Ecopoint: Antarctica

Ecopoint: Antarctica
Gamemode:	Arena
Location:	Antarctica
Reskin:	Winter

Ecopoint: Antarctica (short for eco-Watchpoint: Antarctica) is one of the locations in Overwatch. It is an Arena map.

Bundle up for a journey to Ecopoint: Antarctica, the former Overwatch installation where climatologist Mei-Ling Zhou was once stationed. While researching severe weather anomalies in the region, the station was hit by an intense polar storm. Running out of options and low on supplies, the team decided to cryogenically freeze themselves until the storm passed. They believed that it would only be for a few months, but Mei awoke nearly a decade later.

Images

Story

Ecopoint: Antarctica was an Overwatch-run research facility near the coast of Antarctica. The scientists stationed here - Adams, MacReady, Opara, Torres, Arrhenius, and Mei-Ling Zhou - were investigating climate anomalies and cryostasis technology when a massive storm hit the ecopoint, and they lost connection to the outside world. As their food and energy supplies dwindled, the scientists were forced to freeze themselves in cryostasis until help arrived.

A decade later, the scientists were found, but all had died in the storm except for Mei. (See Mei's Animated Short for more info about Ecopoint's story).

Easter Eggs

• Around the map, there are several handwritten notes belonging to Mei. The notes are varied; some are about the surrounding topography while in some she wishes herself Happy Birthday. It is possible that these notes were left for her or anyone to read in case the crew awakened from the cryostasis.
• There are a lot of reference to the 1982 film The Thing, a horror movie takes place at an Antarctica research station in a heavy snow storm. There is one scientist in cryotasis named MacReady (the same name of a character in the movie), a chess game next to the whiskey bottle and cup (reenacting a scene in the movie), and a huge ice block in an inaccessible room (as an allusion to the ice block the alien monster escaped from).
• Following the release of Rise and Shine, coffee mugs were placed in front of the scientists' malfunctioned cryo-pods, as a nod to the events that took place in the short.
  • All of the Overwatch logos present on the map were also retconned from Blue to Green following the release of the short.

Trivia

• Ecopoint: Antarctica is one of the three maps without any Environmental hazards, the other two being Hollywood and Temple of Anubis.

Patch changes

January 24, 2017 Patch: Fixed a bug that allowed Widowmaker to reach unintended locations in Ecopoint: Antarctica.  November 15, 2016 Patch: Ecopoint: Antarctica added.