According to the developers, Overwatch needed a hero like Orisa. They revealed to us how she was created and what the developers’ goal was.
If you take a look at the various tanks in Overwatch, you might be surprised. Compared to heroes from MOBAs, most “tanks” can hardly protect their team.
D.Va works well as a flanker, Roadhog stands off to the side to use his hook, and even Winston has to keep moving because his barrier is rarely usable and he is an easy target. Only Zarya and Reinhardt, in particular, are really good at effectively protecting the team.
Reinhardt acts, as Michael Chu, the lead writer of Overwatch, reveals, as an anchor for his team. Wherever he is, the team should be there too, and all allies flock to him.
“Orisa is a character that emerged from game design. We wanted what we call another anchor tank: an alternative to Reinhardt. From an artistic standpoint, we wanted to try new things.”
Jeff Kaplan explained in the Developer Update that they wanted to deviate from the “typical” female model. So they took a robot that also borrowed some characteristics from the animal kingdom – like four legs.
But weaving this all together with an exciting personality that lies somewhere between GlaDOS and Robocop was not that easy. And that’s where Efi came into play.
“We needed something that brings everything together, and for us, that was the character Efi, the child genius who believes she can build a hero. We envisioned her building Orisa in a workroom while watching a Saturday morning cartoon of Overwatch on a small TV.”
From Anchora to “the Anchor” Orisa
Cortyn says: Ultimately, the leaks about “Anchora” have more or less turned out to be correct. Orisa is a four-legged robot from Numbani that acts as an anchor for the team and is female – hence the name was likely “Anchora” during development.
Now there is actually only one question left to clarify: When exactly can we expect a Saturday morning cartoon for Overwatch?
