Ah, winter cheer in a volatile gaming war zone. What fun!

Just kidding. (Well, moderately kidding.) As of December 13th, Overwatch released their next seasonal update to their hit shooter. It's filled to the brim with snowfall and presents galore! And, like with their two previous updates, a full line of new aesthetic options for players to fit their characters with are now available too! These bear no significance on how one plays a given hero, nor does it boost or nerf a character's existing abilities; it's merely for the show of it and for the fun, and here is where Blizzard has provided. (Note that there were some actual character improvements made with this as well, particularly regarding Symmetra, but this piece is simply focusing on the look of it all, not the in-game mechanics.)

So, in time for the holidays, here they are!

1. Santaclad

Oh, Torb. You stinkin', tinkerin' engineer. You with your reindeer turrets and Christmas tree equipment. This is one of the few skins that's worth 3,000 credits in the game instead of 750 or 1,000, so either pony up big for this one or simply hope your Loot Box RNG grants you it soon! (Gotta love the beard as well, it fits this Swedish Santa very well.)

2. Mei-rry

This is where part of this piece's title comes fro. (Mei puns for days!) Our Arctic scientist can now be fitted with green snow boots, a full workshop worker's suit, and the iconic Christmas hat. (Plus, when one of her abilities encases her in impenetrable ice to heal like she normally does, the ice actually becomes a giant snowman now! Cute little things here and there.)

3. Shiver

I wrote a piece a while back about my Overwatch: Origins Edition mains at that time, a.k.a. the main characters I played as for optimal results each match. Well that has since changed, and now both Roadhog (:: he's not included here but he's a big fat Rudolph this season, it's funny as hell ::) and Reaper have made my own Naughty or Nice list. So when you suit up with this cold, icy-looking look, it's bound to set a chill to the battlefield.

4. Nutcracker

I really didn't think this is what Zenyatta's Christmas skin would look like. (I swore they'd capitalize on his orbs being snowballs or ornaments or something.) But no, he's a good ol' Nutcracker now. Strange. Very strange.

5. Scrooge

Figures that Blizzard would make the Route 66-traveling cowboy the classic Scrooge. (His belt now says GAMF which now has the G stand for Grouchy instead of 'Bad', and you can figure the rest of that out.) He looks cold. He looks mean. He's got the gold-trimmed spectacles to boot. Let's hope the Ghost of Christmas Future sees him playing well going forward!

What other skins have you obtained? The Yeti Winston? The not-at-all-impressive Zarya skin? Frostbite Pharah? Stocking Sombra? What'd you like? What do you think could have been done better?

Feel free to comment below! My Battle.net tag is flashsquid, and my PSN ID is, regrettably, CurtailedCarrots. (It's part of an old, now-very-much-extinct inside joke I had with someone back in the day, and now I'm stuck with it.) Let's play!

Stay warm this week, friends!