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Escort the payload through Venice in Overwatch's Rialto

Get on the payload! Romantically.

Overwatch's recent Retribution event was by far the most successful of its forays into co-op gameplay, especially when you consider how lovely its new map looked. Set in the heart of future Venice, not even a constant hail of gunfire and Genji mains refusing to get on the sodding dropship could hamper the romantic moonlight moods. The event may be over, but the map remains. Now bathed in sunlight, players can now romantically bop each other as they escort the payload through the scenic streets of Rialto.

As tempting as it might be to dip a toe in the canals, you probably shouldn't. While the world of Overwatch has seen its share of disasters over the years (including some morally complex robot uprisings), the biggest threat to mankind is the extremely lethal water that has apparently replaced the regular oceans of this world. The map itself is a lovely blend of old-world architecture and glowing futuristic interior designs, and features locations such as an art gallery and an old Talon base packed to the gills with guns.

Especially sassy Torbjörn and Symmetra players can also hop on top of the automated canal gondolas to plant mobile turrets on them. Probably not the most efficient of battle-tactics, but it's good for a laugh. While the map certainly looks polished to a mirror-sheen, Blizzard aren't quite confident enough in the balance of Rialto to roll it out on ranked competitive playlists yet, although the map is available to play in most other, more casual modes at present.

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The new map launches alongside a fairly major balance patch, including some fairly signficant tweaks to how bare-chested ship-magnet Hanzo plays. He now has a horizontal air-lunge which allows him to change direction of movement on a dime, plus his Scatter Arrow has been replaced with the new rapid-fire Storm Arrows ability, which lets you loose six slightly reduced-damage (but fully drawn) shots in quick succession.

Hanzo's Sonic Arrow ability has also been heavily reworked, reducing its duration and area of effect significantly, along with its cooldown time. There are a few more tweaks and improvements (including a reduction to Genji's ability to deflect projectiles beyond arm's reach), and you can check them out in the full patch notes here.

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