How Overwatch fans are recovering after yesterday’s Sombra no-show

Yesterday looked like it could be a turning point for the Overwatch fandom, which has been eagerly anticipating the reveal of the game’s next hero for several weeks. But what seemed like the final phase of the alternate reality game that’s got amateur sleuths hunting down that mysterious character ended up as nothing more but another step — one that’s left many Overwatch players feeling betrayed.

Mounting evidence in a variety of places, most notably a bizarre glitch on the official Overwatch forum, seemed to be counting down to Sombra’s likely mid-afternoon reveal. Instead, players are left refreshing a website tied to the game, named after the fictional A Moment in Crime TV show, as information downloads at a painfully slow rate. According to that site, the next set of clues is due sometime in the next million years or so; whatever it is that’s downloading is currently at 5 percent, where it’s been for more than 10 hours.

Fans lie divided on whether yesterday’s events were disappointing or reinvigorating. On the Overwatch subreddit, top threads include frustrations directed at the A Moment in Crime download speed, players looking to be caught up to speed on what’s happened, jokes about how the developers at Blizzard Entertainment are perhaps knowingly teasing the fans. A video is also floating around from one user who claims to have encountered Sombra within the game. There's even a filter now to allow those who just want to talk about what's actually in Overwatch to hide posts about Sombra.

"I was initially annoyed with the Sombra ARG stuff too, but hear me out on why I’m not anymore" is the name of one Redditor’s thread, in which the user took the high road to argue that the ARG is fun, even if it’s going on longer than its participants might have expected.

That’s the spirit shared by many on Overwatch forums and Twitter, where fans are having a good time mocking the mystery.

Of course, there are others who are angry — at Sombra herself, not just Blizzard! — and not afraid to show it.

As for Battle.net, the threads are a bit more aggressive, with players levying their usual complaints about the game on top of their anger at Blizzard for still keeping Sombra under wraps.

The best way to look at the ongoing mystery of the woman who may or may not be Overwatch’s next playable character is encapsulated in the following tweet, however: