Blizzard had previously spoken about releasing four animated shorts to provide better insight to the backgrounds of their characters, from their upcoming first person shooter (FPS), Overwatch.
Primarily, they released an animated short named ‘Recall’ which showcased the scientist chimp Winston, the second one titled ‘Alive’ featured the time warping adventurer, Tracer, trying to stop the assassin Widowmaker from executing a monk. The third short shed light on the background of the two dragon brothers of the game, Hanzo and Genji and went by the name ‘Dragons’.
Now, the company has launched its fourth and final instalment of animated shorts, titled ‘Hero’ and featured the vigilante warrior, Soldier 76 aka Jim Morrison, the founder and commander of the Overwatch organisation.
The story follows a little girl, in the alleys of Dorado. When her mother asks her to go out and get something, she is intercepted on the way by some members of a gang named ‘Los Muertos’, who take away her money and bully her. All of a sudden, from the shadow, they are ambushed by the masked Soldier 76, who thrashes every single member in sight. But he too is put to test when the goons dispose a grenade and he has to choose between the life of the little girl and chasing after the criminals.
He saves the girl and soon the little girl recognises him from the posters and asks if he is one of those ‘heroes’. Fading into the shadows Soldier asserts that he used to be a hero not anymore, while the girl mumbles that to her he was still a hero as he saved her life. The short ends with the girl reaching home safely and narrating her mother about the incident as her mother delivers an assuring monologue, while Soldier 76 watches everything from a distance, as if he was concerned with the girl’s safety and that she reached her destination safely.
The short was released just two days before the official launch of the game. Unlike previous shorts, the latest one does not feature many of the character’s in-game abilities, except for his ultimate ability, ‘tactical visor’. The lighting and music score for the short is brilliant none the less. As a rumour was doing rounds over the internet that Soldier will face a new villain “Sombra”, who would also be the new character which will be launched with the game. Although the short did not feature anyone else and Blizzard has already confirmed that there will only be the already revealed 21 heroes available at launch. But from all the evidences and theories doing rounds over the internet forums, it seems a new character named Sombra is definitely on the lines.
Not sure about the game?
Read our Overwatch review here