Beginning back in 2016, just before the first Overwatch released, Blizzard has released a range of animated shorts over the years that tend to focus on a character’s backstory, while fleshing out the universe a little. The very first short, “Recall,” gave the general origins of the Overwatch team and its current status, all through the lens of Winston’s origin. With every short that releases, fans cry out for a fully-fledged Overwatch animated show, and all these years later, it might finally be the perfect time for one.
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It’s Time for an Animated Overwatch Series
While not all of Overwatch’s animated shorts were groundbreaking, they were all fun little adventures that expanded on the franchise’s lore quite a bit. At their best, these Overwatch animated shorts were able to deliver character backstories, motivations, world-building, and plenty of action, and it’s these shorts that tend to be talked about today. Even over six years later, fans still talk about Hanzo and Genji’s “Dragons” short, and just how brilliant it is.
With the release of Overwatch 2, fans were hoping to see the return of these animated shorts to introduce the game’s new characters and move its story forward. In September, fans got their wish, with Blizzard releasing the Overwatch 2 short “Kiriko.” Focusing on its titular support hero, this animated short shows that Blizzard is still on top form when it comes to these trailers, managing to illicit some powerful emotions in less than 10 minutes, while also showing players exactly what type of character Kiriko is, and the source of her abilities.
The release of the “Kiriko” animated short inspired fans once again to take to social media to desperately plea for more animated content like this. Blizzard has proved time and time again over the years that it’s more than capable of producing high-quality animations with high production value and plenty of substance, and now is the perfect time to produce an animated series focusing on the colorful characters and world of Overwatch 2.
2022 has been an incredible year for video game adaptations. While there have been some mediocre adaptations like Uncharted and the Resident Evil Netflix show, this year has also produced Arcane, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, two of the greatest video game adaptations of all time, both of which happen to be animated series. Both Arcane and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners managed to stand alone from their source material while also elevating and adding to it retroactively, and an Overwatch animated series could do exactly the same thing. Overwatch’s animated shorts lay the perfect groundwork for a fully-fledged animated series. All Blizzard would need to do is double the length of these shorts to form an episode, and have some narrative through line that guides the entire series.
Blizzard has already done the hard work, with Overwatch’s characters, setting, and timeline already being established, all that’s left is to increase the scale a little further. Rather than focusing on just one or two characters at a time, an Overwatch animated show can finally bring all of its cast together for a compelling narrative, adding a ton of lore to the game, and potentially bringing in newcomers.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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