CITY CENTER
Overwatch’s newest map takes players to the beautiful land of Oasis in Iraq. Like other Control maps, Oasis is split into three separate locations, City Center, Gardens, and University.
Obviously doing their homework, Blizzard has included several historical hints to middle-eastern cultural and landmarks within the maps. Players will also notice a variety of Arabic writings scattered around the locations. Although Temple of Anubis features small amounts of Arabic as well, Oasis has built the language much more into the landscape of the maps, pointing towards the history of the locations and even a cute name for the small white cars you will find parked around while battling. With thanks to our translator, here are all the Arabic words within the three Oasis locations translated to English for your reading pleasure.
A massive tower stands unfinished in the distance of City Center, representative of the Tower of Babel. Historically, the Tower of Babel is a myth that seeks to explain the origin of different languages, as the story states humanity gathered in the land of Shinar to build a tower capable of reaching the heavens. However, God viewed this as disrespectful and created a variety of languages so the workers couldn’t understand each other and finish the tower correctly.
Here are all the Arabic translations for the City Center Oasis location.
Just like the movie poster in Hollywood, this Arabic version reads “Hero of my Storm” with the characters names “Robert Greenways, Hana Song (aka D.Va), and Thespian 4.0” along the bottom.
The archway above this spawn point reads, “buffet.” Inside you’ll find a kitchen, set tables, and several floating server Omniacs.
On the other side of the map, the second spawn point reads “Golden Tower Hotel.” Inside is the lobby of a hotel with numerous floors of rooms that vertically capable heroes will be able to climb and visit.
This poster for the cars seen parked along the street reads “the snail.” Makes sense, as the cars do look a bit like snails with their antenna-ish mirrors and high-shelled looking tops.
This shop reads “Mirage Fantasy.”
Another shop reads “incredible humans” that might translate more literally to “super-humans” in English.
Another sign for the snail cars now reads “tracked” or perhaps “crawler.” This may be because the cars can move along a tracked line on the road.
From left to right, these four signs around the center of the map read, “Ministry of Biology,” “Ministry of Physics,” “Ministry of Genetics,” and “Ministry of Geology.”
The entrances outside the city center read “Board/Council of Founders.”
This building reads “Refresh (or Renew) your Life – Rejuvenation,” indicating it is probably a spa.
UNIVERSITY
The University area is likely based off the the House of Wisdom in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age, wherein a collection of specialists in the sciences and humanities gathered together for the sake of improving world knowledge in medieval Islam.
Here are all the Arabic translations for the University Oasis location.
While coming out of either of the spawns, there is a sign in either blue or yellow that simply reads “Guide.”
This screen in the spawn points reads “loading” in the top right, “status….online” and “connection…..on” on the top left, and “ongoing operation of the system” in the bottom right.
The left monitor reads “Lab”and “Data processing” while the right reads “System….Online,” “User account,” “Password,” “Login,” and “Loading Data.”
This monitor reads “University” in the center and “Connected” in the top right corner.
This final terminal reads “Status Online” and then “Documents being processed” in the center.
GARDENS
Gardens is extremely reminiscent of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world in Babylon (or modern day Iraq). Much like the map, the Hanging Gardens featured beautiful flowers, trees, shrubs, vines, and more, with indications of its construction dating back to 290 BC.
Here are all the Arabic translations for the Gardens Oasis location.
The Gardens location just has the one Arabic writing that reads “boat port” with the boat in question within the spawn itself in the back right-hand corner.
Since the majority of Overwatch’s characters come from locations within its maps, perhaps this new location indicates the next character Blizzard will release will be from Iraq. How are you liking the layout and location of the new Oasis map? Let us know down below!
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