It’s almost time for April Fools 2026, and this year Overwatch has some big plans with a new mode called Underwatch. This is something of a yearly tradition now, so it’s always fun to see what new bizarre mess the devs cook up: “We’re immediately throwing ‘common sense’ off the nearest ledge, as is the annual Overwatch tradition.”
“This will be two weeks where logic steps off that same ledge and the game leans hard into absurd, googly-eyed shenanigans,” an official blog post says. “Physics will follow no rules, balance is taking a vacation, and every match is going to throw something goofy into the mix. And that’s exactly the point, Underwatch is for laughter, experimentation, and discovering strange ways to play.”
The event will start on April Fools Day (April 1) and go on for two weeks, until April 13. During this time you’ll be able to earn some rewards, which are yet to be revealed, and just have fun relishing in the non-canon chaos: “Get silly in Underwatch and enjoy the mess, because nothing will behave the way you expect.”
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The last three April Fools patches have all been a hell of a lot of fun. We first had the WIP Very Serious Patch Notes – Draft back in 2023 which added a ton of wacky stuff like keeping 50% of your ult charge when swapping heroes, a tank passive which would grant a huge amount of ult charge to the hero to get the final blow on a tank, and Orisa’s nightmarish Javelin that granted her the power of flight.
2024’s Balanced Overwatch then added 50% smaller heroes, ‘on-fire’ mechanics that could boost hero damage, and massively increased projectile damage. Last year’s Totally Normalwatch shrunk D.Va, let Hanzo ride Orisa like a horse (still weird), and turned Reinhardt into a drifting racecar.
Like I said, there’s a lot of fun to be had in these joke modes. But there’s also some lessons to be learned, as these April Fools patches are also sometimes used to trial changes and abilities the devs may see as too wacky to simply place straight into the game. These additions include:
- Baptiste now does more healing for direct grenade hits.
- Hanzo’s Storm Arrows now ricochet once upon impact.
- Zarya’s Particle Barrier now shares a two charge system with Projected Barrier.
- Soldier 76’s ultimate now allows for headshots if that’s where the player is aiming.
So it’s always worth keeping your eyes peeled as to which wacky parts of the patch notes you could see realistically sticking around. Or maybe even decide for yourself if there’s anything in Underwatch you’d like to have in the base game or added to Stadium.
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