The Overwatch Story Thread: Lore, Animated Shorts & Comics!

[Tenris]

Just found this video which reveals some of the interactions between the characters, its pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIKRL_5f6o

[Jshadowhunter]

Just found this video which reveals some of the interactions between the characters, its pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIKRL_5f6o

Yikes, Pharah has mommy issues.
Reinheart is not far away from becoming crotchety old man.

Also, the lines between Tracer and Zenyatta is a callback to the "Alive" short.

[Mormolyce]

The Hasselhof line got me :P

Saw a new Tracer to Tracer one today, something like:

"Is my chronal accelerator malfunctioning again?"

"I was just thinking that."

Also:

Tracer: "Aren't you warm wearing all that?"

Mei: "Yes, but it's too late to change..."

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you

cant

fucking

read it

it's too small like wtf blizzard

Fullscreen button on the left.

Still a little small though.

[Raetary]

Just found this video which reveals some of the interactions between the characters, its pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIKRL_5f6o

pharah has biiiig mommy issues.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Just found this video which reveals some of the interactions between the characters, its pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqIKRL_5f6o

I wonder how bad Pharah's relationship with her mother got. Speaking of which... I wonder what happened to Mrs. Amari; she's the only member of the original OW team we have absolutely no info on.

[zito]

I wonder how bad Pharah's relationship with her mother got. Speaking of which... I wonder what happened to Mrs. Amari; she's the only member of the original OW team we have absolutely no info on.

People think she's going to be a support sniper from some leaks gamestop interview had. I think she's just dead because they talk about her like she isn't alive anymore.

[Mormolyce]

pharah has biiiig mommy issues.

Maybe her mother had daughter issues :P

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Maybe her mother had daughter issues :P

Teens being teens, mom gets frustrated and brings out the "why can't you just be a respectful girl" stuff? Probably.

[Mormolyce]

Teens being teens, mom gets frustrated and brings out the "why can't you just be a respectful girl" stuff? Probably.

My impression was a demanding mother and nothing was ever good enough. We'll see maybe!

[Deleted]

I wonder how bad Pharah's relationship with her mother got. Speaking of which... I wonder what happened to Mrs. Amari; she's the only member of the original OW team we have absolutely no info on.

There's speculation that she may be Sombra, a mysterious character who has been referred to a couple of times on the Dorado map (and from unimplemented datamined voice lines seems to be affiliated with Reaper). And in the Story of Overwatch video you can see the team working on what appears to be a new support hero with a sniper rifle.

[zito]

There's speculation that she may be Sombra, a mysterious character who has been referred to a couple of times on the Dorado map (and from unimplemented datamined voice lines seems to be affiliated with Reaper). And in the Story of Overwatch video you can see the team working on what appears to be a new support hero with a sniper rifle.

It can't be sombra because pharahs mom is Egyptian

unless she decided to learn spanish....

[Deleted]

It can't be sombra because pharahs mom is Egyptian

unless she decided to learn spanish....

Just because she's egyptian doesn't mean her code name has to be egyptian themed. She's working with Reaper (who is hispanic) so maybe he gave her the code name. Part of me hopes it isn't Ana just so someone can actually stay dead in the lore. But it would also be pretty cool. And gameplay wise a support sniper would be really interesting. I think the a few months after launch they'll release Sombra and Doomfist as the two new heroes.

[t1saif]

[Zantos]

I just watched the teaser, and now I am confused. He recalled the agents to help deal with the trouble going onHow exactly does fighting in a single map do that? I mean, is there even any real story here? Any reason given why everyone is just randomly at these locations fighting?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I just watched the teaser, and now I am confused. He recalled the agents to help deal with the trouble going on. How exactly does fighting in a single map do that? I mean, is there even any real story here? Any reason given why everyone is just randomly at these locations fighting?

There is a real story; they're just not going to explore it in game (because then they have to split the team between working on PvP and PvE and other problems). They have the most freedom to explore it in the comics, short stories, novels, animated episodes and news tidbits that they are doing right now. TL;DR of the story is the OP.

As for the maps in game, they are the locations of in game lore events:

King's Row: Point of contention between Omnics and humans
Hanamura: Fortress of the Shimada clan
Numbani: Where the announcement cinematic takes place
Route 66: The railroad McCree's train was on that was intercepted by TALON
Volskaya: The reactivated Omninum
Nepal: The Shambali monastery
Gibraltar: Old OW watchpoint that was running on maintenance mode by Winston

Hollywood: No battles here (yet), but we know that at least a few characters as actors in movies here (Hana being confirmed, Winston was offered).
Temple of Anubis: No battles here either, but considering the setting I wouldn't be surprised if there was a McGuffin inside the pyramid. Also Pharah's home country.

We don't know what happened at Illios, Lijiang Tower or Dorado yet.

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Winston's call to arms he sent when he reactivated OW:

[zito]

I just watched the teaser, and now I am confused. He recalled the agents to help deal with the trouble going onHow exactly does fighting in a single map do that? I mean, is there even any real story here? Any reason given why everyone is just randomly at these locations fighting?

The story is not being implemented through the game but outside it. They might add some story mode in the future but that's unlikely.

[Zoaric]

Reinhardt comic "Dragon Slayer" is here.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Reinhardt comic "Dragon Slayer" is here.

Wilhelm Reinhardt remained true to his honor despite having been forsaken by the very people he protected. He travels the land dressed in an antique, crumbling power armor, wielding the hammer of justice and his ever loyal squire at his side, vanquishing the evil and protecting the innocent. Now, after so decades of unshakable valor, unbreaking fortitude and sagacious wisdom, he has yet to face his greatest foe yet:

... finding some darn currywurst to eat!

Definitively one of my most favorite OW characters!

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Found this interesting note on reddit:

You could also read as Reinhardt just sees the world that way. He sees the world in black and white, good and evil. And he sees himself as the heroic knight who will come to the rescue, even if the situation is more nuanced than he realizes. If he internalizes "them" as an evil dragon that needs to be slain, its easy for him to justify violence in the name of good.
Kind of like The Punisher meets Don Quixote

Now that I think about it, swinging that massive rocket hammer around would probably instantly kill anyone on the receiving end of it, and so Rein was in fact killing bandits (as opposed to knocking them out - he has armor protection so he has leniency - then again it is falling apart) to the visualization of him being a fantasy hero, and was enjoying it.

Would be intriguing to see if Blizzard explores this interpretation.

[Zantos]

The story is not being implemented through the game but outside it. They might add some story mode in the future but that's unlikely.

I'm not really looking for a story mode, just a reason why they would continuously battle in these maps. A few of them make sense, with one being a point of contention. However, in a game they are attempting to attach a story too, it just bugs me a bit when they are essentially playing a game at these locations for no real reason when there is far worse going on. Doesn't seem very world saving to me.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I'm not really looking for a story mode, just a reason why they would continuously battle in these maps. A few of them make sense, with one being a point of contention. However, in a game they are attempting to attach a story too, it just bugs me a bit when they are essentially playing a game at these locations for no real reason when there is far worse going on. Doesn't seem very world saving to me.

Viskhar is trying to make the world a better place at the expense of other people, thus the fight on their maps (Numbani)
TALON is trying to steal Doomfist's gauntlet from the museum in Numbani as well.
The Omnium in Russia (Volyskaya Industries) has just reactivated and is assembling a robotic army with which to start a Second Omnic Crisis.
King's Row is the location of TALON instigated riots against Omnics.
Considering TALON assassinated Mondatta, it wouldn't surprise me if they attacked the Shambali monastery at Nepal as well.
The Hanamura map is about taking out the Shimada clan (Genji) or reclaiming it (Hanzo).
Gibraltar is about OW trying to stop TALON from getting the names of the team.
Route 66 is where TALON attacked a train to get the mysterious purple box from the comic.

The only maps that don't have a lore explanation behind them yet as to why we are fighting there is the Temple of Anubis, Illios, Lijiang Tower (probably more TALON chaos, attempted 9/11 there?), and Dorado.