Overwatch- the search for Sombra now involves a skull of code
Starting before the game even released, Overwatch players have been on the look out for any sign of the much rumored, mysterious new character, Sombra. Over the past month or so, that search has taken an interesting turn in the form of an ARG (Alternate Reality Game). Following a small hint from Blizzard, fans have now found a skull of code.The road to get to this point has been anything but simple. From hidden-in-plain-sight compass points to codes hidden in blizzard videos, the ARG has gotten fairly intense, but thankfully a Reddit user has compiled it all. Most recently however, after players found a glitch in the sky above the map Dorado that looked suspiciously like a barcode, many began turning that barcode barcode into audio files. The focus quickly turned to cracking the soon infamous “sky song.”
Starting before the game even released, Overwatch players have been on the look out for any sign of the much rumored, mysterious new character, Sombra. Over the past month or so, that search has taken an interesting turn in the form of an ARG (Alternate Reality Game). Following a small hint from Blizzard, fans have now found a skull of code.
The road to get to this point has been anything but simple. From hidden-in-plain-sight compass points to codes hidden in blizzard videos, the ARG has gotten fairly intense, but thankfully a Reddit user has compiled it all. Most recently however, after players found a glitch in the sky above the map Dorado that looked suspiciously like a barcode, many began turning that barcode barcode into audio files. The focus quickly turned to cracking the soon infamous “sky song.”
As it turns out though, this might have been nothing at all. Blizzard secretly added an image to the Overwatch media library with what seems to be a bit of screen distortion. Digging into the picture, fans found a code that could ultimately be turned into a few sentences in Spanish. Translated, it reads, “”Why are you looking at the sky? The answer isn’t over your heads, it’s behind you. Sometimes, you need to analyze your previous achievements.”
A mysterious achievement had been added to Overwatch. Viewing the source code of the HTML page right above the achievement led to another Spanish phrase and a long code. The Spanish translates as, “Damn, not bad. However, I’m getting bored. Let’s try something new in the same direction.”
Players soon deciphered the included code, using a password derived from the names for curtain Overwatch heroes, to arrive at a URL for a screenshot of another map, Volskya Industries.
Analyzing that with the same method used on the Dorado picture revealed yet another phrase and code. “It seems you like these little games… Why don’t we play a real one?” the message reads.
While the code has yet to reveal anything else, fans found that breaking it apart at every 59th character produces a rather shocking picture: a sugar skull.
Currently this is where the ARG remains, though curious gamers are already pouring over every inch of the recently released Bastion animated short, looking for more clues.