The Overwatch ARG promises something big for November 1 [Updated]

Update: Like a minivan stuck in a Winnipeg snowbank, the wheels on the Sombra ARG continue to turn without taking us anywhere. The latest update, as detailed in this Reddit recap post, took place last night at https://lumerico.mx/omnics.txt. The text therein is Mayan and talks about animals, which somehow led investigators to the Mayan calendar, and this:

Allow: Tzolk'in
Allow: Imix ChikchanManik Imix ChikchanImixChikchanImix Manik Chikchan Imix Kimi Chikchan Chikchan Kimi ChikchanImixChikchanImix ChikchanKimi
  

From there, we get a numeric sequence, which when converted to Morse code translates to "EXECUTEATTACK." Slam that into the above URL and you end up at https://lumerico.mx/EXECUTEATTACK/index.html, and a message (in Spanish, of course) that translates to: 

The moment has come. The emails have exposed the truth about Portero. The uprising has started and the people of Mexico are with us. It is the moment to strike. We will take over his 11/1 event and we will strike him. I need you to do one thing.
Get access to the Security Chief Email and search for a way to help me with the attack. He might contact Portero soon. I have changed his password to: d0r*NuLw9. 

Using the Lumerico security chief's login (MJimenez, taken from previously-translated emails) and the above password at the Lumerico login prompt takes us to this page. The graphs and such are all client-side and thus don't mean anything, but the login panel below them looks potentially interesting.   

The November 1 reference would seem to indicate that meaningful progress (such as it is, anyway) has come to a halt for another week. In fact, waiting until then is number three on the list of things to do in the recap thread, right behind coming up with a way to help with the attack and figuring out what the command prompt is for. Regardless of the success of those efforts, the date will hopefully bring with it the long-overdue Sombra reveal. As ARGs go, this one has been a doozy, but enough is enough.

Original story: 

The Overwatch ARG has kicked into gear again, as the count-up at amomentincrime.com has completed and revealed a new message. It's in Spanish, but Google translate says it  works out thusly: 

Connecting ...
... Shadow v1.95 Protocol starting ...
... Finished Transmission - ending loading ...
... Charging complete. Bastion Unit E-54 committed ...
... Terminating connection ... 

The Bastion reference naturally led to a stampede to Bastion's page at playoverwatch.com, where nothing unusual is immediately evident. There are interesting things afoot at the official Discord Twitter account, however: It has been renamed to "sombra," its avatar is now the Sombra skull logo, and its latest tweet (as of this writing, anyway) is a poll that ends in 23 hours. 23 hours to the next piece in the puzzle, perhaps? 

One other potentially interesting note: There's some debate as to whether the message says "Bastion committed," or "Bastion compromised," as it says in this Battle.net thread. The translation comes courtesy of Google, as I said, and a word-for-word translation of "comprometida" comes up as "engaged," basically a synonym for "committed." It's a minor point and probably doesn't have any meaningful impact on what's happening, but given how deep this thing goes, even the small details are worth paying attention to. 

The Sombra megathread on Reddit is, shall we say, reacting to this latest development with vigor and intensity. We're keeping an eye on things, and we'll let you know when the next step is taken. 

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Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.