Overwatch’s Blizzard World map is full of fun Easter eggs

Overwatch is getting a new map that’s part theme park, part tribute to more than two decades of Blizzard games. And since staffers from across Blizzard Entertainment weighed in on the development of the Blizzard World map, it’s stuffed with inside jokes and Easter eggs for Blizzard fans.

The Blizzard World park is split up into sections based on the game maker’s popular properties: Diablo, StarCraft, Hearthstone and Warcraft. There’s even a nod to The Lost Vikings, with a little confused-John-Travolta-from-Pulp Fiction meme thrown in.

We got to play around in Blizzard World at BlizzCon 2017 this weekend and spoke with principal level designer Dave Adams to learn more about the map’s secrets.

Some of the Blizzard references are unmissable, like a large Siege Tank and a glowing Protoss Pylon in the center of the map. The map’s spawn rooms include a Hearthstone tavern and the Heroes Arcade, an arcade parlor with Murloc Skee-Ball lanes and “Azmodunk” basketball machines. The arcade’s leaderboards include initials for Overwatch’s Soldier: 76 and D.Va — and a score of 9,999 for Sombra, implying that she has, naturally, hacked the high score table.

No theme park would be complete without gift shops and theme restaurants, and Blizzard World is no exception. The park has snack bars named Snaxxramas and Pylon Terrace where visitors can nosh on Death Wings and waffles shaped like Protoss Nexus buildings (and covered in Zerg Creep syrup), and drink from Terran Marine-shaped cups. There are also frozen treats: a Murloc-icle and a two-headed ogre (probably Cho’Gall?).

Blizzard Entertainment

There’s a map of the park that players can check out throughout Blizzard World, full of clever ride names like the Hellscream roller coaster and the Spawning Pools water park, complete with a Nydus Worm slide. Players can visit the Flight to Duskwood ride, but unfortunately they can’t ride the gryphon carts.

Blizzard’s Dave Adams noted that some of the best references come from announcements at the park. When Torbjorn walks into the Diablo section of the park, Deckard Cain will warn that he’s not tall enough to ride the attractions. (Cain also promotes “The Lord of Terroir,” a wine bar and lounge that serves “Lut Gholein’s finest vintages.”) In the StarCraft section of the map, the Terran Adjutant notes that parents can rent a Protoss Carrier stroller to wheel their kids around in.

Adams said that there’s another Diablo reference hidden in that game’s section of the map. Players who destroy some of the barrels there might hear a legendary item drop sound now and then.

Finally, here’s that Lost Vikings/Vincent Vega reference mentioned earlier:

Blizzard World is coming to Overwatch early next year. Some of the game’s characters will get some Blizzard-themed skins around the same time.