Overwatch 2 is haunted right now, and no, it’s not because the game is buggy as hell. If you booted up Blizzard’s hero shooter recently, you might’ve noticed some eerie avatars littered around one particular loading screen, stuck in super creepy A- and T-poses. How fitting, especially since we’re getting frighteningly close to Halloween.
Overwatch 2 arrived this month to a bevy of issues, from long queues to locked characters. The game hasn’t had a smooth launch, to say the least. But now, with things mostly under control — though some issues still persist — players are getting freaked out by something less pressing but more perturbing: strange avatars posed on the loading screen for Ilios.
Ilios is a Capture the Flag and Control map, one of the few that has carried over from the OG game that just shut down in the wake of Overwatch 2‘s rocky launch. It’s not a terrifying map in and of itself, what with the beautiful sun in the background and the elegant architecture populating the location. However, things are always more sinister when you take a closer look, which is what players have done recently. All across the internet, from Reddit to Twitter, are screenshots of some unsettlingly little grayed-out dudes randomly frozen in A- and T-poses during Ilios’ loading screen.
Kotaku booted up Overwatch 2 to verify if these uncanny mannequins were actually there, and yes, they are as of this writing. We created a custom game and waited on Ilios’ loading screen, only to find the bizarre avatars standing there like scarecrows or something, waiting to startle any players foolish enough to go looking for them. This is all probably an accidental coincidence, a possible holdover during game development, or something in between.
Given how fast Blizzard is tweaking the game to address the various problems plaguing the live service hero shooter, it’s possible this oversight will be short-lived. Of course, compared to some of the other issues players are facing, such as locked rosters or the incessant disconnects, having a few tiny dudes in the background of something that most might not even notice is probably low on the priority list. Still creepy, though, especially if you weren’t expecting them.
Kotaku has reached out to Blizzard for comment.
Read More: Blizzard: Overwatch 2 ‘Launch Experience Has Been Frustrating For Many’
After launching on October 4, the hero shooter has pretty much been a busted mess. It suffered multiple DDoS attacks that made it unplayable for some, had a chat bug that randomly bought in-game skins without player consent, was riddled with an error message that barred people from playing with their friends, and a host of other issues that are still ongoing. Those trying to play right now will also find characters like Torbjorn and Bastion gone from some game modes, as Blizzard tries to fix issues with their ability kits.
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