This year marks the tenth anniversary of the original Overwatch. Its developer Blizzard made certain promises for its sequel; extended developments to its overarching story, playable PvE missions, and customisation for favourite characters. However, these promises failed to be followed through, making Overwatch 2 a divisive release.
Yet, fans received a key announcement from Blizzard on February 4th; a new, promising, and far too familiar revival.
The tantalising trailer promised fans ten new heroes; five of which will all be released simultaneously with the relaunch of season one. Some of which have pre-existing relationships within Overwatch’s overarching story. Domina, has her ties to Vishkar as their dominating negotiator. Her role in Vishkar dawns future stories with the asymmetry between herself, Symmetra, and Lifeweaver. Emre, the first male DPS in a decade, is an agent of Talon, his rebel against Overwatch, and turning against former allies Ana and Soldier 76, can be seen through past animated shorts.
Most controversially, the fan wielding Chinese warrior Anran has had a major change to her appearance; compared to her look in the animated release trailer for her brother Wuyang, who was released to the game in August of last year. The newest DPS to the game, has lost her prominent nose, fox-like eyes- and traded her fiery looks for Overwatch’s trademark same face. Fans have bluntly shown their outrage over this since its announcement.
However, such criticism has been acknowledged by the directors. Just mere hours before the update, Aaron Keller from Blizzard announced that major changes will be coming “Make Anran look, and feel like the fierce older sister we all envisioned her to be”.
Furthermore, many fans were heartbroken at Jeff Kaplan’s departure as lead director in 2021, as the subsequent year, the lacklustre Overwatch 2 was free to play. Kaplan was the primary creator and the face of the beloved game, his passion for the series allowed for its original rise to popularity. With his retirement, Aaron Keller took over as game director. And from the spotlight released a few days ago, Keller was in the spotlight once again. One of the penultimate statements made in the spotlight was the removal of the ‘2’ in Overwatch 2. Moving forward, the sequel game was going to return to the simply titled, Overwatch. This change in creative direction has entirely confused us fans to our core. Questions such as ‘What was the point in Overwatch 2?’ are plaguing subreddit’s and fan discussions.
Alas, the ‘Reign of Talon’ is now among us. The spotlight opened with Overwatch’s nemesis Talon, being overthrown by Vendetta, daughter of a previous Talon boss. He was murdered by Reaper, former overwatch agent turned Talon assassin. In the short, Vendetta mourns her father’s death and dethrones Doomfist, the acting Talon boss. Bearing her Halo-like energy sword, she swears to ‘make the world kneel’. Her vendetta towards Talon after her father’s death has altered the direction of Overwatch’s anticipated story forever.
So, what is next for the game’s intricate story?
We have lots to look forward to in 2026 concerning Overwatch. The new heroes being added each season will expand the existing stories within the game. The architects of Vishkar, soldiers of Overwatch and assassins of Talon will all have their stories expanded through Domina, Emre, and Vendetta respectively. However, the unknowns added to the cast of characters such as the two supports, Mizuki and the famed Jetpack Cat (seen through concept art dating as far back as 2017) will surely expand the universe’s lore even more.
