Blizzard Agrees New Overwatch Hero Anran "Can Be Even Better" And Is Discussing A Visual Redesign

Blizzard is discussing a visual redesign for the new Overwatch hero, Anran, following feedback about her appearance after her reveal last week. The discussion around the Overwatch Anran Redesign arose from the early access weekend for the character. Anran is one of five new heroes introduced in an expansion-style release for the game titled The Reign of Talon, which launched today, February 10.

The timing coincides with a significant moment for the game, which is shifting to an annual expansion model. The first of these year-long storylines is The Reign of Talon, which will add a total of ten new heroes over the course of the year. In another major change, Overwatch dropped "2" from its title, setting us up for a new phase of the game.

The controversy stems from two connected issues within the community. One is a recurring criticism that the game's female characters often share similar facial features, a phenomenon referred to as "same-face syndrome." The other, more pointed issue, is that Anran’s in-game model looks significantly different from her previous depictions in the game's lore.

Anran is the sister of the existing hero Wuyang. Before her release as a playable character, she was featured in Wuyang's cinematic trailer, titled Elemental Kin, and an adjoining comic called Against the Tide. In these materials, Anran was portrayed with a more distinct face and a fiercer demeanor. This earlier version presented a stronger image that many players felt was more believable for the character. The current in-game model appears younger and softer, a contrast that Blizzard itself has acknowledged is at odds with her established personality. The quick response to the issue included a video message from Overwatch game director Aaron Keller.

The team is currently discussing what it will take to make Anran look and feel more like the fierce older sister we all envision her to be. We're so proud of the work that our team has put into Anran and the rest of the five heroes launching in Season 1, and we agree that she can be even better if we get this aspect of her right in-game. We discussed sharing this with all of you last week but wanted to wait until we had confirmation of exactly what we can do. We're hoping to make this update in Season 1, but I don't have specifics to share just yet. Our hero models are incredibly complicated and we really need to test out what we can do.

— Aaron Keller

The community's response gained further momentum from comments made by Fareeha Andersen, the voice actor for Anran. Andersen addressed the topic in a video message posted on social media, aligning her views with the community's concerns and touching upon broader issues of female representation and beauty standards.

There was an unspoken promise that said, 'We're going to challenge the beauty standards ransacking media these days - the Ozempic chic, the contour your nose/ you have no nose/ the tiniest nose. And because of that precedent, I think people feel let down. Overwatch is a trailblazer at challenging that, at trying to break those moulds, at trying to explore the bounds of what it means to be good, what it looks like to be heroic. And I think the result we got says something else - it says something that leaves a bad taste in our mouths. It's not the bold, optimistic swing that we know Overwatch to make. And it's a look that isn't congruent with her personality; she looks like the younger sibling, she looks more docile somehow, as the fire hero. She looks more docile than the most peacekeeping support in the game. I've been seeing everyone's redesigns - and quietly bookmarking them - but I wanted you to hear that this concern is important. This is a hill worth dying on, it's worth speaking on, because I believe that the more we speak up about the things that truly matter to us, the more we'll see ourselves reflected in the world around us.

— Fareeha Andersen

Overwatch has received positive recognition in the past for its diverse cast of characters. An early example was the introduction of Ana, an older Egyptian woman, which was an unconventional choice for a hero in a shooter game at the time. The development team also makes an effort to cast voice actors who share similar backgrounds with the characters they portray. This was the case with Fareeha Andersen and Anran, as well as with Kerem Erdinc, the voice actor for Emre, another new hero.

The response from Aaron Keller indicates the development team is taking the feedback seriously, but the exact changes that will be made to Anran’s design have not yet been detailed. It also raises the question of whether similar adjustments might be considered for other heroes in the future.