Overwatch, Blizzard’s take on the class-based shooter and first new IP in years, has announced two new characters Polygon reports. Check out this video for a first look at these two characters and the newly announced map, Watchpoint Gibraltar:
Their names are McCree and Zarya, a futuristic gunslinger and the company’s “first female tank,” respectively. McCree is a space cowboy that can use his Peacemaker revolver to put some precision pain on his targets. His traits include a nimble rolling reload, a flashbang type of attack, and an instant-kill lock-on ability appropriately named deadeye.
Zarya is an addition to the roster that was driven by Blizzard’s attempt to diversify video game characters. She’s not your typical gaming heroine: no, Zarya is a brawny tank with big muscles and an even bigger gun. She’s not a size 0, and she doesn’t have the ridiculous measurements of the other female characters in Overwatch:
“We have been hearing a lot of discussion about the need for more diversity in games,” he said, adding that there are a lot of types of diversity that are being discussed. Among those, he said, diversity of body types. “We’re listening and we’re trying hard. We hope Zarya is a step in the right direction and proof that we are paying attention.”
Zarya’s got a particle cannon and the ability to make a gravity well to suck in her enemies to a centralized point. She was a weight lifting champion before she was a soldier, who gave up her barbells for a chance to make a difference in the world. This is a great step forward, especially when Ubisoft can’t even be bothered to put one playable female in Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Overwatch was announced back at Blizzcon with a slick cinematic trailer that’s equal parts Pixar and JJ Abrams. Check it out: