Overwatch Halloween Terror develops characters and lore with new hero interactions
Blizzard EntertainmentFans of the Overwatch characters and lore got a treat with the new Halloween Terror in-game event.
Though the event is headlined by the new skins and the Junkenstein’s Revenge brawl, the new event also brought a series of new hero interactions.
During the pre-game lobby, Overwatch heroes can sometimes be heard making quips, telling stories, or asking questions among each other. These lines cannot be triggered actively, but sometimes appear depending on which heroes find themselves standing alongside one another.
With Overwatch lore being revealed excruciatingly slowly, through the likes of the infrequent animated shorts and comics, the hero interactions offer a not-insignificant means of fans getting to know the characters of Overwatch.
Overwatch Lead Writer Michael Chu has stated that events and interactions in-game aren’t “strictly canon”, largely given that in many cases conversations take place between characters that would never actually talk to one another – heroes standing alongside villains, for example – and sometimes between characters that have never actually met in the canon storyline.
Even so, the interactions still offer some insight into the character and personality of the various heroes, and occasionally allude to or outright reference canon events.
For example, the new interactions feature multiple references to the “Alive” animated short, in which Tracer fails to prevent Widowmaker from assassinating Mondata. Tracer reveals her feelings of guilt over her shortcoming to Genji, and Widowmaker taunts Tracer over the same.
On the flip side, many of the interactions are much more light-hearted. Mercy makes a somewhat meta comment about not understanding how Zenyatta heals people, and Torbjörn teases Reinhardt about the “ridiculous stories” he tells.
The full set of new interactions can be heard here: