Overwatch is a fantastic bit of IP from Blizzard Entertainment.  The game itself is a global phenomenon, rivaling their earlier successes with Starcraft, Diablo, and of course, Warcraft.  But there is much more to Overwatch than what is firꦅst plainly visible.  Though the game is a straightforward team-based multiplayer first-person shooter, there is, in fact, a greꦬat deal of story behind everything the player sees.

The world of Overwatch ♓is, unlike today's penchant for dystopian futures in games and TV, a utopia of sorts.  Mankind has advanced in leaps and bounds, discovered and harnessed the power of AI, globalized to the point of having a working world government, and has, to a certain degree, dealt with the effects of climate change.  But that is not to say the world does not have its own problems.

These, and other stories, are told in tidbits - in game dialogue between characters, throughout the game and in out of game cinematics, weaving together an entire universe filled with lore.  Let's check out a few of the images from the game and the cinematics and delve into the world of Overwatch!

15 🐟 ꦓ Omnic Crisis

Enter the Omnic Crisis, where it all began, which takes place 30 years before the start of Overwatch. A group of rogue AI, known in this universe as Omnics, believing humanityꦯ to be taking unjust advantage of their labour, begin to attack cities at random. The world government is incapable of stopping them, and, in tatters, announces the "Overwatch initiative." The organization, created specifically to achieve global peace, hires a series of "oddities, scientists, and soldiers" - many of whom are playable characters in the game. The battles are long and hard fought, bu💜t in the end, victory is won.  This image depicts one of these many battles - potentially, the battle at Eichenwalde.

This visual comes from the "Bastion" cinematic and features Reinhardt's master, Balderich, as he defends his fellow soldiers from a slurry of Omnic gunfire with his Crusader shield.  Reinhardt is, like his master, a tank character, and one of the mainstays in the Overwatch universe.

14 Overwatch Ascendant 💮

This image, taken from the Overwatch opening cinematic, shows the Overwatch organization during its heyday.  Some of the characters here, such as Mercy, Winston, Reinhardt, and Tracer, are all playable in game, but others, such as the two soldiers in blue, are merely Overwatch agents, wearing the trademark blue🎃 uniform.  After the Omnic Crisis ended, Overwatch was responsible for dealing with any global threats - such as the King's Row Uprising perpetrated by an Omnic terrorist unit known as "Null Sector."  They were loved worldwide and had many adoring fans - even children, who had posters of their favourite agents on their wall and had dreams of joining the organization's ranks as adults.

That was before things went terribly wrong.

13 Doomfist's Gauntlet🅺

This image was taken from the Opening launch trailer for Overwatch.  Originally a throwaway name and a throwaway weapon, designed only for the cinematic, Doomfist and his gauntlet have become shrouded in mystery in the last year.  Terry Crews has been attached to the name as a potential voice actor for a new playable character -🐈 but it all began here, with 𒅌this gauntlet.  In the cinematic, Tracer and Winston are defending it from the hands of two Talon operatives, Reaper and Widowmaker, who are trying to steal it.

Who is Doomfist - was he a member of Overwatch, or possibly Blackwatch? Was he a rogue operative? There are many clues hidden throughout the game, including three banners in the Numbani map that have three separate depictions for Doomfist - as Saviour, Scourge, and Successor - the last one only being a silhouetteও. Could the name simply be a moniker, a title paಞssed down from one hero to the next? We don't know now, but chances are, we're going to find out.

12 "Recall"

Overwatch becomes fractured with infighting between the𒅌 two main organizations within it - Overwatch and Blackwatch, the covert ops.  This leads to a piece of legislation put forth by the global government that deactivates Overwatch permanently.  The details around the in-fighting and the destruction of the headquarters are shrouded in mystery, but the lore points to a rivalry between Gabriel Reyes and Captain James Morrison, the respective leaders of Blackwatch and Overwatch.  In the years that pass, the agents are spread worldwide, joining mercenary groups, retiring, and so on.

Others pick a more sedentary lifestyle, such as Winston, who continues to live in the Overwatch Gibraltar base.  While there, an attack by the terrorist group Talon occurs, and Winston is forced to defend the base and stop them from downloading the whereabouts of all past memb🎀ers of Overwatch.  In doing so, he is given the option of recalling all past agents.  At the very end of the cinematic, he relents and presses "Connect," sending a message to every past member, thus, breathing new life into the organization's sails.

11 ﷽ Shimada Clan Infighting

This image comes from the "Dragons" cinematic🦂, which deals with the trials and tribulations of the Shimada Clan, a powerful yakuza family in Japan, which had two sons who vied for power - Hanzo and Genji.  Both sons are playable characters, but this piece of lore deals with their complex relationship.  The image is of a story weaved throughout the cinematic, about two dragons of japan, who were brothers, and often fought for power.  Literal metaphor alert.  The older dragon kills the younger, wreaking havoc on their surroundings.

In reality, Genji Shimada was defeated and almost destroy♓ed but he was found and sa﷽ved by Overwatch, and given a new cybernetic body.  From then on, he fought for Blackwatch - until his return to Shimada Castle in Hanamura and confronts his brother once again.  This is all in the cinematic itself.  Where these brother go from there remains to be seen, but what is certain is that they will play a pivotal role in the story that has yet to come.

10 🦋 Volskaya Industries 🦹

Out of all the nations that took part in the Omnic Crisis and the subsequent war, Russ♊ia was arguably the hardest hit.  The cities were in ruins, the economy was in the tubes, and the collective hatred for Omnics was stronger than any other nation.  Volskaya industries, the countries largest corporation, was set up afterward, and made a series of giant, piloted omnics, or mechs, in order to ensure the countries safety going forward.  But the greatest weapon the company created was undoubtedly the Particle Cannon - the mainstay weapon of the tank character, Zar♏ya.

But🦩 little does the public know, that technology for this weapon did not come from the company's scientists, but from a backroom deal with the company's owner and a certain, unnamed Omnic.  For a country that hates Omnics, this information, if it were to get out, could shake the industry to its core.  This particular image comes from Sombra's announcement cinematic, where she uncovers this revela෴tion and uses it as blackmail for yet unknown purposes.

9 Talon

This🍎 image, another from Winston's "Recall" cinematic, shows the terrorist group, Talon, in full, terrifying force.  Little is known about this🌌 group, about what they want, who they are, or where they come from.  The only playable characters who are confirmed members currently are Reaper, who was once Gabriel Reyes, Widowmaker, and Sombra.

While their intentions are unclear, it is an obvious fact that they desire the names and locations of all ex-Overwatch agents.  It may be possible that some of the mystery surrounding the dissolving of Overwatch as well as the betrayal of the Volskaya Industries CEO in using Omnic tech is directly related to this group.  Is it just instability that they want♋? Surely an event or new cinematic will go into greater detail and reveal more of their backstory down the pipes.

8 BlackWatch ๊

Blackwatch is the diametrically opposed organization to Overwatch.  Though it works under the umbrella of Overwatch, it is essentially, the black ops, the covert operations.  Led by Gabriel Reyes, who was an erstwhile friend of Overwatch's captain, James Morrison, it was populated by the less savoury members of the organization, including Genji Shimada, McCree, and presumably, Ameli꧋e Lacroix, who became Widowmaker.  These men and women were tasked with everything that Overwatch could not be seen doing - they worked in the shadows, engaged in guerilla warfare.  This might be what led to the fracture between the two groups, as one stole the limelight from the other.  Overwatch was praised, and only seen doing overtly good deeds, leaving the dirty work to the covert ops.

7 🅺 Overwatch King's Row Uprising "Null Sector"

After the Omnic Crisis, before the fall of Overwatch, there was an up💎rising in King's Row, London, where a group of rogue Omnics, self-identified as "Null Sector" and encased in trademark, purple armour, took a number of people hostage in the Electrical Works building.  The events leading up to this uprising began when an Omnic-sector of London was built, with the combined enthusiasm of both London's mayor and the local Omnic population leaders, to promote synthesis𒅌 between the two populations of man and machine.

Null Sector took the stunt as🦂 an affront to Omnic rights and as a result, attacked the city, taking the mayor and other high up government members hostage.  As a result, Overwatch was deployed to deal with them.  This marked the first time that Tracer, or Lena Oxton, was sent on a combat mission - and to her hometown no less. While the end result was positive, it underscored the fact that despite the Omnic Crisis being finished, the relations between the two groups were far from perfect.

6 ജ Zenyatta And The Shambali

This image is taken from Tracer and Widowmakers cinematic: "Alive." After the Ominc Crisis, the Omnics were free to live as they pleased, as individuals and not slaves.  This led to the rise of several robot-oriented religions, the most popular being the Shambali.  Tekartha Mondatta is the most famous of the Shambali's practitioners, a Dalai Lama sort of figure, who preaches peace between the two peoples.  As a result, he was targeted by Talon, for reasons yet unknown, though political instability remains a possibility.  One of the playable characters, Zenyatta, is a practitioner of Shambali and one of Mondatta's most ardent followers.  Central to the Shambali is the belief in harmony -♛ the Iris, being a deity of enlightenment, is what all practitioners aspire to understand.  In this sense, they are much like Tibetan or Nepalese Buddhism, and in fact, the Shambali's main temple is situated in Nepal.