Overwatch 2’s new hero Ramattra was a long time coming for Blizzard

Overwatch’s latest hero had an extended journey coming to Overwatch 2, a minimum of from the angle of when gamers first noticed him — three-and-half years in the past, in the course of the authentic sport’s Storm Rising occasion — to when he was lastly launched final week. Like many heroes in Blizzard’s shooter, the brand new tank hero Ramattra is a group of concepts that took a very long time to gel.

The hero’s prolonged gestation can be the results of the Overwatch workforce eager to seed Easter eggs and hints of what’s to come back, even when the payoff is years sooner or later.

“It takes us a very long time to create a hero on Overwatch really,” artwork director Dion Sanders advised Polygon in a latest interview. “Particularly as we get an increasing number of heroes, it does take some time.” However Ramattra was “fairly necessary to the continued narrative of the sport,” Sanders mentioned, noting “we now have to, you already know, launch some when the time feels proper.”

Ramattra dates again to 2017, when Blizzard artists had been designing Null Sector models. One lieutenant character from that group, a monk-like determine holding a workers, stood out from the group, based on lead idea artist Qiu Fang. The sand-based powers of these Egyptian-inspired robots ultimately advanced into nanites, which give Ramattra his powers.

Compounding the prolonged improvement of Ramattra was his difficult character, each by way of his gameplay mechanics and his narrative design. Ramattra performs in two completely different varieties — Omnic and Nemesis — bringing technical problems and double the work for the Overwatch artwork workforce, much like two-in-one heroes like D.Va and Ashe (and BOB).

Ramattra’s twin nature in matches of Overwatch 2 are a mirrored image of his character, mentioned lead hero designer Alec Dawson.

“Once you take a look at him mechanically, we wish to seize this hero that has [two] sides to him, by way of what he’s keen to do to guard his individuals,” Dawson mentioned. “[Ramattra] generally is a bit extra calm or reserved, and also you see that with him placing out his defend barrier [and] poking from afar. After which when he transforms, when he goes into his Nemesis kind, you see a distinct facet of him. You see a few of that power popping out — what he’s really able to.”

On paper, Ramattra’s talents sound scary, doubtlessly meta-breaking. He can change between two varieties, giving him two units of offensive and defensive capabilities, he can pierce obstacles, and his Ravenous Vortex potential will disrupt flying enemies like Pharah, Echo, and Mercy. He pairs nicely with a Lucio or a Kiriko who can provide him a pace burst. However he’s additionally extremely prone to counters like Ana’s sleep dart or being flanked whereas in Nemesis kind. Utilizing him successfully takes ability.

“With Ramattra’s gameplay, we’re actually specializing in a few of the ability components, [like] when to capitalize and switch the tide of battle,” Dawson mentioned. “There’s a whole lot of deal with remodeling to Nemesis, pushing ahead into the enemy backline, and ensuring all of that’s [happening at] the best second. You may have loads at your disposal, however the focus remains to be on when precisely to remodel, when precisely to interact along with your entire workforce collectively, and being that chief in entrance.”

Picture: Blizzard Leisure

Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie, lead narrative designer and author for Overwatch, mentioned his writing for Ramattra’s again story and ongoing narrative comes “from the type of fascination I’ve had in my profession with the interactions between machine and human intelligence,” matters he’s explored in Wasteland 3, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and Horizon Zero Daybreak.

“You may have this character who was created to hunt and finally kill people within the Omnic disaster, that was his sole objective,” Jurgens-Fyhrie mentioned. “He gained consciousness when he awakened, so to talk, in New York and was compelled to confront […] what he’d completed in the course of the Omnic Disaster — principally he’d lead numerous Omnics to their deaths. These are Omnics that might by no means know consciousness like he does, and that is one thing that drives him. It’s one thing that haunts him.”

As advised in a not too long ago launched “Reflections” brief story for Ramattra, the Omnic Ravager goes to Shambali to be taught underneath the monk Mondatta, however experiences one thing of a second awakening. “He needed to search out his place on this planet, to reply these questions like What’s my objective?” Jurgens-Fyhrie mentioned, “but in addition to grasp how may he atone? How may he make the world higher for Omnics, who’re a finite race? We noticed him strive, and we noticed the world fail him. Not solely is humanity not making the identical effort from his standpoint, however a whole lot of the Ravagers — his Omnic mannequin kind — are useless. So we now have somebody who’s not attempting to make peace with humanity. He believes it’s unimaginable. And actually, he believes it’s harmful to hunt peace with humanity.”

Picture: Sylvain Decaux/Blizzard Leisure

Sanders mentioned that gamers mustn’t consider Ramattra as a villain, however an “antagonist.” Jurgens-Fyhrie added that gamers might discover themselves agreeing philosophically with the Omnic answerable for all that demise and destruction.

Gamers will get extra dribs and drabs of Ramattra’s story and character in his interactions with fellow Omnic Zenyatta — and fellow engineer Wrecking Ball — in Overwatch 2, and gamers will be capable of take up a few of Ramattra’s narrative path to Shambali after they climb the map of the identical title. However Jurgens-Fyhrie mentioned that Blizzard is “not completed telling the story about Ramattra and Zenyatta by a longshot.”

As for what’s subsequent for Overwatch 2 heroes, Jurgens-Fyhrie famous that “we’ve already mentioned that we’re teasing a future hero based mostly on some stuff in [Esperança, the Portugal-set map]” and hinted at voice traces within the sport’s New York map containing some clues. Hopefully, for Overwatch 2 gamers hungry for extra heroes to play, they gained’t take as lengthy to come back round as Ramattra.