The Overwatch Story Puzzle

Welcome back soldiers!

All things considered, it's a great time to be a Blizzard fan. Despite the shortcomings of World of Warcraft lately, they announced Warcraft: Chronicle which is a 3 part series laying down the history of Warcraft. Patch 2.3 for Diablo is currently in testing and will bring with it some changes and features that will undoubtedly make the game better (and that's ignoring any potential expansion talk). Starcraft 2's conclusion is almost here with the conclusion of an epic story. Hearthstone is hyping up some sort Argent Tournament style event or release. Heroes of the Storm keeps rolling out Heroes in a way that makes you forget the one that just released because there's another one coming. And then there is Overwatch.

With the gameplay previews for all the known heroes wrapping up, we were left to wonder if Blizzard would have anything to show last Wednesday. They did not disappoint. We got the background story and gameplay videos for Jack Morrison aka Soldier 76. 76 was the leader of Overwatch throughout the Omnic crisis up until their dismantling. The video paints him as a vengeful and somewhat spiteful vigilante seeking to take down those responsible for taking down Overwatch and attempting to kill him in the process. We already had some idea that OW was taken down from the inside via the Blizzcon panel last year, but now we're starting to get the pieces to the puzzle. The news article by Olympia Shaw gave us more insight into the days before Overwatch went dark. The combination of that and the Soldier 76 video present some interesting possibilities.

We got a nice shot of some of the original Overwatch members. Morrison, Reinhardt minus the helmet, Torbjorn, Pharah's mom, and who I assume is  Gabriel Reyes based on the article by Shaw. I don't know about you, but Reyes' shotgun sure look EXACTLY like Reaper's to me. That little touch is awesome because it lets us start to put together our own version of the story. Reyes could be the guy that took out Overwatch from the inside after being passed up for a promotion in favor of Morrison. Is Reyes rocking the Reaper outfit to hide his identity the same way Morrison is hiding his as Soldier 76? How does Talon, Reaper's current affiliation, fit into the equation? We know from the Widowmaker character page that Talon was responsible for brainwashing her and forcing her to kill her own husband. It's possible that Talon convinced Reyes to turn against Overwatch and in return he was enhanced to become the ultimate killing machine? As I said in my first OW lore post, one of the best parts about watching a new IP develop is having all of these questions and finding out the answers. There is something awesome about learning about the world outside of a wiki page.

Blizzard announced an upcoming graphic novel detailing the early days of Overwatch at Comic Con. In my opinion this is more exiting than any hero reveal we get between now and the beta. There is an opportunity to answer so many questions leading into the game. What was in Omnic crisis actually like? What made Reinhardt go a little cooky? What did Overwatch look like at it's peak? What actually happened to bring it down? And most importantly to me, what are the relationships between all of these characters that we will undoubtedly become attatched to in the years to come? We have a chance to feel he same regret when we see Reaper as we do when we see Arthas in Icecrown Citadel and Illidan in Black Temple. Jack Morrison could be a sympathetic hero in the same way as Sarah Kerrigan, screwed over by the people he trusted and seeking redemption. One day Tracer may have the same kind of fan base and following as Sylvanas, and we get to watch it happen from day one.

Every time Blizzard gives us something new from the Overwatch universe I get more and more excited. Let me know what your theories on the story or characters are, or just let me know what you want to see from Overwatch.

As always, thanks for reading. Until next time,
Chris