The Overwatch Winter Wonderland event returns with a frosty new 4v4 mode

Winter doesn't officially begin until December 21, but the Winter Wonderland is snowing and blowing in Overwatch today. The annual event brings back Mei's Snowball Offensive, Yeti Hunt, and Snowball Deathmatch modes, and adds an all-new 4v4 brawl for 2020 called Freezethaw Elimination.

Players in Freezethaw Elimination will be frozen instead of killed when they're downed, taking them out of the action but leaving them in the game so they can be thawed by teammates. To win, a team must freeze every player on the opposing side, which depending on how well the other side communicates could be quite a job.

Weekly challenges are also back, giving players a chance to earn limited-time rewards by winning games in Quick Play, Competitive, or the Arcade over each of the event's three weeks. Three wins per week will get you an icon, a spray comes at six wins, and for nine wins you'll earn a new epic skin each week—check 'em out below:

Week 1: Elf Junkrat

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Week 2: Gingerbread Ana

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Week 3: Frosty Roadhog

(Image credit: Blizzard)

The event will also add five legendary skins to the game—Conductor Reinhardt, Penguin Mei, Ice Empress Moira, Toyboy Zenyatta, and Lumberjack Torbjorn—along with some new player icons and skins.

The Overwatch Winter Wonderland 2020 event is live now and runs until January 5. Full details, including all the winter-themed skins, emotes, and intros, are up at playoverwatch.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.