampling of what’s coming, skin-wise:

The Overwatch Anniversary event will also add three new arena-style maps. The three maps appear to be based on existing locations Anubis, Dorado and Eichenwalde.

Here’s a preview, via the Overwatch Europe Twitter account:

Next up? Dance emotes. It appears that — at the very least — Sombra, Lúcio, Symmetra and Zenyatta will get their respective grooves on, based on this video from the Overwatch Latin America Facebook page:

Finally, new voice lines are also en route. Listen to what Winston, Soldier: 76, Symmetra, Reinhardt, Roadhog, McCree and Lúcio have to say:

The Overwatch Anniversary event kicks off next week on Tuesday, May 23 and runs through June 12.

Source: Polygon – Xbox One