‘Overwatch’: The Ins and Outs of Junkertown

Junkertown has produced some of my favorite, more eccentric characters in the Overwatch Universe and my interest was piqued with the release of “Junkertown: The Plan” a few weeks ago. We not only got a glimpse of the wasteland from which Roadhog and Junkrat hail, but it began the onslaught of Junkertown related news.

I’m always game for the post-apocalyptic atmosphere, but was curious how the grungy, chaotic, and harsh Junkertown would fit into the lore of Overwatch when every other playable map is very much pre-apocalypse (but not without chaos). It turns out my at-work musings were answered today in the newest map preview!

So, let’s talk a little lore…

Australia was not immune to the infamous Omnic Crisis and an effort to make peace with the Omnics ended up displacing solar farmers and the general population living around the Australian Omnium. Spoiler alert: This included one Mako Rutledge, AKA Roadhog. The displaced population fought back against the Omnium in a rag-tag war that brought about the detonation of the building itself, and Junkertown was constructed on the ruins.

Enter the Queen, a charismatic and skilled fighter who is, as Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan says, THE boss. She commands a respect that has even the fiercest Junker quivering in their boots. In the first Junkertown teaser, we see Roadhog and Junkrat getting booted from the town and, although the reasons why are still unclear, we know that they’re on a quest to buy their way back into the Queen’s good graces.

The payload that is being delivered to the Queen is overflowing with the spoils of war collected on Junkrat and Roadhog’s journey. When Overwatch launched, my initial impression of the Junker characters were that they were vagrant nomads. While vagrant is not the wrong adjective to use to describe them, I was genuinely surprised that they come from a place under the rule of a woman. And, honestly, this shouldn’t have surprised me either with the vast cast of characters — strong women included.

The map itself is made up of three areas: the capture point takes place on Roadhog’s abandoned farm and players will escort the payload through Junkertown Proper and through to the Scrapyard.

We’ll finally get the chance to roll through Junkertown on September 19th. Well, those of us who don’t play on the PTR.

As for what is coming up after Junkertown, I’m hoping for news on the next hero. I want to believe that the Queen will ride in on the Junkertown hype-train and release next, but I’m not so sure. I haven’t been able to shake the fact that Winston wasn’t the only one to go missing from the Horizon Lunar Colony.

As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in comments below or on social media!