![]() “Characters are formed through multiple ways.” “There’s no clear-cut path to creation,” says Overwatch Principal Designer Geoff Goodman of the formation of each character. It’s a challenging balance to achieve, but Overwatch continues to impress in its ability to delicately do so. But they’re also fully-formed individuals with their own identities and values, which largely inform who they are. Thus, characters like Pharah and Ana are Egyptian, and much of their design from the styling of Pharah’s suit to their individual eye adornments call back to their heritage. Rather, it’s an informant, one essential piece of their whole self. Much like in real life, one’s race, gender, or heritage is an important part of who they are, but it isn’t the governing trait by which their entire identity is formed. Overwatch’s diversity is bolstered by its ability to include cultural influence without it being the sole defining trait of a character. “We wanted to reflect the diversity of our world in the characters,” Chu says of the motivations to create such a multi-faceted cast. Each character’s body type ranges from athletically slim to large and powerful, and is always framed in a positive way. Cultures ranging from America to Egypt largely inform the visual design of so many characters. Men and women share an equal amount of space and importance in their roles. In addition to featuring a large team, Overwatch is also arguably one of the most effortlessly diverse games currently available. “Since this was set on Earth, we decided to pull from different aspects of what makes us unique.” He points to the fantasy world of Warcraft as an example. “At Blizzard, we like to make unique worlds,” says Senior Game Designer Michael Chu. And yet, there’s just enough cohesion between the characters and the roles they each play to make Overwatch itself feel like a fully-developed, multi-faceted team. The main character featured on virtually all of Overwatch’s promotional materials is Tracer, a young, peppy British woman with a teleporting ability. The grizzled, war-worn Soldier 76 serves to protect healing characters like the matronly soldier Ana and the angelic Mercy. Winston the sentient Gorilla marches in line with the cybernetic ninja Genji. Set on Earth in a near-future, cartoonish science fiction universe, its cast stars a wide swath of characters hailing from virtually every corner of the globe and beyond. ![]() It doesn’t even adhere to the same rule sets often observed by multiplayer shooters. Only a handful of its characters are familiar from other types of video games. ![]() None of it fits within any molds typically found in team-based shooters.
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