And although Sigma shares Reinhardt’s massive shield, he has long range attacks and a massive rock projectile that stuns enemies. Baptiste not only has a self heal, he can jump into the sky and give him and his allies temporary invulnerability. Ashe overlaps with the other long-range heroes like Widowmaker and McCree and has the ability to contend with anyone nearby. Every hero has a clear, exaggerated weakness so that other heroes could take advantage of it.īut as the game released heroes like Ashe, Baptiste, and Sigma, the shape of a hero became blurry.
![echo overwatch echo overwatch](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUsSaFYU0AEGpQH.jpg)
Reinhardt lacked any ability to launch attacks from afar, but up close he could thrust his hammer across several enemies at once. Mercy could heal back loads of health to her team, but she could be eliminated in only a few attacks from the enemy team. Widowmaker - the sniper - could only land a lethal shot if given enough time to charge it up - leaving her severely vulnerable to anyone attacking her up close. When we look back at Overwatch‘s initial design philosophy, its heroes were defined shapes.
![echo overwatch echo overwatch](https://static.standard.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2020/03/19/09/overwatch-new-hero-echo-added.jpg)
She’s a conglomeration of ideas and skill sets plucked from the rest of the roster she’s Frankenstein’s hero. But within the context of Overwatch - where 31 other heroes share the same DNA - she’s too powerful because of how much she’s familiar to the game’s ethos, just cranked up to 11. She’s too powerful and doesn’t even wield a traditional weapon.
![echo overwatch echo overwatch](https://thumb.sfmlab.com/item-preview/item_preview/Echo_preview.detail.png)
Echo couldn’t exist in those other games where the primary verbs are shooting and where hero abilities add a wrinkle to the split-second firefights. As the hero-shooter genre’s tendrils latch onto other games like Apex Legends and the upcoming Valorant, it puts Overwatch’s unique design in relief. Like Sigma, and Baptiste before him, Overwatch’s new hero Echo represents the best parts about Blizzard’s shooter, and the worst. Update: Echo is live now, and you can watch our Overwatch stream - or any other Twitch Overwatch stream with drops enabled - to earn some cool in-game rewards.