'Overwatch' Trailer Gives Us Assassination and Omnic Politics

The newest Overwatch trailer “Alive” is out, showing Widowmaker and Tracer in a life or death duel. Blizzard and Sony Entertainment released the trailer yesterday, showing Widowmaker trying to assassinate an omnic (which are Overwatch robots) who wanted to unite his race and people through peace. I don’t want to spoil the six minute short, it’s definitely worth watching even if you know nothing or care little about the actual game.

“Alive” trails last week’s “Recall” short, which featured Winston the gorilla eating peanut butter and kicking ass. Both of these shorts look stunning, like grittier Pixar movies. Blizzard is really putting the time and effort into these vignettes, giving these previously unknown characters pretty solid backstories.

MOBAs and character shooters often suffer in the story department, since the multiplayer aspects of the game tend to be more important than the backstory. I can play League of Legends without ever knowing what Aatrox or Teemo actually are. All I need to know is who’s on the enemy team and who I can punch into submission. With Overwatch, Blizzard is taking a different approach, fleshing out a deep backstory about war and deception with just a splash of humor.

Overwatch releases on May 24 and can be pre-ordered for early access to the beta from May 5 through May 9 . You have to pre-order the game by April 29, but you get access to two keys for the much-hyped character shooter.