An Overwatch map that was so divisive it had to be removed from the game's rotation entirely is coming back later today with Season 2: Summit, and Blizzard Entertainment is promising a rework that hopefully bumps it up from its position as one of the game's worst maps ever.
Two seasons and more than four months ago, Blizzard yanked Antarctic Peninsula out of the game's map rotation to rework the icy control stage that's only selling point was adorable penguins and fishing. At the time, a lead level designer explained that "player sentiment on this map hasn't always been very strong" and its temporary removal gives everyone a chance to "get excited for its return."
Saying that anyone's too excited for its comeback might be hyperbolic, but Blizzard's now detailed some of the map's fast-approaching improvements, and they sound like exactly what it needs. A new Overwatch blog post explains that the Antarctic Peninsula rework aims to "create cleaner engagements, smooth out team pushes, and make meaningful flank routes throughout the arctic tundra."
To that end, all three control points will be enjoying promising tweaks later today, including alternative routes that should enable more opportunities to flank enemies and a more "open" main choke on Research Station point, so pushing into an enemy team doesn't feel like squeezing through a Pringles tube. The Underground point will also have higher ceilings, which should help the newer aerial characters like Jetpack Cat and DPS Sierra.
Quick admission, I almost forgot that Antarctic Peninsula wasn't in rotation anymore, partly because map votes would barely ever swing in its favor anyway, and partly because, as much as I love those damn penguins, they're not enough to distract from how bland the map was otherwise.
At least the Overwatch devs are taking a hammer to stages that don't work rather than letting them stew in map purgatory forever, though.
