Yesterday I posted about Overwatch's newest hero, revealed yesterday at Blizzcon 2017, that certainly was very exciting news for anyone into Blizzard's amazing and intoxicating hit first person shooter but why is Overwatch exciting and what makes it great?
Blizzard's Secret: Story telling
Blizzard games have always been made amazing by first and foremost story telling. The thing they do so well is dedicate time and effort to crafting a unique and interesting world which you are desperate to know about. Once that place exists, then they design a top-tier game set in that universe, and Overwatch is a great example of this.
Overwatch is a team based first person shooter, where teams of six face off, battling for control over a map, and you play as a single hero within one team. The game is fun and the character design is colorful and creative but the real excitement comes from the lore because learning about each hero and map builds upon this world and invites you in.
The game set in a futuristic world where humans and AI co-exist. Although there is a modern day truce, the game is set after a world war between these artificially intelligent robots (the Omnics) and humans. The humans nearly lost the war, and seemingly would have, were it not for the involvement of "Overwatch" the organization filled with meta-humans, heroes with special powers, who worked with humanities army to bring victory. Sounds cool right?
The way this world reveals itself slowly through dialogue interactions between heroes in game, or how in game maps contain hidden secrets which reveal hints of the past wars and ongoing conflicts makes this game have the depth and richness commonly reserved for great novels or cinema.
So the world is immersive, and the game is addictive, but the best part is Blizzard's knack for expanding the universe and story into deeper and broader dimensions by releasing bread crumbs which lead you down this rabbit hole of deep investment.
One such bread crumb is their ever anticipated and highly appreciated lore heavy animated shorts. These are 5 - 10 minute cinematic gems, which are beautifully and superbly animated, in which we the viewer discover some part of this world and the struggles in it. Each video will focus on one or a small number of in game heroes, and through that video you will glean a bit of their back-story. This is the genius of Blizzard at work: their bread crumb approach, where although you get something you love, you never get all that you want, and although you feel increasingly invested you are desperate for more.
One such video was released yesterday! These videos (and there are many) allow the viewer to know the playable heroes as well as invite you into the universe in a uncommonly successful manner. Most game developers do not even try to provide such meaningful story telling, and those that do, fall short of what Blizzard accomplishes regularly.
Please know that although this is the most recent animated short, since they are stand-alone events, you do not need to watch the others first. Also this short does not spoil anything about the others. I expect you will enjoy video whether you know the game or Blizzard at all, and I strongly recommend you check out all the other shorts as well.
Please enjoy.
Learn more about Reinhardt here:
https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/reinhardt/