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Blizzard has built up some mystery about the next Overwatch hero’s identity. Now, that mystery is over. The latest hero teaser shows clearly that a familiar face might join the fight—an omnic called Echo.
The new teaser is a cargo manifest for a “white, ovoid container” with “blue markings.” A picture of the container is attached to the manifest and it’s a callback to one of Blizzard’s animated short movies.
In “Reunion,” McCree meets Ashe, the deadly leader of the Deadlock Gang, and attempts to retrieve some cargo from her. After outgunning Ashe, her omnic butler, and gang members, McCree finds what he was looking for: a white, ovoid container with blue markings.
McCree opens the container to find an omnic known as Echo. The cowboy sends her to aid the new Overwatch. He can’t answer Winston’s Recall, but she can help the organization fight its rising threats. Echo is also seen in “Zero Hour,” Overwatch 2’s announcement cinematic, and will likely have a prominent role in the sequel.
The latest teaser connects with two other character hints in the past few days. The first clue hinted that Overwatch would be getting an omnic hero and the second one showed an audio recording of a mysterious explosion. The teasers show Echo’s creation, her kidnapping, and build up to her rescue in the “Reunion” short.
Fans have been speculating that Echo would join Overwatch for years now. After her debut in the “Reunion” short, players believed she would be Hero 29, but that place went to Ashe. Based on that teaser, however, Echo finally seems ready to make her way to Overwatch as Hero 32.
The teaser may also hint at the character’s possible release date. The bottom right of the manifest is dated March 23, which means Blizzard could launch the character on the Public Test Region (PTR) in less than a week. The PTR is Overwatch’s Test Server that’s used to give players a chance to try out new content and provide feedback before it makes its way to the live version of the game.
Overwatch hasn’t released a new hero since Sigma’s debut last August. The six-month delay in new heroes is unusual for the franchise, which normally releases a new character approximately every four months.
