Fans have known new Overwatch heroes would be coming in the months ahead, and it looks like the game's first new character may be arriving sooner rather than later.
The official Overwatch Twitter account recently sent out a teaser image that seems to point toward a need for a support character for the game. The image shows some of the healing technology used in Mercy's staff being put to use in a sniper rifle by Torbjörn. The weapon's potentially deadly application proves to be something with which Mercy, Overwatch's primary healer, takes issue.
"While Torbjörn has, as ever, put forth a very clever design for his latest weapon, I would like to remind everyone that my intention when agreeing to the development of different biotic delivery mechanisms was to save the lives of Overwatch agents and others in need of medical aid," Mercy writes. "With this latest proposal, it is clear to me that we are on the slippery slope to modifications that will inevitably result in a weaponized version of this technology: something that I have been completely opposed to from the beginning."
Might the game's first new character be both a medic and a sniper? That seems like it might be the case, and it matches up with what fans have already learned about a hero already established as part of Overwatch's lore. An unreleased character named Sombra has been seen using a sniper rifle in a making of Overwatch video, and clues have also been discovered in-game. Sombra is believed to be the codename of Ana Amari, an Egyptian sharpshooter who is also the mother of existing Overwatch hero Pharah.
The English version of the image doesn't offer any additional details about whose weapon the sniper rifle prototype is, but the image on the official Brazilian Overwatch Twitter account shows one of the recipients of the fictional message being a certain A. Amari, alongside Overwatch founders Jack Morrison (Soldier 76) and Gabriel Reyes (Reaper).
It seems, then, that Sombra's ("shadow" in Spanish) upcoming reveal is all but certain at this point. Her arrival will come not too long after the release of Overwatch's competitive game mode, where players can climb the ranks and earn exclusive rewards each season. In addition to new heroes, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan confirms that new maps are also in the works.
