What’s new with the search for Overwatch’s Sombra?

According to the last time there was any major activity on the Sombra ARG, something big was supposed to happen on Nov. 1. That day has now come and gone. What’s happened?

Quite a bit, actually. What has not happened, though, is Sombra.

Overwatch’s newest hero has not yet made an appearance in the game. One popular and hopeful theory had Sombra sneaking into the game via the post-Halloween event patch. However, that has not happened.

BlizzCon, Blizzard’s annual convention to celebrate their games and announce future updates, is set to take place this weekend. Since Sombra was not dropped, we expect that she will be at least officially announced during BlizzCon.

But onto what we know know. First, artwork of the character was leaked after it was apparently spotted on the Blizzard online store.

While it’s always tricky to verify the authenticity of artwork, this particular one is credible based on the fact that it was found on a Blizzard website. It has also been signed by John Polidora. A quick Google search reveals that John Polidora is a concept artist and character designer for Blizzard and Overwatch.

Now onto the ARG. Previously, we had been led to Lumerico’s website, an infrastructure company that exists within Overwatch’s Mexico. We also had been given the username and password of an employee of Lumerico. Yesterday, people used that information to log into that employee’s company page and noticed an “Admin” link at the top of the page.

This admin link took people to a page with a terminal, as well as some data readouts. The terminal was protected with a series of passwords, which people quickly deduced. Once logged into the terminal, the user could input a few commands. One of which, as long as the right authorization code was entered, seemed to indicate that Lumerico’s nuclear power plant was on its way to overloading.

The official Overwatch Twitter added information to set the scene, announcing the news that Lumerico was suffering a security breach.

Gauges on the terminal tracked the progress percentage until the plant was complete overloaded. With this new countdown, the Overwatch community believed that perhaps this at least would lead to the surprise reveal of Sombra in the game (unlike the last countdown that took place on A Moment in Crime).

At 8 pm EDT yesterday, the percentage count reached 100%.

Those checking in the game reported that Sombra wasn’t there. However, this appeared on the Lumerico website.

Before completely giving into disappointment, people continued to pull out as much information as possible from the new message. Roughly translated, the message reads as follows:

"Good job, folks. I would not have done it without your help. Anyway, I got the resources needed for my next hit. Will love.Wait to hear from me in the coming days. I’m going to send you something to thank you. I wish I could take advantage.Dasvidanya, friends."

All signs point to more waiting for what Sombra will do next. However, the noticeable Russian in the sign off made people start to investigate a possible connection between Volskaya Industries, an Overwatch map, and Sombra’s “next hit.”

The Overwatch community was already under the impression that Sombra had to be involved with the robots at Volskaya after seeing the leaked artwork. Sombra is seen in the hand of a giant robot that looks awfully like the one that has always lurked in the background of the Volskaya Industries map.

Fittingly, the Overwatch community have discovered a website for Volskaya Industries. The Russian on the website says, “Server overloaded. Maintenance currently in progress.”

People in the game have also discovered that there is now an error message on the computers on the Volskaya Industries map. This message is identical to the messages that were found on the El Dorado map a few weeks ago.

Image courtesy of Reddit user miss-moth

Players have also discovered that there is a new spray available, which exactly matches the skull marking that appeared on the Lumerico website. Could this be that “something” we were supposedly sent as a thank you?

Image courtesy of Reddit user MrBubles01

We seem to be getting close, but the Sombra ARG still lives on. As much as people seem sick of it, people also seem dedicated to following through to the very end. Let’s hope we reach that end this weekend during BlizzCon.

Next: Overwatch World Cup recap: Quarterfinals are set

If you want to get involved in the ARG or actively follow along, visit the Overwatch Reddit page or this live feed on the Sombra ARG.