[Update]: The Overwatch Anniversary patch has now arrived to the live servers. You can check out all of the changes and cosmetics by heading over here. Have fun!

Overwatch's very first birthday is just around the corner, and in order to get everyone nice and excited Blizzard will be releasing a massive Anniversary Update on May 23rd. There will be new legendary skins to collect, dance emotes for a bunch of heroes, three new arena (elimination) maps for the Arcade, numerous meme-inspired voice lines, and most likely a brand new event-exclusive game mode as well.

If that sounds like something you might be interested in you'll be glad to hear that Overwatch will be free to try out next week, shortly after the Anniversary Update launches. Both PC and console players will have full access to the entirety of Overwatch (which includes earning loot boxes, achievements, and skins) from May 26-29. And naturally, if you decide to purchase Overwatch at any point in the future all of your progress will carry over.

As for whether Overwatch is worth your time, that's not a question I can answer objectively given that I've probably spent over 200 hours playing it this past year. What I can say is that it features a great cast of characters with very diverse roles and playstyles, colorful and detailed maps, an extremely fair and cosmetic-only monetization system, as well as gameplay that rewards both personal skill and teamwork. I listed Overwatch as my favorite game from 2016, so if you have even an inkling of interest in team-based shooters I would suggest you give it a spin. Its completely free, so why not at least try?