In late 2007, users on the official World of Warcraft forum noticed that Blizzard had
a few listed job openings for an unannounced next-generation MMO title.
Blizzard was then quick to confirm that they were indeed working on a completely new IP.
This was the very first mention an upcoming Blizzard title that would later become known
as Project Titan.
Over the next few years, Blizzard teased the game in various interviews and press releases
stating that the game was more ambitious than anything they had ever undertaken before.
Unfortunately, the project turned out to be a bit too ambitious.
In mid-2013 Blizzard announced that the project was being reassessed and a year later it was
officially canceled.
Blizzard co-founder and CEO, Michael Morhaime, stated that the game was simply no longer
a game that they wanted to make. It just wasn't fun.
It was a quite severe setback as the game had been in development for over 7 years and
would've been the company's first new IP since the release of StarCraft in 1998.
However, while Project Titan was dead, a new game formed in its stead.
A small portion of the remaining development team was tasked with molding a new game from
the ashes of Titan and after some brainstorming they eventually decided upon an idea for a
team-based first-person shooter.
They took inspiration from many popular FPS titles such as Quake, Team fortress Classic,
Team Fortress 2, as well as the Call of Duty franchise.
Specifically the near-future elements in some of the later installments such as wall running,
boost jumps, and grappling hooks.
Some of the first content to be developed for the game was the map Temple of Anubis
as well as the character Tracer, who's actually based upon a similar character from Project Titan.
The three characters Widowmaker, Reaper, and Pharah soon followed and development of the
core game mechanics kicked off from there.
On November the 7th, 2014, Overwatch was officially announced.
While no one outside of Blizzard knows exactly how much of Titan transfered over to Overwatch,
it's safe to say that it's a very different game.
While the latest character Sombra was officially revealed on the 4th of November, many players
have known about her existence for quite some time as she has been the subject of an incredibly
elaborate alternate reality game.
It's become known as the Sombra ARG and was essentially a series of easter eggs and clues
that took players on a journey outside of the video game itself.
Clues of Sombra's existence have been included in the game since its release.
For example, on the map Dorado, you could find various terminals with the message:
"UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS: Sombra Protocol".
You could also find newspapers with the headline "Who is Sombra?" and a folder on a desk marked
with her name.
Then there's this voice line by Reaper:
REAPER: "Where's Sombra when you need her?".
The first elements of the ARG began with the origins video about Ana released on the 12th of July.
At two specific points in the video, keen eyes viewers noticed that hexadecimal strings
quickly flashed across the screen.
Once decoded, combined, and translated from Spanish the two strings revealed this repeating message:
"She who has the information, has the power... Sombra".
More hidden codes and symbols were soon discovered in other videos and, once decoded, they formed
links to corrupted screenshots.
These screenshots, along with an ominous post on the Overwatch forums, contained hidden
information that could then be used to form two ASCII images of skulls.
The information hidden within these skulls could then be used to form a link to a video.
Clues in the video directed players to a website.
The website was eventually updated with a cryptic message that mentioned Bastion.
Players soon discovered that if you stood in front of one of the aforementioned terminals
while playing as Bastion, he would begin to emit a series of beeps.
This turned out to be Morse code and formed a link to yet another website.
The website contained a phone number and when called, a woman could be heard listing a series
of numbers in Spanish.
The numbers allowed players to access various sections of the site and ARG ultimately ended
with a message about a hack on the in-game Russian company Volskaya Industries.
Thus tying the Sombra ARG to the official introduction of Sombra in the animated short
"Infiltration" in which Sombra, along with Reaper and Widowmaker, does indeed infiltrate the company.
On the other hand, one mystery that has yet to be solved is the cryptic language most
frequently seen on the map Numbani.
It's assumed to be the language of the omnics but no one knows if it's even translatable
at this point.
It can be found on various posters, street signs, buildings, and many other places.
The language also appear in a Bastion highlight as well as in this emote by Zenyatta.
So the question is, did the Overwatch team really create an entirely new language
or is it just cosmetics?
Most video games are filled with allusions to other games, tv shows, and movies and Overwatch
is no exception.
On the map Nepal, you can find a sign with the title "Ravenwood's Kitchen" written in Nepali.
This is a reference to a tavern known as The Raven featured in the Indiana Jones franchise.
It was owned by the character Marion Ravenwood and was also located in Nepal.
While playing Escort on the map Hollywood you can hear a voice coming from inside the limousine.
The character inside the limo is an omnic movie director named HAL-Fred Glitchbot and
is an amalgamation of HAL from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and famous movie director
Alfred Hitchcock.
On the map Eichenwalde you can find a bonfire speared by a medieval sword.
A clear reference to the iconic bonfires in the Dark Souls games.
In the diner on the map Route 66 you can find a poster that reads "It's Never Too Early For Flapjacks"
which is a reference to the movie Groundhog Day.
A check in the same diner was apparently signed by a Diablo character known as Deckard Cain.
It was also signed on the day of Diblo III's release and, amazingly enough,
you can actually scan the bar code at the bottom.
Doing so, will produce the message: "Cain Lives!".
The "Dr. Boom" label on this soda machine is in reference to a popular card in Heartstone
as well an NPC in World of Warcraft.
On the maps Eichenwalde, Hollywood, and Temple of Anubis you can find wall-mounted skull
trophies of creatures from the games StarCraft and Diablo.
A sign on Route 66 reading "Deadlock Propane and Propane Accessories" is a reference to
the animated show King of the Hill.
Some of the character's quotes are also taken from or inspired by other forms of media.
For example, when Reaper says:
REAPER: "I'm not a psychopath, I'm a high functioning psychopath."
He's paraphrasing Sherlock Holmes:
SHERLOCK HOLMES: "I'm not a psycopath, Anderson, I'm a high functioning sociopath. Do your research."
When Sombra says:
SOMBRA: "I know kung fu."
She's quoting Neo from The Matrix:
NEO: "I know kung fu."
This line by Mei:
MEI: "忽如一夜春风来，千树万树梨花开。"
Is specific to snow-covered maps as she is quoting an ancient Chinese poem about winter and snow.
When Pharah says:
PHARAH: "Fly like an Egyptian!"
She's referencing the song Walk Like an Egyptian.
THE BANGLES: ♫ "Walk like an Egyptian." ♫
This voice line by Winston:
WINSTON: "Once more unto the breach."
Is a quote from a play by William Shakespeare.
When Torbjörn say:
TORBJÖRN: "Completion date? When it's done."
He's referring to Blizzards long-standing policy of not announcing release dates early in development.
In a similar fashion, Pharah's line:
PHARAH: "Play nice, play Pharah."
Is a twist on one of the eight core values at Blizzard:
"Play nice, play fair."
Two quotes by Soldier 76 are references to a scene in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.
SOLDIER 76: "Smells like victory!"
SOLDIER 76: "I love the smell of pulse munitions in the morning."
KILGORE: "I love the smell of Napalm in the morning."
KILGORE: "Smells like... victory!"
And finally, two quotes by Sombra were taken from the cult-classic Hackers.
SOMBRA: "Mess with the best and die like the rest."
SOMBRA: "Hack the planet!"
KATE: "Mess with the best, die like the rest."
DADE: "Hack the planet! Hack the planet!"
CEREAL: "Hack the planet! Hack the planet!"
According to the game's lore, after Genji was severely wounded in a confrontation with
his brother Hanzo, he was rescued by Overwatch agents who then augmented his body with cybernetics.
However, Genji had trouble accepting his new cyborg modifications and after some soul searching,
ended up in Nepal.
Here, he met the omnic monk Zenyatta who helped him come to terms with his new existence and
he eventually decided to move into the monastery with Zenyatta as his mentor.
What's interesting is that Genji's quarters can actually be found in the game.
On the map Nepal, you can find this room which is evidently where Genji lived during his
stay at the monastery.
There's a painting of him and his brother, the symbol of the Shimada family, a questionably
stained mattress, a few swords, and a photo of Hanzo and Genji before they became estranged.
Every time you find a label, a poster, or any sort of in-game text there's a high chance
that you've just discovered one of the many cameos by various Blizzard employees.
On the map Ilios you can find TVs with the brand-label Samwise which is the username
used by the art director for World of Warcraft.
On the map Watchpoint: Gibraltar, you'll find a bunch of lockers and boxes with the names
of multiple artists and developers of the game.
Various posters on the map Route 66 include similar cameos.
And this in-game company whose logo is plastered on the side of a building on the map King's Row
is a reference to the game's Lead VFX Artist.
And I'm certain there's plenty more to find.
On the map Lijiang Tower, you can find a display of three space suits.
One in blue, one in green, and one in red.
The red one in the center is a bit unique in that it's marked with the name "Hongyu" (宏宇)
and the story behind this name is actually quite sad.
Blizzard added the name to the suit once they heard the story of an avid Overwatch fan named Hongyu Wu.
Only a day before the game's official release he crashed his bike while chasing down a thief
and, as a result, he suffered lethal injuries and later passed away at the hospital.
Some of his last online activity even included a post in which he expressed his excitement
for the release of Overwatch the very next day.
So the name was added in honer of his bravery and the phrase above the display reads: "Heroes never die."
If you take the time to examine the details of the game, you'll quickly find that Blizzard
has been impressively thorough.
For example, when you play as Lucio, you'll notice that the volume graph on his sound
blaster moves in tune to the music.
But if you mute the game's audio, the graph becomes motionless.
The ammunition-count on Sombra's gun display the numbers in hexadecimal instead of the
normal decimal system which is fitting due to her hacking-oriented abilities.
According to game lore, D.Va is a former professional StarCraft II player and, sure enough, she
has an actual StarCraft II profile.
One of the sprays available to Pharah has a vertical line of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
As I doubt any Egyptian pharaohs are playing Overwatch from their tombs, it would've been
very easy for the game's artists to just make up a few random symbols.
But the symbols can actually be transcribed to form the idiosyncratic word "JUSTICE".
But it's only fair to then also point out pedantic mistakes.
Such as this one.
Japanese players have pointed out that the characters on this tapestry hanging on a wall
on the map Hanamura seems a bit out of place.
It's an ancient proverb that literally translates to: "Dragon's head, serpent's tail."
Which sounds kinda neat and also ties in with the lore and likely inspired the artwork featured
above the tapestry.
The thing is, it's not meant to be taken literally.
In actuality the proverb means: "A strong start but a weak finish."
and is most commonly used to describe something anticlimactic.
So Hanzo is essentially kneeling before a big scroll with the word anticlimax.
In the animated short, Infiltration, we follow Widowmaker, Reaper, and Sombra as they attempt
to assassinate the CEO of Volskaya Industries.
However, it's later revealed that Sombra had other intentions as she, instead, attempts
to blackmail the head of the company.
The confrontation between the two subsequently ends with Sombra playfully poking her on the nose.
At first, this may seem like a silly personality quirk but, as some keen eyed viewers have
pointed out, it's far more ominous and premeditated.
Sombra's weapon of choice, according to her self, is information.
Well, at the beginning of this sequence, you'll notice a second photograph of the CEO and
what appears to be her daughter.
The scene is less than a second long so it's quite easy to miss but in the photo, she is
also poking her daughter on the nose.
The implication here is that Sombra knows everything.
Even what the CEO likes to do when she's innocently and privately playing with her daughter.
In other words, while the [boop] may appear harmless to us viewers, it was actually intended as
a veiled threat against her child.
Similar to how Blizzard used an ARG to hint at the release of Sombra, a few of the other
heroes in the game have been foreshadowed as well.
For example, long before D.Va was added to the closed beta, this poster could be found
in clear view on Hanamura.
Before Ana was revealed and subsequently added to the game, an open folder containing her
photo could be found on Temple of Anubis.
The question is, what clues have Blizzard included for future heroes?
The most likely example of such character-foreshadowing is that of Doomfist.
Doomfist is first mentioned in the initial cinematic in which the Doomfist gauntlet is
a central plot device.
It also serves as the payload on the map Numbani and you can find these banners on the same map.
When asked about the character, Blizzard stated that Doomfist has been considered as a playable
hero but that they have nothing to announce as of yet.
Another candidate would be Athena.
Athena is currently included in the game as Winston's artificial intelligence companion
as well as the AI that guides the player through the tutorial.
The reason she is suspected to be a potential hero is due to this promotional image in which
an omnic with the same symbol can be seen in the background.
Body parts of the same or a similar omnic model has also been discovered on Temple of Anubis.
Then there's a quote by the lead writer for the game who talks about the team's desire
for Athena to be more than just a voice.
In the end, I guess it remains to be seen what the Overwatch team has in store.