The second seasonal event for "Overwatch 2" (opens in new tab) has arrived, but unfortunately, Blizzard is still struggling to engage fans with scaled-down rewards and recycled game modes.

The "Winter Wonderland" event returns from the original "Overwatch" and offers four icy arcade modes. Those who have attended Winter Wonderland events in the past will be familiar with each of the modes, as they all return from previous events: in the 5vs1 Yeti Hunter, Mei and her team take on Winston, who jumps across the map, scoops up flesh, and transforms into a killing machine. Mei's Snowball Offensive is either a team or free-for-all mode, in which the heroes' regular ice bullets are replaced by snowballs. The last mode, Freezethaw Elimination, challenges teams to completely freeze their opponents, while their allies can thaw each other out.

Thankfully, the event comes with an earnable reward skin; while the first seasonal event traditionally had an earnable challenge skin, the "Halloween Terror" in "Overwatch 2" was notable for its lack of decent cosmetics; Blizzard has once again promised to have skin rewards, and this year, completing six event challenges will earn you a frostbitten Brigitte skin. Other challenges also offer smaller rewards such as weapon charms and sprays.

Unfortunately, most of the new winter-themed skins have been relegated to the "Overwatch" store. While expected, the move is still not very popular with some fans on the game's subreddit; a post (opens in new tab) that has garnered more than 2,000 upvotes laments the paid skins and repurposed game modes and says, "This Christmas, we'll basically have years of I get the gift of looking at recycled brawls from before and skins that I never had a chance to get unless I bought them," he wrote. In a comment on another Reddit post (opens in new tab), "Will this year's Winter Event just be more old game modes and store crap?" He asks.

Others were pleased to see the return of at least some of the skins that could be earned. One Reddit poster (opens in new tab) said, "I wouldn't mind getting skins this way if it was always this easy," and several others commented that it only took them about an hour to complete the challenge enough to get the skin. Actually playing the game is at least better than watching Twitch for six hours for a skin.

I don't particularly care for the recycled game modes of the annual event. However, the minimal rewards that can be earned and the event's lack of excitement make it less exciting than it used to be. Nevertheless, the event runs from now until January 4. There should be plenty of time to jump in and launch snowballs during the vacations.