Overwatch

About

Overwatch is a team-based first person shooter video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment, where players asume control of of several hero characters, each with their own unique abilities and role classes. Since its announcement at BlizzCon 2014, the game has gained a fan following.

Premise

Overwatch takes place in a future after an event known as the Omnic Crisis. The Omnic Crisis began when robots that once served humans mysteriously gained sentience, and rebelled against their human masters. Humanity responded to this by creating Overwatch: an organization tasked with enforcing good and defending the planet from evil. A large battle then commenced between the robots and Overwatch, with Overwatch being victorious at the end. Skip to present day, thirty years after the Omnic Crisis. For reasons unknown, Overwatch has been disbanded, and most of its members now serve as mercenaries.^[5]

Gameplay

In the beta, Overwatch puts in in control of 21 heroes in a six versus six team, a few examples being:

• Tracer: A former pilot with the ability to blink through time
• Hanzo: A ninja-like hero who wields a bow and can climb walls
• Reinhardt: A hero who carries a massive hammer and wears a giant suit of armor
• McCree: A former outlaw who delivers justice on his own terms with his revolver
• Reaper: A mysterious rogue who brandishes dual shotguns and can turn into a shadow
• Widowmaker: A deadly assassin armed with a sniper rifle and an infra-sight recon visor

Current maps consist of only two gamemodes: Payload and Point Capture, with some being hybrids between the two. Each match will put you on a team of six people attempting to attack/defend an area while the opposing team tries to stop you from doing so. ^[4] At the end of each match, a “Play of the Game” will be displayed, showing the player that employed a maneuver that turned the tide of the game.

History

Overwatch was first announced during BlizzCon 2014, in November 7th, by the release of a cinematic and gameplay trailers (shown bellow). During Penny Arcade Expo East 2015, Blizzard Entertainment announced the release of a closed beta on October 25th, 2015.^[6] The game is setted for release in the spring of 2016.

Online Relevance

Since its announcement, Overkill has been heavily compared with the team-based first person shooter "_Team Fortress 2_:/memes/team-fortress-2, especially by TF2 players. On November 9th, 2014, Youtuber RIZΣKI uploaded a video titled “Team Overwatch 2 Trailer”, featuring Overwatch‘s trailer with Team Fortress 2 voice commands, gaining over 250,000 views in the following year, On November 11th, 2014, the let’s playerSTAR_ uploaded a video where he discusses about the comparasions and his opinion on the game, gaining over 900,000 views in the following year. After the announcement, a dedicated subreddit was created, gathering over 75,000 subscribers in the following year.^[1]

After its announcement, the game quickly gained a fandom, spawning fan art and discussions on the released trailers. As November 25th, 2015, the artist community DeviantART leads to over 5,000 results under the keyword “overwatch”, being most of them related to the game.^[3] Fandom presence can also be found on other communities like Tumblr.^[2]

Related Memes

Time to Reap

“Time to Reap” is a voice line uttered by Reaper when using his ultimate ability. First seen on the gameplay trailer (shown bellow, left), the quote got consequently mocked for being percived edgy, and got popular after an animation uploaded by STAR_, which got over 460,000 views in less than a month (shown bellow, right).

It’s High Noon

“It’s High Noon” is a voice line uttered by McCree when using his ultimate ability. Due the effectiveness of the ability, the quote has become popular on the fandom.

Justice Rains From Above

“Justice Rains From Above” is a voice line uttered by Pharah when using his ultimate ability. Due the repetition of the line, it has grown as a in-joke among the fans.

Search Interest

External References