Overwatch Gets New Arabian-Inspired Oasis Map In Free New Blizzard Update

By Edwin Kee
New Oasis map available for Blizzard's Overwatch in free update
 YouTube screengrab

Don’t you yearn for the good old days when a game was pretty much limited to what you received right out of the box? If it came with a single disc, so be it. You installed the game, played through it over and over again until you could more or less complete the session blindfolded, and then figure out all of the easter eggs stored inside. Not so in this day and age where there are downloadable content (DLCs), expansion packs, and updates to the game from time to time. Well, Blizzard’s Overwatch is definitely a game that has garnered its fair share of fans since it was launched. In fact, just to make sure that gamers do not get sick and tired of Overwatch, Blizzard has decided to spice things up with the release of a new update -- which is free, too, by throwing in the Arabian-inspired map which has been aptly named as “Oasis” for players regardless of the platform.

Blizzard must have taken a look at how the Overwatch Christmas event proved to be popular among fans and gamers alike, and decided that this new free Oasis map is also going to receive its fair share of attention among the masses. During the Overwatch Christmas event that saw the Winter Wonderland update released, this does not mean that all kinds of new content to the first person shooter is about to stop. Maps, no matter how good they are, will tend to get stale after some time, so having a fresh perspective on things would also help a whole lot.

This brand new update, when released, will do away with Overwatch‘s Christmas-themed event from the game. Hence, if you would still like to have the Christmas theme running, make sure you don’t get the new update. Oasis will obtain a global release -- at least this is what we do know about the situation, where it happens to be a Control map whose setting remains in the Arabian Desert.

This particular city was founded by researchers and academics throughout the Arabian peninsula, and the whole point was to achieve a purity of science without any kind of restraints. Needless to say, any ambition like that is most probably going to result in disaster despite its seemingly noble objective of being a monument to human ingenuity and invention. As long as you have the base Overwatch game, you will be able to access and enjoy Oasis for free -- and the same goes for any DLC maps and characters that are set to roll out in the future.

Oasis would also carry the distinction of being the first new map release which can be enjoyed in both Quick Play and Competitive modes ever since Eichenwalde debuted in August last year. That map release was followed by the Germanic map, where players were able to discover a Dark Souls Easter Egg within the Eichenwalde Castle. It is now a matter of waiting for secret tributes and easter eggs within Oasis to be discovered and shared.

Overwatch is available on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.