Overwatch 2 hosts an eclectic mix of characters; from a gorilla scientist to a cheerful martian healer, its roster has long been filled with a dynamic and diverse cast of heroes. It’s one of the things that sets it apart from many other hero shooters, allowing it to maintain its unique place in the ocean of other games of the genre that have been released in the past eight years. However, the introduction of Wuyang indicates that this philosophy is one that’s about to change—the narrative team at Blizzard is, unfortunately, moving away from unique characters for the sake of relatability.
Wuyang Represents a New Era For Overwatch Character Design
In a roundtable attended by numerous sources, including Polygon and GameSandwich, Blizzard leads discussed Wuyang’s design philosophy and backstory, expanding a bit on his origins in Chengdu. They explained that Wuyang is a very personal hero for a lot of devs, intended to explore the complicated culture around success and failure in China, focusing specifically on family pressure to succeed and how that influences the way a child experiences failure. This is a deeper, more personal look at this new character than players have gotten with past heroes, and marks a shift in priority for Overwatch narrative designers.
Lead concept artist Daryl Tan explained that, “[the team] always will approach making Overwatch heroes… aspirational in some sense,” and that they want the characters in Overwatch to be relatable to players, someone to find solidarity with. This means moving away from making characters like Roadhog, Junkrat, Wrecking Ball, and Winston, all of whom have a larger-than-life persona that the writers see as a barrier to relatability.
There are a good number of “strange” characters on the Overwatch roster, a cartoonish cast of heroes that makes the game stand out from other hero shooters like Valorant, who host human agents with fantastical abilities. In Valorant, the agents do what they can do because of radianite magic, whereas the already existing heroes do what they can do in Overwatch because of their extraordinary circumstances. Winston is a gorilla who loves science and was raised on the moon; certainly, this isn’t a character players will have an easy time relating to. Despite this struggle, shifting away from characters like Winston is a deviation from one of the things that made, and still makes, Overwatch stand out from its peers.
Overwatch Was Built on “Oddball” Characters
From the very beginning of Overwatch, its strange characters helped it retain a striking visual identity that very few other team shooters have been able to emulate to any degree of success. Alongside its interesting and unique world, Overwatch‘s character design helped it to stand out when it was released in 2016, cementing it as an iconic hero shooter no matter people’s tendency to talk badly about Blizzard’s general choices around the game. As a new game, Overwatch needed to establish itself quickly in order to gain traction, and memorable characters were the main method by which it did so.
Now, with the introduction of characters like Freya and Wuyang, two humans with human-like abilities, Blizzard is pivoting away from one of the best things about the game. Not only does moving away from strange characters weaken the game’s visual identity, it also limits the memorability of its roster. Even months after Freya’s release, there are still players who have to reach for her name when communicating in-game. Her design isn’t memorable or particularly notable, and Wuyang is likely going to be similarly received. That’s not to say that Wuyang’s story isn’t unique or interesting, but rather to point out that very few people play Overwatch for the story. While the IP has a lot of possibility, Overwatch 2‘s chronically languishing PvE modes prove that Overwatch‘s playerbase just doesn’t really care about its story, instead preferring the devs to create a fun and interesting competitive game environment, supported by memorable and eye-catching characters.
Strange Characters Pose a Challenge Overwatch Writers Should Embrace
Lead Narrative Designer Joshi Zhang explained a bit of the philosophy behind Wuyang’s story, saying, “When I was writing [Wuyang’s] story, I drew on a lot of very deep personal experiences about confronting my own feelings.” Since he was designing a character whose story was very personal to him, it only makes sense that the character is physically relatable to him as well as characteristically. This is a pretty simple approach to designing characters that feel very human, but for a game whose characters have always felt slightly left of “real,” this doesn’t seem like the right narrative direction to go.
The connection between visual design and narrative design for characters in Overwatch has always been strong, and making strange characters like Roadhog or Winston feel relatable was likely a large challenge. Unfortunately, the decision to move towards more “normal” characters feels like Blizzard admitting that its team just doesn’t have what it takes to make compelling characters that are also unconventional. Many fans of the game are disappointed in this direction, taking to official Blizzard forums to express their opinions. One in particular, by a user named Aciduh, summarizes the general sentiment.
“We all love those quirky characters,” their post reads, “They made what Overwatch used to be: a game with a sense of humour, immersion and personalities.” They continue, “Is the direction you want to take just copy-pasting UwU characters to sell skins? We like those too, but please, don’t go that route. Do you really hate your community that much, or is it just some of your suits looking at charts on the game’s popularity?”
The question posed is dramatic but no less poignant for it. Such a shift in design philosophy indicates a shift in priorities, and it’s no surprise that the community is questioning the motivation behind the change. Only time will tell whether or not this is the right decision for Overwatch 2’s future, but right now, it’s just disappointing to see Blizzard shy away from one of the main things making their game stand out from the rest.
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