New Cinematic Hypes the Upcoming Open Beta

by JR Cook - 8 years ago     show comments

A new cinematic has been unleashed upon us, showcasing Winston’s efforts to recall the former agents of Overwatch back to active duty.

To get a clearer sense of why Winston is doing this, it might help to watch the Recall short, but I wouldn’t call it necessary. Winston trying to get the band back together is something we’ve known as an aspect of the story for awhile. (It’s the rationale behind the payload escort in Watchpoint:Gibraltar, for example.)

Other notable elements: many of the images that showcase the original Overwatch crew include the members we’ve normally seen as part of that team in the past: a younger Jack Morrison (a.k.a. Soldier:76), Reinhardt, Mercy, Gabriel Reyes (a.k.a. Reaper), Torbjorn, McCree, Tracer, and Winston himself.

What sticks out, however, are some of the characters we see here who aren’t playable characters.

Notably, there’s this omnic present when the IJC is honoring the team for their service. (And the IJC, if you remember from Recall, is the organization that was also responsible for criminalizing Overwatch.)

If the number of dots on the forehead is any indication, this isn’t Zenyatta (or his contemporary Mondatta, from the Alive short). The different eye-slit shape is also a give away. Additionally, Zenyatta’s bio on the official site doesn’t note that he previously served with Overwatch; in fact, it indicates that the spiritual awakening that gave birth to the Shambali order happened AFTER the Omnic Crisis was over. So we don’t know who this omnic is.

The second character is the one I feel is a bit more important, since she shows up A LOT:

Also important to note: she showed up back in the Soldier: 76 origin story cinematic from last year:

You can barely make out the letters underneath that Overwatch insignia on her left shoulder, which reads AMARI.

Now come with with me on this journey:

• We have a lady who previously served with Overwatch with skin/hair coloring similar to Pharah.
• Said lady has a name patch that matches Pharah’s real name, “Fareeha Amari”.
• Said lady also has an eye tattoo that, while not identical to Pharah’s, is similar in style.
• S:76 and Mercy both have pre-match emotes with Pharah indicating a prior working relationship with her mother.
• Pharah’s bio also confirms that her mother served with Overwatch.

This isn’t exactly new information: lots of people have been connecting this Amari with Pharah since we first saw her. The reason I’m bringing it up now is because in all of the shots of the old Overwatch crew that we see in this new cinematic, Amari is in ALL of those shots. This is someone who was part of Winston’s family, the family he’s trying to put back together again. Her appearance here is not just coincidence.

She’s being shown to us for a reason. It’s not a big leap to assert that it’s because she’ll be important to the story in some way, and it’s not a big leap from that to guess that she might be a new playable character. I’ll save that speculation for later, however, since we’re certain that we won’t see her added until after the launch of the game, at the very earliest.

Tell us your thoughts on the cinematic and who these new characters might be in the comments.