Overwatch’s latest character, the assist hero Kiriko, is having a distinct type of rollout. She’s the primary new hero to be included as a part of Overwatch 2’s battle move, that means that whereas many gamers have entry to Kiriko, others are nonetheless grinding away to unlock her. She’s additionally simply been added to one in every of Overwatch 2’s core modes, and her viability in aggressive gameplay can be examined within the coming weeks and months.
Kiriko additionally had a considerably uncommon path into the sport itself: She began as a bit of idea artwork supposed for Overwatch 2’s PvE part, which Blizzard plans to ship subsequent 12 months. Initially conceived as an enemy unit kind, Kiriko graduated to full hero based mostly on her sturdy visible design. She’s additionally been within the works in numerous incarnations for about 4 years, as Blizzard tried to show a drawing of a streetwear-sporting healer-ninja with a ghostly fox right into a playable hero.
Senior hero designer Joshua Noh informed Polygon in a latest interview that Kiriko went via “in all probability 4 assist kits’ price of skills, simply looking for what’s enjoyable and what works within the recreation, particularly with the brand new five-versus-five paradigm for PvP.”
Kiriko “began as only a actually cool artwork piece that [character art director] Arnold [Tsang] drew,” Noh recalled. “He drew a complete bunch of ninjas [that] may doubtlessly be enemies. And we we’re like, Hey, this one seems to be tremendous superior. Let’s try to make it right into a hero.” Noh mentioned that Kiriko’s spirit fox was initially “form of like a pet class in an MMO and follows you round” therapeutic your teammates. However that concept proved too tough to implement, and ultimately advanced into Kiriko’s final capacity, Kitsune Rush, which introduced technical challenges of its personal.
“There’s quite a lot of stuff taking place within the background there,” Noh mentioned, explaining that Kiriko’s fox must navigate round in-game objects, gaps on the ground, and terrain. “Displaying such an enormous space as [a huge buff] is sort of a problem in a recreation that’s already as visually noisy as Overwatch.”
Picture: Arnold Tsang/Blizzard Leisure
Kiriko’s unique design included a comically outsized shuriken that acted appreciated a yo-yo or boomerang — a weapon that was ultimately repurposed for one more hero, Junker Queen, who throws a knife that may be recalled.
“It was very enjoyable to make use of,” Noh mentioned of Kiriko’s shuriken. “However we bumped into this downside the place it created this very placing silhouette that appeared very lethal, like a DPS participant, and other people sort of anticipated that weapon to essentially take folks out. […] However one of many different challenges we bumped into alongside the way in which together with her [ninja design] was that each one the talents had been actually laborious to translate to healer gameplay.” The group experimented with a shotgun-like therapeutic weapon, however needed to keep away from magic or ninja tropes, Noh mentioned. Finally, they settled on therapeutic and cleaning talismans known as ofuda, which leans extra towards the religious than the magical, that use comparatively new homing expertise constructed for Overwatch 2.
Noh mentioned that Kiriko began out as a “trickster hero, and he or she had quite a lot of methods to sort of deceive the enemy group.” Early variations of her package included smoke bombs and a “ninja shadow clone capacity” that gamers may swap locations with. However in the end, the objective with Kiriko was to “attempt to incentivize DPS gamers slightly bit to attempt to assist,” Noh mentioned, “sort of like attempting to draw all of the Genji tracer kind of gamers over to the assist position.” (Overwatch 2 gamers are probably conscious that that well-meaning objective has accomplished little to abate queue occasions for the harm position, however it was an admirable try.)
Kiriko’s again story and connection to the heroes of Overwatch is printed in a brief story penned by Christie Golden titled “Yokai,” and in an animated quick launched in early October. However in response to narrative designer Kyungseo Min, Kiriko’s position because the protector of Kanezaka and her ties to the Shimada brothers Genji and Hanzo, has been seeded in Overwatch since early 2021. The deathmatch map Kanezaka consists of references to foxes, the Yokai vigilante group that Kiriko is a member of, and the rival Hashimoto clan who run the Tiger’s Den bar in that neighborhood.
“We undoubtedly needed her to have some form of tie with the Shimada brothers,” Min mentioned. “An early iteration was [that Kiriko was] their long-lost sister, however we ditched that concept as a result of we needed to make our worldview look slightly bit larger, however nonetheless linked. We landed on [Kiriko being] a household pal, like a niece form of relationship between these two.
“Since we had been engaged on Kanezaka, we’d already had her in thoughts and shaping her character, and the way she matches in with the Overwatch universe and the Shimada clan falling and the Hashimoto taking up… She’s simply form of part of a youthful group of vigilantes defending the group.”
Kiriko’s character in Overwatch 2 derived from quite a lot of sources of inspiration, together with Kaoru Kamiya, the kendo teacher (and love curiosity) from the manga/anime Rurouni Kenshin. Based on Min, the narrative group needed to match Kiriko’s character, in some methods to her play type. Kiriko merges each offense and assist, with an angle to match: “in your face” in a combat, but in addition conventional, reserved, and dryly witty.
“It was really actually enjoyable attempting to stability these two form of opposing personalities,” Min mentioned. “I feel we had quite a lot of enjoyable really attempting to ship that dry, form of flatter tone, as a result of we’ve at all times needed to do it, it’s simply very tough to stability that within the soundscape of our recreation. You solely have just a few seconds to essentially like talk to the gamers, in order that they must be a bigger than life… So to attempt to get [Kiriko’s] deadpan humor proper was actually difficult.”
Min added, “There’s [a Kiriko] interplay with D.Va that I actually get pleasure from simply because it actually exhibits our optimistic future Overwatch world. They’re each very sturdy girl — they’re very blunt, each of them. So there’s one line the place D.Va goes, ‘Can they get something accomplished with out us?’ and Kiriko says, ‘It’s a full-time job being the succesful ones.’ I’ve undoubtedly had these sorts of conversations with my girlfriends, and I like with the ability to instill that into our world.”
Picture: Blizzard Leisure
Min mentioned that voice actor Sally Amaki, who has accomplished voice work for anime and is a member of the digital singing group 22/7, “introduced [Kiriko] to life.”
“That is her first recreation work, so there was a studying curve, as a result of vocally [games have] very totally different supply,” Min recalled. “However she simply was such a champ — she went via four-hour late night time periods like nothing and can be like, Oh, yeah, I’ve a live performance tomorrow, as a result of she’s a part of a J-pop idol group.”
As for Kiriko’s future, Min was hesitant to say the place her story — and that of her Shimada brother buddies — is headed. However with the Hashimoto clan, as seen in Kiriko’s animated quick, doubtlessly serving nearly as good cannon fodder for a PvE mode, one can think about the sport’s ninja trio teaming as much as clear up the streets of Kanezaka subsequent 12 months.
“She’s undoubtedly going to be key in what is occurring in Kanezaka, so far as the Shimada clan falling and the Hashimoto terrorizing the neighborhood,” Min mentioned. “The brothers are undoubtedly not going to lie nonetheless, both, because the clan that overpowered them proceed to terrorize what was as soon as their territory.”
