Continuing with the Overwatch announcements, Blizzard revealed today during its PAX East panel the game’s first female tank: Zarya.
A “dedicated and loyal” hero, Zarya’s goal was to become a weightlifter; however, just before the World Championships, strife broke out near her village and she put all of her goals aside to defend her home. She picked up a particle cannon and “put her personal goals aside for protecting humanity.”
Blizzard described Zarya as “lawful good,” the type of character you want to be when you grow up.
What’s perhaps most interesting about Zarya is her design, from a visual standpoint. As you can see, she doesn't represent what many would describe as the "typical" female video game character — you know, the typical big chest, narrow waist look with long flowing hair. Instead, Zarya's got short pink hair and is broader, or perhaps a bit more built than the female characters we're used to seeing. Personally, I love the design. For a game like Overwatch, which is set in this fantasy universe, I like to see unique character designs. If we can have an ape that talks, why not have a former female bodybuilder?
“We’ve been hearing a lot of discussion amongst players about the need for more diversity among video games – gender diversity, racial diversity, diversity along lines of what country people are from,” said Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan. “But there’s also talk of diversity in different body types and not everyone wants to have the exact same body type represented.”
“We’re listening and we’re trying hard and we’re hoping Zarya is a step in the right direction to show we’re paying attention,” Kaplan concluded.
Looks aside, Zarya is a tank and the particle cannon is how she’s defined. It does a beam attack that shoots out in front of her at medium range (since, you know, she’s a tank that has to be in the mix of things). It has an alternate fire that does an area of effect particle explosion launched out sort of like a grenade.
Her other ability puts a particle barrier on herself or her allies that acts as a shield, absorbing the damage coming in. But it’s more than a shield. As explained by Kaplan, the shield has unique resource mechanic: as the particle barrier takes damage, the power on the center of her reticle goes up. The higher that number, the more charged the particle cannon can get, and the more damage it will do. And lastly, her ultimate ability, Graviton Surge, shoots an element from the cannon that sticks to walls or ceilings, and acts as a gravity well, sucking in all enemies within a radius to its center point.
“This combos extremely well with some of the other character abilities,” Kaplan teased. “I’m sure you guys will come up with more interesting combinations than we can dream of.”
There's been some other big news around Overwatch this morning, as well. Here's the latest:
- New map, 'Watchpoint: Gibraltar' revealed
- Overwatch beta time frame announced
- New character: McCree, the ultimate futuristic gunslinger
