Overwatch Wiki
Register
Advertisement
"She who has the information, has the power..."

On July 12, 2016, an encrypted message was released with the announcement of Ana. This was the first of an on-going series of hidden puzzles in which Sombra interacted with the reader, dubbed the Sombra ARG by the community. Below is a step-by-step process of how these puzzles were solved, as well as translations of the resulting messages.

Note: This page is updated slowly. To find more recent information, visit the Game Detectives wiki.
If you want to help solve the puzzles, or keep up to date on the latest leads, visit the Game Detectives Discord server. (Please respect other users by keeping to the Sombra-related channels.)

Puzzle 1: Ana's Origin Story

Discovery

On July 12, 2016, the video [NEW HERO] Ana Origin Story | Overwatch was released. At 1:16 and 2:11, faint text can be seen.[ana origin 1][ana origin 2]

Text found at 1:16
2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20 66 62 72 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 7B 76 20 7E
79 71 78 65 7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 72
7B 20 67 78 73 72 65 2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20 66 62 72 20 63 7E 72
79 72 20 7B 76 20 7E 79 71 78 65 7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20
63 7E 72 79 72 20 72 7B 20 67 78 73 72 65 2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20
66 62 72 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 7B 76 20 7E 79 71 78 65 7A 76
74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 72 7B 20 67 78 73 72
65 2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20 66 62 72 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 7B 76 20
7E 79 71 78 65 7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20
72 7B 20 67 78 73 72 65 2E 2E 2E 64 78 7A 75
Text found at 2:11
65 76 2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20 66 62 72 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 7B 76
20 7E 79 71 78 65 7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20 63 7E 72 79 72
20 72 7B 20 67 78 73 72 65 2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20 66 62 72 20 63
7E 72 79 72 20 7B 76 20 7E 79 71 78 65 7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79
2C 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 72 7B 20 67 78 73 72 65 2E 2E 2E 7B
76 20 66 62 72 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 7B 76 20 7E 79 71 78 65
7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 72 7B 20 67 78
73 72 65 2E 2E 2E 7B 76 20 66 62 72 20 63 7E 72 79 72 20 7B
76 20 7E 79 71 78 65 7A 76 74 7E D4 A4 79 2C 20 63 7E 72 79
72 20 72 7B 20 67 78 73 72 65 2E 2E 2E

Step One

Convert the text from hexadecimal to ASCII. A hexadecimal to ASCII converter.

For the first message, this gives:

...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...dxzu

And for the second, it gives:

ev...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...{v fbr c~ryr {v ~yqxezvt~Ô¤y, c~ryr r{ gxsre...

Step Two

This section is a stub section. You can help by adding any available information to this section.

Using Python, enter (replacing "put text here" with the messages obtained from step one): [ana origin 3]

str = "put text here"; ''.join(chr(ord(x) ^ 23) if x != ' ' and x != '.' else x for x in str);

For the first message, this gives:

..la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...somb

And for the second, it gives:

ra...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...la que tiene la información; tiene el poder...

Final Message

Put together and translated from Spanish, the final message is: [ana origin 4]

...she who has the information, has the power...she who has the information, has the power...she who has the information, has the power...she who has the information, has the power...sombra...she who has the information, has the power...she who has the information, has the power...she who has the information, has the power...she who has the information, has the power...

References

Puzzle 2: Developer Update on Ana

Discovery

On July 19, 2016, the video Developer Update | Introducing Ana | Overwatch was released. At 12:25, a beep is heard and and four images flash across the screen.</ref>[ana update 1] While the first, second, and fourth are test cards, the third is an original image.

Step One

Cut up the image into nine vertical barcodes and run it through a barcode reader.[ana update 2][ana update 3] A barcode reader.

This returns a series of hex values.[ana update 3] Zero pad it by adding zeroes to the beginning of each value with less than four characters.

Values from Barcodes, Zero-Padded

0FEC-0820-0BA9-0BAD-0BAF-0824-0FEA-0005-0F28-0980-05B0-0F59
04B1-02C7-0F83-0748-07F4-0719-0AAA-02C8-01F6-047C-05A8-0DBA
007F-1541-085D-0E5D-035D-1C41-157F-0500-049D-0122-11D8-0D9C
0279-0919-04AA-0800-01E9-0308-03F1-0EDC-0CB3-0602-0DE9-0008
0153-0690-0BF0-0CA1-002B-0D03-09C8-0866-0DF7-0EF9-0C21-0020
1FD7-1F79-1582-1252-0806-1B4B-1FB7-1050-0532-09A9-1870-1FEF
03A0-0A43-0AFF-0793-0658-000C-0FE4-0821-0BA4-0BA8-0BAA-082F-0FED
0B6A-0BD4-0496-0324-0A2F-03C3-078E-0723-0634-00B9-0287-0EFA-0172
1B5E-17F9-083D-0160-1BFE-1D14-0956-0318-05F1-06D7-01BC-0C24-18CF

Step Two

This section is a stub section. You can help by adding any available information to this section.

Convert the hex values to binary.

Rearrange into a QR code.[ana update 4] Scan the QR code. A QR code reader.

Sombra QR code

When scanned, it reads:

¿Estuvo eso facilito? Ahora que tengo su atención, déjenme se las pongo más difícil.

Final Message

Translated from Spanish, the end result is:

Was that easy? Well, now that I have your attention, allow me to make things much more difficult.[ana update 5]

References

Puzzle 3: Tracer's Trail

Discovery

On August 2, 2016, the video [NEW SEASONAL EVENT] Welcome to the Summer Games! | Overwatch was released. Text can be seen in the energy trail of Tracer's chronal accelerator.[tracer trail 1]

The font used makes it difficult to distinguish between uppercase i's and lowercase L's. This is one possibility:

U2FsdGVkX1+vupppZksvRf5pq5g5XjFRlipRkwB0K1Y96Qsv2L
m+31cmzaAILwytX/z66ZVWEQM/ccf1g+9m5Ubu1+sit+A9cenD
xxqklaxbm4cMeh2oKhqlHhdaBKOi6XX2XDWpa6+P5o9MQw==

Step One

Decrypting the above from Base64 gives the following:
Salted message from Axxim's transcript

The presence of "Salted__" at the beginning means that this (and all other possible variations) is a salted message.[tracer trail 2]

Current Status

The password to decrypt the message has not been found. You can try to guess the password here.

References

  1. 2016-08-02, Discovery and discussion, Reddit.
  2. 2016-08-05, A detailed breakdown, Axxim.net.

Puzzle 4: Compass

Discovery

On August 2, 2016, the video [NEW SEASONAL EVENT] Welcome to the Summer Games! | Overwatch was released. A series of directions that aren't in-game can be seen in various shots of characters: [compass 1][compass 2]

Mercy, on Route 66, has an arrow pointing right reading "East"
D.Va, on Temple of Anubis, has a brick reading "C"
Torbjörn, on Nepal, has an arrow pointing up
Genji, on Hanamura, has an arrow pointing down
McCree, on Hollywood, has a compass with a dot on the Southeast marker
Symmetra, on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, has a wall reading "West" (the arrow below is in-game)
Bastion, on Hollywood, has a wall reading "Southwest"
Winston, on Volskaya Industries has a ship reading "NE"
Tracer, on King's Row, has an arrow pointing to the upper left

Current Status

The following puzzle uses the compass in its solution. However, as the compass was released nine days before, it's theorized that was not its original purpose.

References

  1. 2016-08-02, Reddit post about the directions, Reddit.
  2. Completed compass, Game Detectives.

Puzzle 5: Modified Screenshots

Discovery

On August 8, 2016, a modified version of a Dorado screenshot was added to the media page of the official Overwatch website.[dorado image 1][dorado image 2]

Step One

If opened with a text editor, you can see that some characters from the original image have been replaced with exclamation points in the modified version.[dorado image 3] Comparing both files with a diff utility and outputting the difference gives the following: [dorado image 4]

Por que estan mirando al cielo? La respuesta no esta sobre sus cabezas, esta detras de ustedes. A veces, necesitan analizar sus logros previos.

Translated from Spanish:

Why do you look to the sky? The answer is not above your heads, it's behind you. Sometimes, you need to analyze your previous achievements.

It's theorized that this puzzle was a failed attempt to help users solve the salted message or the compass, and that the following steps were improvised when progress continued to not be made.

Step Two

On August 11, 2016, a new achievement was added to players' profiles on Play Overwatch.[dorado image 5]

A message is hidden within the page's source code:

<!--Vientos, nada mal. No obstante, me aburro. Intentemos algo nuevo en la misma dirección. uczihriwgsxorxwunaarawryqhbrsfmeqrjjmu 5552E494 78T3 4VM9 OPL6 IS8208O913KRlrx-->

Translated from Spanish:

Good job, not bad. But I'm getting bored. Let's try something new in the same direction.

Step Three

The non-Spanish in the above message is using a Vigenére cipher.[dorado image 6] It uses the heroes from the compass, starting from the top left and going clockwise, as a key. A Vigenére decoder.

Key:

tracertorbjornwinstonsymmetradvamercybastiongenjimccree

Result:

blzgdapiproaakamaihdnetmediascreenshot 5552e494 78b3 4ce9 acf6 ef8208f913cfjpg

Step Four

Add the necessary punctuation to get an image link: blzgdapipro-a.akamaihd.net/media/screenshot/5552E494-78B3-4CE9-ACF6-EF8208F913CF.jpg This is another modified screenshot, this time of Volskaya Industries.

[dorado image 7]

This image also has characters replaced with exclamation points, so repeat Step One and compare the two files. The output is the following:

Final Message

Parece que te gustan estos jueguitos... por que no jugamos uno de verdad?
                          :PB@Bk:
                      ,jB@@B@B@B@BBL.
                   7G@B@B@BMMMMMB@B@B@Nr
               :kB@B@@@MMOMOMOMOMMMM@B@B@B1,
           :5@B@B@B@BBMMOMOMOMOMOMOMM@@@B@B@BBu.
        70@@@B@B@B@BXBBOMOMOMOMOMOMMBMPB@B@B@B@B@Nr
      G@@@BJ iB@B@@  OBMOMOMOMOMOMOM@2  B@B@B. EB@B@S
      @@BM@GJBU.  iSuB@OMOMOMOMOMOMM@OU1:  .kBLM@M@B@
      B@MMB@B       7@BBMMOMOMOMOMOBB@:       B@BMM@B
      @@@B@B         7@@@MMOMOMOMM@B@:         @@B@B@
      @@OLB.          BNB@MMOMOMM@BEB          rBjM@B
      @@  @           M  OBOMOMM@q  M          .@  @@
      @@OvB           B:u@MMOMOMMBJiB          .BvM@B
      @B@B@J         0@B@MMOMOMOMB@B@u         q@@@B@
      B@MBB@v       G@@BMMMMMMMMMMMBB@5       F@BMM@B
      @BBM@BPNi   LMEB@OMMMM@B@MMOMM@BZM7   rEqB@MBB@
      B@@@BM  B@B@B  qBMOMB@B@B@BMOMBL  B@B@B  @B@B@M
       J@@@@PB@B@B@B7G@OMBB.   ,@MMM@qLB@B@@@BqB@BBv
          iGB@,i0@M@B@MMO@E  :  M@OMM@@@B@Pii@@N:
             .   B@M@B@MMM@B@B@B@MMM@@@M@B
                 @B@B.i@MBB@B@B@@BM@::B@B@
                 B@@@ .B@B.:@B@ :B@B  @B@O
                   :0 r@B@  B@@ .@B@: P:
                       vMB :@B@ :BO7
                           ,B@B

Translated, the Spanish reads:

It seems you like these little games... Why don't we play a real one?

References

Skycoder's Forum Post: ASCII Skull

Discovery

On August 23, 2016, a locked thread titled "00110010 00110011" ("23" in binary) was created on Overwatch's General Discussion forums by a user named Skycoder, and remained at the top of the forums. It read, "la que tiene la información; tiene el poder". After remaining on the page for a few seconds, the site begins to glitch out and a text box appears, which then is filled with characters.

...
ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICA6UEKPQms6CiAgICAgICAgI
CAgICAgICAgICAgICAsakKIQEJAQkBCQEJCTC4KICAgICAgICAgICAgIC
AgICAgIDdHlkKTQpVCTU1NTU1CQEJAQkBOcgogICAgICAgICAgICAgICA
6a0KSQpCIl01NT01PTU9NT01NTU2MQphCQEIxLAogICAgICAgICAgIDo1
kUKNQphCiEJCTU1PTU9NT01PTU9NT01NipJuQm5CQEJCdS4KICAgICAgI
CA3MG6GlUKIQpJClEJYQkJPTU9NT01PTU9NT01NQk1QQphCiEJAQkBCQE
5yCiAgICAgIEeYlpdCSiBpQohCh4ggIE9CTU9NT01PTU9NT01PTZYyICB
Cj0JAQi4gRUJAQkBTCiAgICAgIJKWQk2HR0pCVS4gIGlTdUKIT01PTU9N
T01PTU9NTZdPVTE6ICAua0JMTYhNhkKXCiAgICAgIEKMTU1CmUIgICAgI
CAgN4hCQk1NT01PTU9NT01PQkKWOiAgICAgICBCh0JNTYhCCiAgICAgII
2YiEKKQiAgICAgICAgIDeSlkBNTU9NT01PTU1AQkA6ICAgICAgICAgQEB
CQEJACiAgICAgII+ST0xCLiAgICAgICAgICBCTkKPTU1PTU9NTY9CRUIg
ICAgICAgICAgckJqTYRCCiAgICAgIJBAICBAICAgICAgICAgICBNICBPQ
k9NT01NQHEgIE0gICAgICAgICAgLkAgIEBACiAgICAgIISVT3ZCICAgIC
AgICAgICBCOnWMTU1PTU9NTUJKaUIgICAgICAgICAgLkJ2TUBCCiAgICA
gIIRCkUKYSiAgICAgICAgIDCRQpdNTU9NT01PTUKVQkB1ICAgICAgICAg
cUBAQEJACiAgICAgIEKETUJCjHYgICAgICAgR4+LQk1NTU1NTU1NTU1NQ
kKINSAgICAgICBGhEJNTUBCCiAgICAgIIdCQk1/QlBOaSAgIExNRUKFT0
1NTU2PQoNNTU9NTYpCWk03ICAgckVxQodNQkKECiAgICAgIEKYloRCTSA
gQm1ChEIgIHFCTU9NQpBChUKEQk1PTUJMICBCQEJAQiAgQEJAQkBNCiAg
ICAgICBKlm2GhFBCj0KEQplCN0eIT01CQi4gICAsQE1NTUBxTEJAQkBAQ
EJxQkBCQnYKICAgICAgICAgIGlHQpUsaTCETZZCbk1NT4tFICA6ICBNQE
9NTUBAQEJAUGlpQEBOOgogICAgICAgICAgICAgLiAgIEKXTZBCj01NTUB
CQEJAQkBNTU1AQEBNQEIKICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICBAQkBCLmlATUJC
QEJAQkBAQk1AOjpCQEJACiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgQkBAQCAuQkBCL
jpAQkAgOkJAQiAgQEJATwogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgOjAgckBCQC
AgQkBAIC5AQkA6IFA6CiAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgdk1CIDp
AQkAgOkJPNwogICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAsQkBCCg==
▌

Step One

Decoding the above from Base64 results in the following ASCII art:

                          :PB.Bk:
                      ,jBˆ@B@B@B@BBL.
                   7G–B“B•BMMMMMB@B@B@Nr
               :kB’B.ˆ—MMOMOMOMOMMMMŒB˜B@B1,
           :5‘B.B˜BˆBBMMOMOMOMOMOMOMMŠ’nBnB@BBu.
        70n†•BˆB’B”BXBBOMOMOMOMOMOMMBMPB˜BˆB@B@B@Nr
      G˜–—BJ iBˆB‡ˆ  OBMOMOMOMOMOMOM–2  B.B@B. EB@B@S
      ’–BM‡GJBU.  iSuBˆOMOMOMOMOMOMM—OU1:  .kBLMˆM†B—
      BŒMMB™B       7ˆBBMMOMOMOMOMOBB–:       B‡BMMˆB
      .˜ˆBŠB         7’–@MMOMOMOMM@B@:         @@B@B@
      .’OLB.          BNB.MMOMOMM.BEB          rBjM„B
      .@  @           M  OBOMOMM@q  M          .@  @@
      „•OvB           B:uŒMMOMOMMBJiB          .BvM@B
      „B‘B˜J         0‘B—MMOMOMOMB•B@u         q@@@B@
      B„MBBŒv       G.‹BMMMMMMMMMMMBBˆ5       F„BMM@B
      ‡BBM.BPNi   LMEB…OMMMM.BƒMMOMMŠBZM7   rEqB‡MBB„
      B˜–„BM  BmB„B  qBMOMB.B…B„BMOMBL  B@B@B  @B@B@M
       J–m†„PB.B„B™B7GˆOMBB.   ,@MMM@qLB@B@@@BqB@BBv
          iGB•,i0„M–BnMMO‹E  :  M@OMM@@@B@Pii@@N:
             .   B—M.B.MMM@B@B@B@MMM@@@M@B
                 @B@B.i@MBB@B@B@@BM@::B@B@
                 B@@@ .B@B.:@B@ :B@B  @B@O
                   :0 r@B@  B@@ .@B@: P:
                       vMB :@B@ :BO7
                           ,B@B

Step Two

This section is a stub section. You can help by adding any available information to this section.

Use the original skull and this skull somehow. Do a lot of things.[ascii skull 1]

Eventually, get this:

Les prometi un juego... Creo que ustedes los detectives de juegos lo llamarian un trail head? blzgdausa-ambas-calaveras.html

The Spanish, translated: :I promised you a game. I believe you game detectives would call it a trail head? Note: usa-ambas-calaveras translates to uses-both-skulls.

Message

"blzgda" is the start of links on Blizzard's site, so go to blzgdapipro-a.akamaihd.net/media/screenshot/usa-ambas-calaveras.html. There's a video there.

The skull icon from Skycoder's avatar appears at 0:09.[ascii skull 2]

Downloading the video allows users to see the description, which reads, "Parecen estar muy interesados en estos "héroes". ¿Tal vez les interese conocer algunos detallitos que he averiguado sobre ellos?"

Translation: You seem to be very interested in these "heroes". Perhaps you would like to know some little details I've found about them?

Step Three

By assigning the 26 dashes in the video to letters, the pulses translate to "amomentincrime", the TV show which reported on Junkrat and Roadhog.[ascii skull 3][ascii skull 4] amomentincrime.com leads to a white page with a message (translations in brackets):

...Estableciendo conexión... [...Establishing connection...]
...Protocolo Sombra v1.3 iniciado... [...Protocol Sombra v1.3 initiated...]

...Infiltrando la respuesta automática del email de pistas... [...Infiltrating automatic email response tracks...]

...Terminando conexión... [...Terminating connection...]

Emailing tips@amomentincrime.com, the email originally used when Junkrat and Roadhog were announced, results in an email that says:

A Moment in Crime's anonymous crime line!
Thank you for contacting A Moment in Crime's anonymous crime line!

We have analyzed your submission and forwarded the information to the relevant parties. Your help could be vital in apprehending these cri

...Estableciendo conexión...
...Protocolo Sombra v1.7 iniciado...


01:07:47 02:02:02 01:08:06 02:13:43 01:18:32
01:18:21 02:10:19 01:06:21 02:05:18 01:04:02
01:07:08 02:18:25 01:13:04 02:19:20 01:23:02
01:16:40 02:16:35 01:23:04 02:17:16 01:06:42
01:13:29 02:18:06 01:05:02 02:15:41 01:08:34

j.7F57O,NLv:qj.7B:,1qv@B1j5ivB:,

...Terminando conexión...

minals and bringing them to justice. These fugitives are responsible for a string of robberies, arson, and other crimes stretching from Sydney to King's Row.

Authorities believe that they have set their sights on crossing the Atlantic to America.

This is very similar to the original email received at Junkrat and Roadhog's debut.[ascii skull 5]

References

Skycoder's Forum Post: Modified Reaper Image

The page for the faux post was updated sometime before 11:30pm GMT, adding a modified image of Reaper.[reaper pic 1] The original image was previously modified and used in an attempt to communicate with Sombra.[reaper pic 2]

References

Skycoder's Forum Post: Countdown

This is the current puzzle of the ARG.

Discovery

When it was posted at ~2:30pm PDT, the timestamp read 21 hours ago. By 3:30pm PDT that number dropped to 20 hours, and continued to drop each hour.[countdowns 1] At 12:19pm PDT, when the countdown hit 0 seconds, the link to the post disappeared from the forums and amomentincrime was updated.[countdowns 2] [countdowns 3] In purple on a black background, the site read:

...Estableciendo conexión...
...Protocolo Sombra v1.9 iniciado...

...Transmitiendo información a ómnicos activos... 2%

...Terminando conexión...

The percentage slowly ticked up at an uneven rate. It reached 3% on August 24 at 12:35pm PDT; 4% on August 24 at 3:01pm PDT; and 5% on August 25 at 08:24pm PDT. [citation needed] Some time after reaching 5%, it began increasing at a rate of 0.0038% every 3 minutes.[countdowns 4] At some point, v1.9 changed to v1.95. [citation needed]

First Message

Looking at the source code for amomentincrime reveals a message:

<!-- Bien hecho, ya tienen mi clave. Hackear este programa de televisión no tuvo chiste. Espérense a lo que sigue.-->

Translated from Spanish:

Well done, you have my key. Hacking this television program was a piece of cake. Wait for what follows.

Second Message

At some point, a second message was added to the source code:

<!-- Parece que se están calentando un poco las cosas... tendré que pasar desapercibida mientras esto se finaliza. -->

Translated from Spanish:

It seems that things are heating up ... I'll have to go unnoticed while this finishes.

References

  1. 2016-08-23, Observation of the countdown, Reddit.
  2. 2016-08-24, It's gone, Reddit'.
  3. 2016-08-24, amomentincrime is loading!!, Reddit.
  4. 2016-08-25, amomentincrime.com % progress study, Reddit.

Trivia

  • Sombra's pseudonym on the Overwatch forums is a reference to the "skycode", a red herring found while trying to solve the Summer Games puzzles. Prompted by Jeff Kaplan saying that the puzzles were "way above [his] head", players found what seemed to be suspicious artifacting in Dorado's skybox.[1][2] Despite many theories and attempts to decode it over the next five days, it was eventually debunked when players solved a puzzle which said, "Why do you look to the sky? The answer is not above your heads, it's behind you."

References

Advertisement