Overwatch 2’s new Antarctic Peninsula KOTH map has snow, penguins and fishing

Antarctic Peninsula has been revealed as Overwatch 2’s new Control map for Season 3 and for the first time ever, you can shoot at penguins.

Overwatch 2 has introduced the sequel’s first King of the Hill map and there are a ton of things for players to sink their teeth into when it launches.

Set to debut with Season 3, Antarctic Peninsula will take players to the coldest of depths where they’ll have to trek through the snow, icy caverns, and abandoned ships to take over the objective from their foes.

Dexerto had an opportunity to speak with Level Designer Trey Spisak, Art Director Dion Rogers, and Lead Narrative Designer Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie about the map and what players can expect.

The lore of Antarctic Peninsula in OW2

Many maps in Overwatch 2 are connected to certain heroes or lore-based elements and Antarctic Peninsula is no exception.

In this case, Antarctica is related to Mei’s story as showcased in the animated short Rise and Shine – something that is very exciting for the dev team.

https://twitter.com/PlayOverwatch/status/1621222034029019138

According to Jurgens-Fyhrie, players will be able to experience a huge part of that story that hasn’t been talked about before shown including the Overwatch ice-breaking ship that tried to rescue Mei and her coworkers, but ultimately failed.

“You can see some hints about what Mei and her team were trying to find there. Maybe there are some sort of secrets. Maybe you can find something on the map that will tell you something even more exciting about the story to come,” he teased.

With so much story to tell, you might suspect that the map will be connected to the upcoming PvE campaign later this year, but Dion Rogers remained mum on whether or not it will be used.

“Stay tuned,” he smirked, referencing how Mei was an integral part of moving the canon of Overwatch forward.

The three points of Antarctic Peninsula

Just like the other KOTH maps, Antarctic Peninsula will be split into three different areas that teams will be forced to fight for control of.

The first is an ice-breaker ship that Overwatch wanted to rescue Mei and her friends in before they ended up getting trapped as well. Players will be able to fight through tunnels and an engine room as they get to the point.

Second is a sub-level underground mine where scientists were working to discover new properties. Despite being underground, however, there is a lot of verticality and a drill that may pose some challenges for those looking to take the objective.

Finally, the third setting focuses on labs where fans will be able to see what Mei and her co-workers were up to towards the Ecopoint area of Antarctica. This section will have a lot of flanking options, but is more of a “straightforward” control point, but there is an interesting platform sitting directly above it.

Overwatch 2 adds shootable penguins, fishing and snow angels

Much like how Busan has a karaoke machine and Ilios has basketball hoops, Antarctic Peninsula features its own fun interactions that the team is ecstatic about.

The ice map will actually feature fishing holes that players can shoot and fish in what Rogers described as a bit of a fishing minigame.

Penguins, meanwhile, can be shot at, but they’ll never die and just dodge bullets like a playful Neo from The Matrix. As for being able to pet the penguins, while the devs tried, they just couldn’t make it work.

Luckily, there are other things to hold interest. Players will actually be able to make designs in the deep snow when they walk around in it thanks to a new shader that was developed.

Pardon the pun, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg with a bunch more Easter eggs and fun interactions to discover in the weeks ahead.